Tatra Banka, Dexia, Istrobanka and Volksbank all have converted their core banking business to be able to adopt the Euro at the start of January 2009, supported by the dedicated team of professional services experts from Misys.

Slovakia is the sixteenth country to join the single currency since its launch in 1999. Its entry into the Eurozone means that 328 million out of the EU's 499m population use the Euro as their currency.

The Slovakian banks had to change their operations overnight, closing for business on 31 December trading in Slovakian Crowns and had to re-open on 2 January trading in Euros. This "big-bang" approach meant that it was critically important that each of the banks were converted quickly and without error.

The four banks, all of whom have benefited from using the core banking system, Misys Midas, for several years, needed to have a low-risk, efficient and rapid conversion to ensure their customers saw no slip in the service they were given. They turned to Misys for the solution and through a joint funded development project, were given an extensive set of utilities that made the conversion possible.

Professional services and funded development personnel at Misys alongside its strategic development partner, HCL, worked with the staff at each of the banks during 2008 to ensure that implementation was successful and that each could go live with Euro compliant solution from 1 January 2009.

"It is great to see our customers benefiting so quickly from our expertise in this area," states Richard Watrasiewicz, Misys Professional Services Director for Europe. "We're delighted that we have had these successful conversions in so many banks in Slovakia at this critical time for the country. Each project ran within the allotted time and all the banks were able to open for business as planned at the start of the new year and have been trading in Euros without any issue since."

Peter Novak, COO of Tatra, commeccomments, "Thanks to the team of dedicated professionals at Misys and HCL, we were able to continue our business without any problems and most importantly, our customers saw no change in the service they expect from us."

"We are well known throughout the Slovakian market for our high level of customer service." Dirk Hoebeeck Dexia Group CIO adds. "With the strong team formed between our own staff and the skilled team from Misys and HCL, we were always confident that we were able to maintain this standard of excellence when we went live."

Reinhold Rehbichler, Managing Director of Volksbank IT-Services GmbH, remarks on the speediness of the project, "It is a true testament to the expertise and professionalism of the Misys/HCL team that we were able to go ahead with our conversion without a hitch. We look forward to continuing to work with Misys and keep benefiting from the advanced functionality of its banking system, Midas."