This recent development took place on HVB Bank Czech Republic's existing PRIME platform and follows the consolidation of HVB Bank Slovakia's credit card issuing, in 2004.

The HVB Group operates the leading banking network in 16 CEE countries and was awarded "Bank of the Year in Central and Eastern Europe," by The Banker and also "Best Bank in CEE" by Euromoney in 2004. This latest development is part of an objective to centralize some of its core competencies and consolidate them at a number of key processing centers in order to improve operational excellence.

CTL installed PRIME at HVB Bank Czech Republic in 1993 and as a result of its successful track record, the bank chose to use it for HVB Bank Slovakia's and HVB Bank Hungary's credit card issuing. Over the years PRIME has proven itself as a flexible, global platform that could successfully accommodate the banks' requirements. Its proven track record and multi-currency, multi-product and multi-institutional functionalities, further demonstrated its overall adaptability to meet and supersede the banks' currents and future expectations.

The banks also selected CTL's FRAUDGUARD, as an ideal risk management solution to support their card issuing processing services. They were drawn to its user-friendly web browser interface, rule-based technology, case management and expert system capabilities. Customers of the banks are now able to benefit from real-time fraud detection in multiple ways, as the solution is tailored to provide customers with an SMS alert after all card transaction attempts made on their cards. Ultimately, this means that cardholders have the option to select and receive up to six different transaction-related alerts. These will inform the cardholder of every successful or unsuccessful card transaction, initiated at both POS and ATM terminals.

Michal Hladik, Head of Card Department at HVB Bank Czech Republic, said "We are very enthusiastic about the consolidation of our card issuing processing services with that of HVB Bank Slovakia and HVB Bank Hungary. Coupled with our advanced fraud monitoring service, we are satisfied that we can offer an extremely high level of customer service to our clients in the region."

Jaffar Agha-Jaffar, CTL's Managing Director said "HVB Bank Czech Republic and CTL share a long-standing relationship, dating back to 1993." He continued to say "We are pleased that CTL's PRIME was chosen by the 3 banks collectively as the future-proof system on which to consolidate all their card issuing processing services. This reflects PRIME's versatile functionalities, enabling card processing for scalable bank volumes."