The deal was signed with the help of BPC partner Tracom Services Ltd., Kenya.

Previously relying on an outsourced solution the Bank wished to take direct control over its payments business - a key strategic focus within its retail banking operation. The migration of the Bank's card processing to SmartVista will allow it to increase significantly the efficiency and flexibility of its operations. Additionally, the Bank will have a market proven infrastructure to support its growth plans and benefit from speed to market for new products and payment solutions. The Bank plans to issue Visa and MasterCard products, and offer EMV smartcards as well as prepaid cards in the immediate future.

The Bank has aggressive plans to triple its card business and to promote a new service "Agency Banking" where banking services are supplied to far flung rural communities through local retailers and stores. These outlets are provided with enhanced POS-terminals with wide functionality, which will be able to deliver day to day banking services. Consolidated Bank of Kenya will use the SmartMerchant product, one of the solutions with the SmartVista suite to perform a range of merchant management functions including merchant and terminal set up, financial clearing and settlement, billing, statements, invoice and report generation and delivery. The Agency Banking strategy will allow the Bank to grow its client base by bringing payment and banking services to a far wider population outside the urban centers.

BPC will also be installing SmartGuard, its comprehensive fraud prevention solution, and SmartLoyalty, the sophisticated loyalty application.

"The migration of our card business from an outsourced service to SmartVista is an important step in our development of new card products and services. We are now more independent and flexible in bringing new card programs to market and will enjoy additional competitive advantage in the retail financial services market. We believe that with the help of SmartVista suite we will be able to increase our card base and enlarge our network of ATMs and POS terminals," added Geoffrey Kiboro, Alternative Business Channels Manager, Consolidated Bank of Kenya.

"We are proud that SmartVista was chosen by Consolidated Bank of Kenya for its in-house processing centre. The Bank set the bar high in terms of its business needs and BPC has been happy to rise to the challenge. We are also excited to enter the new market of Kenya where we see great potential for future growth in our client base," said Vasily Grigoriev, CEO, BPC Banking Technologies.