leads which were put on hold when the full extent of Phoenix’s financial difficulties became apparent. The first success for London Bridge came from Trinidad


and Tobago-based Republic Bank, one of the largest indigenous banks in the Caribbean with a network of over 80 branches spread over Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana and Grenada. It had apparently been talking to Phoenix some time earlier but was not willing to do business with the supplier because of the difficulties, said Shivdasani, ahead of his departure. ‘We had a pipeline of prospects which was put on hold,’ he said. Most did not seek other systems but waited until the situation at Phoenix was resolved. ‘So there are quite a few deals brewing around the world.’ Republic Bank was much more comfortable dealing directly with London Bridge. The deal did not include any of London Bridge’s own software although the bank planned to evaluate this. It signed to replace an in-house system for its core retail business and also took Phoenix’s internet banking and trade finance offerings. The UK deal was gained directly by London Bridge and was for Phoenix’s internet banking offering and came from an institution called Minster Trust. This small entity apparently went live with the system but was not cited as influential in London Bridge’s overall UK plans. By mid-2002, the definition of UK-specific requirements had been completed, said European managing director, Bruce Leith. The supplier planned to target tier two, savings-type organisations in the UK, with Vectus an important part of the offering. Minster Trust was not involved in the definition work, he added. At this time, other target European markets cited by Leith were Scandinavia, Benelux and Eastern Europe. A couple of US additions signed in the second half of 2001


were Bank of New Canaan (a five year contract, with the system to be run out of London Bridge’s data centre in Holbrook, New York) and Beal Bank (in a deal valued at over $4 million, with the SQL Server version of the system to be located in the supplier’s Atlanta data centre). ITS was continuing to bring in business. There was a large


deal at Al-Rajhi Foreign Exchange. This institution specialised in processing remittance transactions for its customers. ITS headed the project to install Phoenix in Al-Rajhi’s head office and branches to support this business. In addition it was intended that, subject to approval from the Saudi Monetary Authority, the Phoenix system would support the expansion of the operation into a full retail bank. The first phase of the project started in the first quarter of 2001; the proposed expansion would see three additional phases which would include other areas of retail banking plus trade finance, treasury, and ATM and POS services. Another Middle East deal stemmed from Misr-Romania Bank in Egypt. The contract spanned core retail, trade finance, and Mosaic. ITS manager, Aziz Lotayef, said he was hopeful that the Egyptian market would generate lots of sales.


A deal was then won with AFA in the first quarter of 2001,


again via ITS. This was at Industrial Bank of Kuwait. The bank took the Phoenix systems for retail and trade finance, with Musketeer for treasury. The bank opted for a relatively short implementation schedule. Note should also be made of Neptune Software. As mentioned earlier, Phoenix International withdrew from Africa and granted the rights to Nigeria-based CSA. CSA gained deals at Fina Bank (Guarantee Trust Bank as of 2014) and Charterhouse Bank (which closed in 2012 amid a money laundering scandal), both in Kenya, and at Amalgamated Bank in Ghana. However, CSA was supposedly finding it difficult to sell into the rest of Africa, largely for cultural reasons. As a result, CSA teamed up with former Kindle sales manager, Hugh Kearney, and set up a UK-based company, Neptune Software. This entity, working with CSA, came up with a version of the Phoenix system dubbed Equinox. Neptune claimed to own the rights to this and, with CSA, claimed to have put in over two and a half years of development work. Neptune gained a handful of sales, but no payments for these were received by London Bridge, which publicly stated that it had no problem with the arrangement. Fiona Wallace, COO for Phoenix at London Bridge, said in early 2002 that her company’s relationship was with CSA. There was a one-off sum paid at the time of the initial deal,


with royalties on future Phoenix sales via CSA, all of which had been paid. CSA had exclusive rights until 2004 in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe, said Wallace. London Bridge had an office in Johannesburg and was actively marketing its systems in other parts of the continent, she added. She described the relationship with CSA as ‘amicable’. Nevertheless, and perhaps understandably, the arrangement caused confusion for at least one bank where Neptune was bidding. By mid-2002, there was ‘dialogue’ between CSA and


London Bridge with the intention of clarifying the situation, so that it would become clear when a bank might take Equinox and when it might take Phoenix. Leith pointed out that CSA had some components which London Bridge did not have, and vice versa. There was no doubt that Africa represented a target market for London Bridge. At this time it was in the process of finalising agreements with a couple of distributors in the southern part of the continent. London Bridge had a rather rocky ride in 2002 from a financial standpoint and it cut its workforce by around ten per cent, with offices in Australia, New Zealand and the US closed. The announcement had a big impact on London Bridge’s share price, with around one-third wiped off its value. The losses and issues continued into 2003.


The supplier continued to bring in US orders for Phoenix during 2002, with wins at First National Bank of Olathe, GreatBanc Inc and, towards the end of the year, at Commerce National Bank of Florida, and Commonwealth Bank & Trust. Commerce National took the system on a managed service basis, to be run out of London Bridge’s


Universal Banking Systems Market Report | www.ibsintelligence.com 75


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