Callataÿ & Wouters, part of Sopra Banking Software - a new Sopra Group company - is a global leader in core banking software and services. The company is proud to announce its second go-live in Germany in less than a year, underlining its ambitious expansion into the German market. It is also the company's sixth core banking implementation for Rabobank's Internet Direct Banking initiative.
Rabobank is an established Dutch bank with over 10 million clients worldwide and close to 60.000 employees. Its Internet Direct Banking initiative is an ambitious project to introduce no-nonsense, completely online banking branches all over the world. So far, it has seen successful adoption in Belgium, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand as well as Poland - the latter in cooperation with local player BGŽ. All of these setups use Callataÿ & Wouters' Thaler software.
"When we knew we wanted to enter the German market with the Rabobank IDB initiative, we knew that the Thaler platform would serve us well, as it has been a crucial asset to us since our first go-live in 2001," says Gert Bouwman, Global Head of Rabobank IDB.
In six months' time, Callataÿ & Wouters implemented Thaler and the new startup bank was ready to run under the motto 'So direct kann Banking sein' - 'As direct as banking can be'. Apart from traditional savings products at attractive rates, RaboDirect Germany also offers special types of notice accounts unique to the market, named RaboSpar30 and RaboSpar90.
"The pre-parameterization and agility of Thaler allowed us to set up new products easily," says Klaus Vehns, General Manager of RaboDirect Germany, "More importantly, it's also perfectly aligned with local regulations, which can be quite complex. Because transparency is one of our key values, our customers can calculate taxes and income with our different types of products."
Since its launch, Rabobank's new online offshoot is booming. "Response has been incredible. In less than two months, we've already gained thousands of customers. I'm glad that we chose Thaler. Callataÿ & Wouters was able to get us going fast, had the right software and offered us exactly what we needed to create our attractive product range."
RaboDirect Germany is Callataÿ & Wouters' second German banking customer in less than two years. "In our international expansion, Germany is a key target," comments Marc De Groote, CEO of Callataÿ & Wouters, "Currently, we are the only non-German software vendor in the local banking sector. Our second successful implementation there proves that we are more than ready to handle the local regulations and specifics."