Providing mid-tier banks the ability to leverage real-time banking capabilities while controlling costs, FIS, the world's largest provider of banking and payments technology, today announced the launch of its first cloud-based, real-time core banking utility for mid-tier banks in Central and Eastern Europe.
"The world of banking is changing and we are seeing increasing demand for outsourcing and SaaS offerings," said Jonathan Davis, Managing Director of Outsourcing, FIS. "Mid-tier banks often find it difficult to build the investment case to upgrade their legacy systems to provide real-time capabilities that deliver true market advantage but market demands are driving them to find cost economies without compromising on functionality. With FIS Profile in the cloud, mid-tier banks in the region now have a core banking platform that can enable them to launch innovative and competitive new products quickly and cost effectively."
The service, hosted by Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa S.A. (KIR), the Polish payment processor and central clearing house for the country's banking sector, will drive cost savings - without compromising functionality - by enabling banks to run their core banking products on a hosted version of FIS Profile. Amongst other efficiency benefits, the new service will:
- Provide access to established product libraries, dramatically cutting the time required to launch new products to the market
- Provide a holistic view of the customer's banking relationship, enabling banks to create better offerings tailored to individual customers
- Leverage a real-time banking system that is better matched to today's consumer needs for seamless integration to new digital channels
- Deliver one of the lowest total costs of ownership in the industry
Commenting on the launch, Aite Group Research Director Christine Barry said, "There will be a demand from mid-tier banks in countries like Poland for a true Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model which delivers access to a leading banking solution, such as FIS Profile, at an affordable cost."
The service will benefit from KIR's modern and secure cloud infrastructure and high speed links to all the banks in Poland which currently handles over 120 million transactions every month. FIS will provide the software platform utilizing the award winning FIS Profile core banking system and Xpress middleware layer.
"We are delighted to be working with FIS on this industry-changing solution," commented Michał Szymański, KIR vice president for payments. "We are already the Polish banking utility for payments and extending that role to delivery of cloud-based IT services for banks is a natural step towards even greater exploitation of economies of scale. Being at the heart of the Polish banking system, we are dedicated to providing banks with state of art services such as this."