BIAN builds huge global momentum

Four new major players join BIAN’s member community as two new board members are appointed

[Frankfurt: 19 May 2014] — The Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN), a not-for-profit association that builds banking technology standards, today announces the appointment of two new figures to its board of directors — joining from Bangkok Bank and UBS — as well as four new members to its wider community.

BIAN is expanding its global presence with the addition of four international members into its standards ecosystem. Joining from the US are community-oriented bank, First Niagara, and CSC, a leader in information technology services. They are accompanied by Asia’s global investment bank, Nomura.

US-based organisations First Niagara, and CSC join the network to drive banking innovation with the support of BIAN’s architecture framework. In working with BIAN, financial institutions and service providers have a safe place to exchange information and knowledge, supporting the sector’s transition to newer, non-proprietary technologies.

BIAN has also signed its latest academic partner Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). They are now working together to establish how best to include the BIAN framework into projects and course offerings for CMU’s Masters students in Information Systems and Management (MISM).

Inder Koul, Chief Information Officer, First Niagara: “At First Niagara, we pride ourselves on putting our customers at the center of all we do. Our technology initiatives are structured to support those goals, simplifying our customer experience to deliver superior products and services. Our BIAN membership provides us access to an additional set of industry standards and resources that reflect best practices from member banks.  We believe this helps to accelerate our development cycle and prevents any over-reliance on one solution. We look forward to the value this partnership will bring us.”

Venkataraman Bala, CTO, Banking & Capital Markets, CSC: “Joining the BIAN community is an important commitment to delivering more efficient, standardised and open solutions to clients.  Taking a collaborative approach across the industry will undoubtedly achieve quicker and better results for everyone involved.”

Alongside member growth, BIAN is pleased to announce two new additions to its board of directors — nominated by UBS and Bangkok Bank. Stephan Murer, Group Technology Officer, UBS AG and Ian Guy Gillard Executive Vice President, Bangkok Bank, were elected on April 29th during BIAN’s General Assembly, bringing with them a wealth of experience to expand BIAN’s presence in different global regions, including APAC.

Having joined UBS AG in November 2013, Stephan Murer is responsible for architecture, research and development. Previously, Stephan served in various roles for Credit Suisse AG, including the prominent post of Chief Architect — a position he has held since 2000.

New board member Ian G. Gillard is an executive vice president at Bangkok Bank in Thailand. Ian has been with Bangkok Bank since January 1997 and has responsibilities in the Technology Division for Development, Enterprise Architecture and End User Support at the bank. His current technology focus areas include Mobile Banking and enabling mobile capabilities for the bank’s employees.

Hans Tesselaar, executive director, BIAN: “BIAN is experiencing tremendous growth, with our global membership continuing to increase across different regions. All of our members are subject to the same challenges, through either the provision of IT systems as a vendor or provider, or attempting to upgrade legacy systems in-house. These challenges have accelerated interest in banking standards, and we will continue to collaborate with the world’s top IT architects to finalise a worldwide framework for all financial institutions.

“Alongside our new members, we have appointed two new people to our board of directors, who are at the top of their field in prominent, international banks. At BIAN, it is crucial that we work with the world’s best infrastructure specialists when such demands are placed on the technologies behind financial services. I am extremely pleased to welcome both Stephan Murer and Ian Gillard to our board of directors and look forward to working with them to expand our presence in different global regions.”

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About BIAN

Established in 2008, the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) is an independent, member owned, not-for-profit association, designed to build and promote a common architectural framework for banking interoperability issues.  BIAN’s goal is to define SOA and semantic definitions for IT services in the banking industry. The community focuses on creating a standard semantic banking services landscape, while ensuring consistent service definitions, levels of detail and boundaries.  This will help banks to achieve a reduction of integration costs and use the advantages of a service-oriented architecture.

Financial institutions, software vendors, and system integrators, along with technology partners, are invited to join the association and play a collaborative role with other industry leaders in defining, building and implementing next-generation banking platforms.

About First Niagara

First Niagara, through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Niagara Bank, N.A., is a multi-state community-oriented bank with approximately 420 branches, $38 billion in assets, $27 billion in deposits, and approximately 5,800 employees providing financial services to individuals, families and businesses across New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.firstniagara.com.

About CSC

CSC is a global leader of next-generation information technology (IT) services and solutions. Our mission is to enable superior returns on clients’ technology investments through best-in-class industry solutions, domain expertise and global scale.

About Nomura

Nomura is an Asia-based financial services group with an integrated global network spanning over 30 countries. By connecting markets East & West, Nomura services the needs of individuals, institutions, corporates and governments through its three business divisions: Retail, Asset Management, and Wholesale (Global Markets and Investment Banking). Founded in 1925, the firm is built on a tradition of disciplined entrepreneurship, serving clients with creative solutions and considered thought leadership. For further information about Nomura, visit www.nomura.com.