Standard Chartered Bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched an electronic branch banking system (eBBS). The banking software system is a web-based platform, which was developed in the UAE by the Information Technology (IT) and Systems department.
The system is soon to be rolled out to the banks' branches in Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, with plans to make eBBS the standard operating system across the group by early 2004. “The launch of eBBS in the UAE is a technology milestone which will enable Standard Chartered Bank to enhance service levels and provide the next generation of products and services,” said Ray Ferguson, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank UAE.
“We developed this system with the customer in mind. Our customers know the difference, they can feel the touch of technology. We developed it with the phrase ‘life made simple' in mind, and made it easy to learn, easy to implement and easy to use. The system enables us to have a much better picture of customers' accounts, which enables a faster response,” said V. Chandrasekar, Regional Head of Information Technology and Systems, Middle East and South Africa, SCB. Three Emirati staff helped drive forward the development of eBBS, as well as a development team from the bank's Offshore Development Center in India.
The immediate thrust is to launch alternate channels like the Internet and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)-based information services to customers. The ability for customers to access accounts and services, at anytime and from anywhere, will be greatly enhanced. Through the eBBS, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and new call center solutions will be implemented to provide a world-class service experience to customers.
Chandra said: “It is not very often a technology developed in-house here in the UAE is adopted globally. It normally works the other way around. This is a great honor for our IT and Systems team, but also great recognition for Standard Chartered in the UAE.”
The Java-based technology allows the bank's IT staff to ‘plug-in' new software applets to the system, allowing upgrades in real time, making the eBBS system future-proof and highly responsive to changing customer needs.
eBBS has been developed using IBM's Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) framework. The eBBS core banking system uses the Java 2 architecture for both front and back end functionality.
The system is networked on Internet Protocol (IP), uses tools like Java Server Pages (JSP) for enquiry and is built on industry standard Relational Data Bases (RDBMS).
Web-based encryption and authentication techniques are used to provide security. Crystal Enterprise Reports are used for report generation and distribution. The client interface runs on a standard browser.
In the UAE, Standard Chartered has a Consumer Banking network comprising seven branches and 22 automated teller machines (ATMs). Standard Chartered is the leading provider of cash management trade finance, and treasury products and services in the UAE.
Standard Chartered is an international emerging markets bank. It employs nearly 30,000 people in over 500 offices in more than 50 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, United Kingdom and the Americas.
The Bank serves both consumer and wholesale banking customers. Consumer banking provides credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, deposit taking and wealth management services to individuals and small/medium sized businesses.
The Wholesale Bank provides services to multinational, regional and domestic corporate and institutional clients in trade finance, cash management, custody, lending, foreign exchange, interest rate management and debt capital markets. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
