The implementation helped BayernLB to enhance efficiency and realize cost savings, while enabling it to meet a tight mandatory deadline. The entire project from due diligence, delivery and installation, was completed in just 10 weeks-on time and under budget.

With a balance sheet of EUR 331.4 billion as of June 31, 2004, BayernLB is one of the largest banks in Germany. "Front has exceeded our expectations and I'm pleasantly surprised how smoothly everything went considering the short time period in which we completed the entire project," says Andrea Hoegl, project IT manager at BayernLB.

The bank added FRONT ARENA's solution for equity sales and execution, an order management system providing straight-through processing (STP) from sales to execution to position keeping as well as access to multiple exchanges. "At BayernLB the equity business is mainly customer driven," says Karl Filbert, head of equities at the bank. "Any solution we use must meet our requirements today and also position us for the future. FRONT ARENA meets these requirements while also offering significant cost containment."

FRONT ARENA's openness and flexibility helped BayernLB to replicate the logic of the bank's existing system. Christian Gastager, business manager at BayernLB, adds, "We have been live for 12 weeks now and everyone at the bank is happy with the performance of the new order management system and there is hardly any support necessary at all."

Peter Neuhaus, regional sales director at SunGard's Front Capital Systems, says: "BayernLB now has a forward-looking solution that allows it to store and trace all its order information, according to the bank's policies. At the same time it is also able to reduce the amount of manual work, which helps save valuable time and minimize errors."