The RM20 million (USD5.5 million) investment was done to upgrade the group's core banking applications and disaster recovery site, which is expected to further improve the banking group's commitment, delivery and efficiency to its customers.

Speaking at a press conference with IBM Malaysia and Silverlake Group to announce the implementation, EON Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Albert Lau Yiong said, "We are proud to be the first financial institution in Malaysia to acquire this new system, which will improve business responsiveness and customer service efficiency."

EON Bank Group has been emphasizing higher customer satisfaction through the introduction and implementation of various initiatives in the past year as part of its 'Project Quantum Leap,' where strategic initiatives including improving the bank's underlying organization structure and systems and processes were formulated.

"In order to serve our customers better and become the customers' bank of choice, it is critical that we continuously improve our performance and service level. We have tested the IBM Power 550 Express and found it to be stable, scalable and flexible, which are the three necessary criteria to support EON Bank Group's projected business growth in the next 5 years," Mr. Lau commented. "This system upgrade establishes new benchmarks for innovations and responsiveness that others in the local banking sector will be challenged to match."

The IBM Power 550 Express allows more applications to run on fewer servers, hence reducing the infrastructure cost. The system reduces management, maintenance and licensing costs, and can be easily scaled to suit EON Bank's expansion plans.

"This system makes it possible for EON Bank Group's applications to run faster and be more responsive, which can result in added business advantages and higher client satisfaction. The near-continuous application availability also enables EON Bank to improve the efficiency and ensure business continuity," said Ou Shian Waei, Managing Director of IBM Malaysia.

"IBM is committed to helping EON Bank Group grow and transform their business through our most advanced, proven solutions and rich industrial experience."

The system, which will go live on March 8, 2009, is being implemented by EON Bank Group jointly with Silverlake Group.

Ronnie Tan, President of Silverlake Group, added, "Silverlake Group is recognized as the market leader in providing and implementing core banking solutions in the banking and finance industry in Asia Pacific. As a strategic IT partner of the EON Bank Group, we will leverage on these successful experiences and expertise to continuously help EON Bank Group in enhancing their Silverlake integrated core banking solution to support the Bank's business strategy."