"SAP is the first to offer a component-based transaction banking system based on a new application architecture for bank systems," said Johannes Beigel, mySAP Banking product manager. "UBS is a very important customer for SAP because it is one of the leading banks in the world, with an excellent name and reputation. The contract with UBS AG is a breakthrough for SAP in the international financial services industry."

UBS and SAP will work together on an application they are calling Account Management that will manage customer accounts, calculate interest and optimize customer transactions through automation and centralized functions. UBS will contribute its expertise in international financial services. SAP will develop the Account Management application for its mySAP Banking suite of applications. Customers will be able to implement the complete suite or only the specific features they need.

Beigel said that the majority of the large banks in the world are still relying on old mainframe systems. These systems are typically individual, monolithic, batch-oriented software applications that are based on technology from the 60s and 70s. These antiquated solutions, he said, "are not flexible enough to respond to such new requirements as distribution channels, new financial products, and mergers and acquisitions."

"The new SAP solution for transaction banking/mySAP Banking Account Management will be standard software that is component-based on a modern SAP client server environment," Beigel said. "It will be Web-enabled and will offer high-performance, high-availability infrastructure."

SAP says that the resulting solution will greatly strengthen the bank's services for some 8 million customers. It will manage customers cash accounts, process the accounts as often as necessary, compute and deliver bank statements and balance notifications, and coordinate information on receivables and payables between UBS and other banks and appropriate parties.

The mySAP Banking solution will work off of UBS's Strategic Solution Program, an information technology platform specifically designed for the bank's multinational business requirements. Integrated into the Account Management solution, mySAP will be capable of handling strategic planning, financial accounting, costing, profitability analysis, risk analysis and full integrated bank customer account systems.

Last month, SAP moved to broaden its U.S. presence with SAP SI AG's acquisition of Prescient Consulting, a 75-employee SAP implementation consulting firm based in Atlanta, in a deal priced at about $11.4 million. Privately held Prescient reported revenue of $12.7 million in 2000.

-- SmartPros News Staff

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