Ukraine-based Nadra Bank Implements Finacle Universal Banking Solution

MUMBAI: IT major Infosys Technologies on Monday said Ukraine-based Nadra Bank has selected its flagship product 'Finacle Universal Banking Solution' to power its transformation initiative.

Finacle encompasses core banking, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), treasury, e-banking and would replace the bank's current in-house decentralised system, Infosys said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"This win is of strategic importance to us. With an already established and fast growing client base for Finacle in Russia and CIS, the region is strategic to our growth plans," Infosys Technologies VP and Head (Worldwide Sales- Finacle) Sanat Rao said.

The implementation would leverage global practices and would play a pivotal role in helping the Ukrainian bank streamline operational efficiencies, the company said.

Finacle customer base spans across 55 countries and was recently recognised by top analysts including Gartner, Forrester and Celent.

Shares of Infosys closed at Rs 1,871.50, down 1.96 per cent, on the BSE in late afternoon trade.

Infy’s Finacle head Merwin Fernandes puts in papers

BANGALORE: Infosys Technologies is seeing the exit of another top level official with the head of its banking product business leaving the organisation. Merwin Fernandes, who was heading Infosys’ banking product business - Finacle - has put in his papers, sources told ET.

Mr Fernandes has spent close to a decade in Infosys and was the VP and global head - Finacle. He moved into the role following the elevation of Girish Vaidya as senior vice-president, Infosys Leadership Institute. However, it is not known what will be the Mr Fernandes’ future plans, though speculation is rife is that he will be moving into one of the rival businesses of Finacle. Confirming the development, Infosys in a statement said: “Yes, we can confirm that Merwin Fernandes has resigned from the services of the company to pursue his personal interests. At this stage the organisation is in the process of appointing a successor. The successor will be announced shortly to ensure a smooth transition.” Sources said Infosys has asked Mr Fernandes to stay on in the organisation till a successor has been found. Already, Infosys has sent letters to the various banks which are its customers, notifying the change. This will probably be another top level official exit from Infosys after Akshay Bhargava left its BPO business. Its other high profile exits have been Hema Ravichander.

Finacle - a core banking solution has been doing well for Infosys having recorded over 50 per cent growth year-on-year (YoY). For 2006-07, it registered revenues of Rs 538 crore recording 50.7 per cent YoY growth. Finacle constitutes 4 per cent of Infosys revenues which has 91 customers with presence in 55 countries. It has a dominant share among the Indian PSU banks. Syndicate and Canara Banks have chosen to implement Flexcube of i-flex.

Finacle has been positioning itself as a global player and is targeting the global tier 1 and tier 2 banks. It had recently bagged an order from Emirates Bank of Dubai. It is also looking actively at the regions of South East Asia, western Europe and Australia and New Zealand where deals might start off from anywhere between $40 million and go up to $500 million.

At the marketplace, Finacle is competing not only against the Indian players like i-flex, FNS of TCS but also against the established global players like Misys, Temenos and Metavante. The current market size of core banking solutions is expected to be in the multi-billion dollars range spread over a longer period of time.

Original Story

Infosys to buy Philips Global's finance BPO

Aravind Gowda, Bibhu Mishra & G Balachandar / Bangalore/Chennai July 17, 2007

IT major Infosys Technologies is set to acquire Philips Global’s finance and accounts BPO for an assured revenue of $200 million spread over five years.

Infosys will be taking over the subsidiary along with all the costs in the similar manner that TCS had acquired the operations of the Pearl Group in the UK.

According to informed sources, once the takeover is completed, Infosys will bring down costs and restructure operations to make it a paying proposition.

This will be Infosys’ second acquisition in its 25-year history, after it had acquired Expert Information Services in Australia for around Rs 104 crore ($22.9 million) in 2003.

The acquisition of Philips will bolster the capabilities and reach of Infosys’ BPO, enabling it to deliver round-the-clock. Philips’ F&A captive has operations in Chennai, Warsaw (Poland) and Bangkok. The global staff strength of the captive is around 1,500 with 500 employees working out of the Chennai centre, which was set up in 2004.

Infosys’ BPO has close to 11,000 employees and has posted a top line of around Rs 662 crore and a net profit of Rs 151 crore in FY07.

Infosys, the country’s second largest software services exporter, currently has cash reserves of $1.4 billion. No official comments were available from the company. Usually conservative in the M&A game, the company has grown to $3.5 billion and employs around 71,000 professionals.

In the recent past, it was rumoured to be bidding to acquire Capgemini. The company officials have predictably been non-committal and maintained that they will go ahead and acquire it, if it fits into the Infosys’ game-plan.

Croatian bank HPB chooses Infosys's Finacle Universal Banking

Croatian domestic bank Hrvatska Postanska Banka has selected Infosys Technologies' Finacle Universal Banking Solution to drive its technology-led transformation initiative.

Infosys said that the Finacle core banking solution will replace the bank's legacy system and help strengthen its competitive position by enabling innovation, greater process efficiencies as well as by meeting the new regulatory requirements, including Basel II. Hrvatska Postanska Banka (HPB) will also deploy the Finacle e-banking and treasury solutions.

Finacle already has a strong presence in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

Full story