Brussels, 13th May 2010 – Callataÿ & Wouters, a provider of core banking and multi-channel distribution solutions, is pleased to announce its customer, National Savings and Investment (NS&I), one of the largest savings providers in the United Kingdom, has been awarded the Celent Model Bank Award 2010 under the banner of 'Innovation and Insight’, following the implementation of Callatay and Wouters’ (C&W) Thaler core banking infrastructure.
Celent’s Model Bank Award is designed to illustrate best practice use of IT by showcasing innovative and exemplary efforts within the industry. NS&I was awarded this status following the successful modernisation of their legacy systems through a two stage process. Until 1999, most NS&I transactions were paper-based and handled face-to-face at the local Post Office® or by mail. NS&I implemented Callatay & Wouters’ flagship product, Thaler for Retail Banking, to modernise its processes for customer management, account management, payments and product configuration and has evolved into a multi-channel institution that operates through the internet, call centres, post and the Post Office®.
During the first phase of modernisation in 2000-2001, NS&I brought all 13 legacy systems onto a single platform. Callatay and Wouters’ Thaler core banking infrastructure was introduced and data involving over one billion individual customer records were migrated onto a single system.
The second phase of the modernisation programme began in 2008 and included the installation of an upgraded version of Thaler, based on a multi-channel, service-oriented architecture (SOA), in 2009. As a result of this deployment, NS&I have simplified its current product offerings, increased the transfer of customer-facing processes to more cost-effective channels and deployed new strategies for customer retention.
Marc de Groote, Callatay & Wouters comments “As banks look to provide their customers with market leading services in order to differentiate themselves from their competition, many banks are realising the importance of upgrading their core banking infrastructure. NS&I’s success in winning this award proves the value add that a modern, scalable and flexible infrastructure can bring.”