System Access Symbols will be used by all Erste Bank entities. An evaluation team consisting of banking and technology experts from Slovenská Sporiteµòa, Èeská Spoøitlena, Erste Bank Hungary and Erste Bank in Vienna, came to a final recommendation after a detailed assessment of potential options. It proposed System Access Symbols as the group's solution platform for all entities due to its comprehensive universal banking functionality, its scaleable architecture to meet a large branch network and high transaction volumes, and the Erste Bank Group's experience with the successful Erste Bank Hungary and Postabank merger and implementation in Èeská Spoøitlena.
The implementation of System Access Symbols started at Slovenská Sporiteµòa on June 2, 2006 and is a key part of the bank's transformation to Euro project.
"We were looking for a new generation core banking solution able to support the processing of a comprehensive range of banking products and deliver customer-centric banking services using one integrated technology foundation in order for our bank to continuously enhance the quality of its services and thus reach the heights of customer satisfaction. Our user experience with System Access Symbols implementations at Erste Bank Hungary as well as Ceska Sporitelna was a key consideration in selecting System Access Symbols for our group implementation," commented Peter Weiss, head of Group IT Functions, the Erste Bank Group.
"We are pleased that the Erste Bank Group has chosen System Access Symbols as its group core banking solution. This key decision is an endorsement of our partnership with the Erste Bank Group for the past seven years, with several successful projects to date for its operations in Hungary and the Czech Republic. We believe that System Access Symbols, with its comprehensive coverage of universal banking business functionality and scaleable architecture for large banks, will help the Erste Bank Group to achieve its European business expansion plans," commented Leslie Loh, president of SunGard's System Access business unit.
About the Erste Bank Group Erste Bank is one of the largest European providers of financial services and is the leading retail bank in Central Europe. It is the clear leader in Central European financial services, measured by number of customers and in the top 2 by total assets. Since 1997, the number of Erste Bank clients has grown from 600,000 to more than 15,2 millions as a result of expansion of the bank in Austria, the purchase of > Èeská Spoøitelna, Slovenská Sporiteµòa, the Croatian Rijeèka Bank, the Hungarian Postabank in the autumn of 2003, the purchase of the Novosadska Banka in Serbia (August 2005) and Banca Comerciala Romana in Romania (December 2005).
Erste Bank operates successfully in the fastest growing economies in the region, aiming to provide 15.2 million customers with a high standard of personal service and a comprehensive range of financial products.
Erste Bank provides banking, investment, loans and insurance services, and focus on consumers and small to medium-sized companies.