OCTOBER 2015/ISSUE 25.02


GLOBAL INDEPENDENT PERSPECTIVE ON FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY


Sungard sells Ambit core banking software unit to Silverlake Axis Ambit loses ten times its value, from $120m to $12m, in less than ten years


US heavyweight Sungard is selling its core banking software unit, Sungard Ambit, to rival Silverlake Axis for $12 million. The business was originally purchased by Sungard in late 2006 for $120 million. Sungard’s core banking business – currently


branded as Ambit Core Banking – originates from System Access, a Singapore-based banking tech- nology provider. Its retail core banking offering, known as Symbols, has been around since the late 1980s and gained good traction in Asia. Sungard purchased System Access to gain a foothold in the core banking software space and to


take Symbols to the European and the US markets. The anticipated growth, however, did not


materialise and the business got somewhat lost in Sungard’s 100+ other acquisitions. For Silverlake, this acquisition is expected to


contribute about 15 per cent to the revenue of the enlarged Silverlake Axis Group. Silverlake Axis has its own core banking system, SIBS, which is a direct competitor of Ambit Core Banking. Silverlake Axis says there will be revenue synergies from the cross selling of software and


services to each other’s customers. Raymond Kwong, CEO and group manag-


ing director of Silverlake Axis, says: ‘Through this acquisition, the combined and complementary multi-platform core, channels, card and payment solutions will enable us to deepen our customer solution implementation and support capabilities.’ As for Sungard, it is preoccupied, no doubt,


with its takeover by fellow US software and solu- tions provider, FIS.


...continued on page 26


Bank Yahav in major core transformation with TCS Bancs ‘The world’s most complex banking IT project’ is worth hundreds of millions of dollars


Israel-based Bank Yahav is undergoing ‘the world’s most complex banking IT project’ as it aims to create a completely new, end-to-end IT environ- ment from scratch and is the first in the country to adopt an international core banking system. The undertaking is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. Yahav is implementing the Bancs core system


from India-based TCS Financial Solutions. The pro- ject – undoubtedly a standout deal in the interna- tional core banking software landscape over the last year – is broad in scope, including domestic retail and corporate banking, digital channels, wealth management, trade and treasury. The new platform will be provided on a full IT outsourcing basis. The implementation started in May 2014, and


the gap analysis phase has recently been completed. Executive vice-president and CIO of Bank


Yahav, Gadi Davidyan, who is leading the pro- ject, explains: ‘Until mid-2008, Yahav was major- ity owned by Bank Hapoalim [one of the largest


Blockchain focus page 42


banking groups in Israel] and as a result all the IT and other systems were under Hapoalim’s control.’ Yahav has been just provided (and continues to be provided until the new set-up is completed) these on a hosted basis – and in this respect, life was quite simple. Complications arose when the


Israeli regulator and the anti-trust agencies mandated the sale of Hapoalim’s equity in Yahav. This was acquired by another major domes- tic banking group, Mizrahi Tefahot. ‘Effectively, we had two main


options (there was also a local package considered): to migrate onto the Mizrahi Tehafot platform or to procure a globally recog- nised packaged system and in addition to ask the new vendor to provide full IT outsourcing services,’ Davidyan says.


Natarajan Chandrasekaran, TCS, and Gadi Davidyan, Bank Yahav


It was decided that adopting ‘a global attitude’


and going for ‘a best in class’ system proven on the international arena was the way forward.


...continued on page 25 CRISP requirement engineering page 52


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