Bank SinoPac Adopts Mission-Critical Microsoft Platform

Press release from Microsoft:

Bank SinoPac Adopts Mission-Critical Microsoft Platform

Oct. 28, 2012

Microsoft and Temenos help banks reduce overall IT costs and improve training, development and maintenance for mission-critical tasks.

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OSAKA, Japan — Oct. 29, 2012 — To support its consumer and corporate banking businesses,Bank SinoPac has adopted Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server to run the next-generationTEMENOS T24 core banking system. This new system will help SinoPac save up to 50 percent on future annual maintenance costs over five years. With future flexibility and competitive advantages in mind, SinoPac deployed the solution to centralize its operations and support the growth of its domestic and global branch network. The new core banking system has enabled SinoPac to increase flexibility and reduce maintenance and operating costs as the bank migrated off the mainframe and to the cloud. By simplifying its systems architecture and streamlining its business processes, SinoPac was able to significantly improve its straight-through processing rate and reduce its close-of-business time by 30 percent.

Microsoft Corp. is working with Temenos Group AG, a banking software company, to offer core banking solutions that help banks achieve greater profitability, an improved customer experience, and the agility to meet future market and customer demands.

“Amid rapid market liberalization, changing financial behavior, and fierce competition from local and international counterparts, banks have to improve competitiveness and offer better customer service to be the leading player,” said Karen Cone, general manager of Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft. “To achieve these goals, SinoPac adopted Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server to deploy its new Temenos core banking system.”

With higher stability, scalability and availability, Microsoft SQL Server also boosts performance of next-generation hardware. SinoPac is one of the first banks to establish both front-end and back-end environments using a single Windows platform, and it also is pioneering the use of a single solution to support domestic and global branches. Because one team within SinoPac can manage all global systems, the company is lowering TCO, increasing development speed and avoiding costly maintenance issues.

“When selecting a core banking system, our first criterion was that it must run on the Windows platform because it provides the advantages of both open and closed systems,” said Robert Tsai, chief information officer, Bank SinoPac. “Windows outperforms traditional legacy mainframe systems in maintenance, investment cost and professional training, while its security and stability are way ahead of the game.”

The new core banking system has helped SinoPac reduce hardware initial costs by 40 percent and will further save the company 50 percent on software and hardware maintenance over five years. In the past, maintaining systems on different platforms required intensive training and multiple IT teams, including the support from third-party IT specialists. With a single Windows-based core banking system, the recruitment and training become much easier.

SinoPac’s new core banking system from Temenos and Microsoft is in place at 129 branches in Taiwan, with overseas locations expected to join the central hub in Taipei, Taiwan, starting at the end of 2012. With support for multiple countries, currencies and companies, the new system will enable SinoPac to speed its global market expansion.

Microsoft and Temenos are showcasing the SinoPac adoption Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 at Sibos, the world’s premier financial services event.

Microsoft and Temenos Collaboration

The long history of collaboration between Microsoft and Temenos has brought increased productivity and profitability to financial institutions through an improved total cost of ownership and uniform operational environment, which enhances time to market and overall efficiency. The result of their collaboration is a modular system designed to offer financial-industry customers a full front-to-back core banking solution on an all-Microsoft platform.

“The work we’re doing with Microsoft is changing the economics of the financial services industry,” said David Arnott, CEO Temenos. “Together, we’ve built a solution that scales from device to PC to cloud and enables a differentiated customer experience. Microsoft’s high-performance, yet cost-effective, server platform complements Temenos’ modular banking system, thereby changing the economics of banking.”

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.