IBS Journal November 2015


Malauzai launches digital offering for SMEs, signs Somerset Trust Company


US-based digital banking technology ven- dor, Malauzai Software, has launched a new offering for small business banking, Retail+ Small Business Banking. The product is an extension of the vendor’s existing online and mobile offering. Retail+ Small Business Banking was


officially introduced at the BAI Retail Deliv- ery conference in Las Vegas. The vendor has also unveiled a fresh


taker of the system, Pennsylvania-based Somerset Trust Company. Commenting on the importance of


all things digital, John Gill, COO and risk officer at Somerset Trust, noted that ‘lead- ing in technology, especially in the mobile space’ enables the company to ‘control its own destiny’. Malauzai’s solution will replace six leg-


acy systems at Somerset Trust, providing a single log-in through which a customer will be able to manage both personal and busi- ness accounts on any device. Functionality includes moving money (unified payments


and collections, ACH and wire) from any location and device, and the ability to syn- chronise transactions through integration with customers’ accounting software. There are also real-time alerts, and capabilities to set user permissions and entitlements. At the back-end, it will interface to Som-


erset Trust’s core banking system, DNA, sup- plied by Fiserv (DNA stems from Open Solu- tions, acquired by Fiserv in early 2013). Robb Gaynor, Malauzai’s founder and


chief product officer, emphasises that Retail+ Small Business Banking is core bank- ing and accounting software agnostic, ‘which makes conducting business a seam- less and simplified experience’.


Malauzai Software: a brief overview Malauzai was set up in 2009 to offer


native mobile apps to the banking and cred- it union sector, and today has 350 customers of which over 300 are in live production. Its software also underpins BankMo- bile, the first mobile-only bank in the US.


To date, the vendor has garnered expe-


rience of integrating with around 24 differ- ent core banking systems, including those of D+H, FIS, Fiserv and Jack Henry. In 2012, CSI partnered with Malau- zai (and it also has an investment in it). CSI chief sales officer, George McGourty, said at the time that one of the attractive features of the Malauzai platform has proved to be the card on/off facility which allows cus- tomers to deactivate their cards if they are lost or not using them. In 2014, Malauzai joined forces with


Jack Henry’s credit union software divi- sion, Symitar, to launch Episys Anywhere, a native app that enables credit union employees to conduct common branch activities on a tablet. Earlier this year, Malauzai has struck a


strategic partnership with D+H to jointly develop, market and deploy mobile bank- ing solutions to D+H’s core banking soft- ware clients.


Tanya Andreasyan


First Niagara Bank in enterprise-wide digital transformation; core system under review


First Niagara Bank, one of the top 50 banks in the US, is undergoing a major front-to- back office IT and operations revamp. Its journey has been presented at the


recent BAI Retail Delivery conference in Las Vegas. The bank has been on a modernisation


spree for a few years now, which has so far resulted in moving from a retail brick and mortar bank to a universal banking institu- tion with strong digital presence, says Paul Hlivko, SVP and MD, IT and digital at First Niagara. This was achieved in 32 months.


The M&A route In 2011, First Niagara purchased a large chunk of HSBC’s retail banking branch network – totalling 195 branches – across upstate New York and south-western


Connecticut. Whilst this transaction has substan-


tially reduced HSBC’s footprint in the US, it nearly doubled First Niagara’s branch network, bringing it to about 450 branch- es, $38 billion in assets and $30 billion in deposits. Shortly afterwards, however, 64 of the


acquired branches were sold to Communi- ty Bank, Keybank and Five Star Bank. The main reason behind this divestiture was to satisfy antitrust concerns raised by the US Department of Justice, which feared First Niagara’s dominant presence would have an adverse effect on competition in the region for retail and SME banking services. The HSBC operations were moved


onto First Niagara’s long-standing core banking platform, Miser from FIS.


All about digital The bank then embarked on a digital transformation, including the launch of a ‘Mobile First’ strategy. Hlivko says that the key focus has been


on customer experience and product har- monisation. ‘We have moved from a complex prod-


uct set and simple understanding of our customers to a simple product set and a complex understanding of our customers,’ he states. A third-party vendor has been enrolled


to assist with the digital channels modern- isation. The bank is tight-lipped about its choice of vendor, but rumour has it that this might be TCS Financial Solutions and its Bancs omnichannel offering. This would be the Indian vendor’s first implementation


© IBS Intelligence 2015


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