Global BIAN community reaches 38 members as first U.S. bank joins

BIAN community continues to expand internationally, signing four new members from the banking and technology industries: PNC Financial Services Group, KfW Bankengruppe, Asseco Group and Nucleus Software

LONDON and FRANKFURT, 18th April 2013 — BIAN, the Banking Industry Architecture Network, today welcomes four new members to its increasingly global and diverse community, including two more banks: PNC Financial Services Group, its first U.S. bank and one of the U.S.’s leading providers of retail and business banking, and development bank KfW Bankengruppe, one of Germany’s three largest banks.

BIAN also welcomes software solution providers Nucleus Software and the Asseco Group to the collaborative community which is working to establish standards for service-oriented architecture (SOA) in the banking industry. This brings the total BIAN community to 38 members: 17 banks, 20 technology providers and service integrators, and one academic partner.

These latest members join BIAN at a dynamic time in the community’s development, just weeks after the launch of the new Service Landscape, version 2.0 (‘SL 2.0’). This blueprint of core banking system building blocks was a significant step in the BIAN mission to deliver full banking functionality Service Domains. When complete, the BIAN Service Landscape will allow banks to improve business agility and make significant cost savings on IT integration, which can be as much as triple the purchase costs of the original software.

Hans Tesselaar, executive director of BIAN commented: “The inclusion of our first U.S. bank, combined with further expansion into Asia and Eastern Europe, will be critical in supporting BIAN work in these markets. What’s more, the unique expertise of KfW Bankengruppe will enable us to set up new working groups to develop specific development bank Service Domain definitions, adding a further dimension to next year’s BIAN Service Landscape 3.0.

Current regulatory and budget pressures are changing the face of banking IT. This is why we welcome the newest four BIAN members and look forward to benefiting from the diverse skills and specialities this global collection of organisations bring with them.”

Steve Van Wyk, Chairman of the BIAN board and executive vice president, Head of Operations and Technology, PNC Financial Services Group, Inc: “I am convinced that cost pressures and increased banking regulations will lead to a new focus on people, processes and technology within the financial services. To remain the preferred choice for our customers we must become the ‘easy-to-use bank’, providing superior client experience anywhere, at any time, on any device. BIAN is going to support us in achieving the flexible IT infrastructure needed to offer this level of service. This is why we are very proud to be the first U.S. bank joining this vibrant initiative of banks, software providers and system integrators and look forward to working toward the de-facto SOA standard for the banking industry.”

Michael Strauss, head of IT Strategy and Architecture, KfW Bankengruppe: “Based on our ‘IT-strategy 2020’ plan, KfW has decided to significantly redesign part of our current IT landscape. As part of this transition process the clear focus is on standardisation. Using the BIAN community and materials we strongly believe that BIAN will help us meet our IT objectives. What’s more, as one of the largest development banks worldwide we hope our membership will attract other development banks to join BIAN and help promote standardisation across our market.”

Ravi Pratap Singh, head of Global Product Management, Nucleus Software Exports Limited: “The need to integrate different applications, platforms, technologies and suppliers is one of the biggest IT challenges banks are facing today. Nucleus Software firmly believes that the BIAN initiative and development of a standardised SOA model will help us to support our customers in addressing this issue and greatly simplifying the integration of compliant solutions.”

Slawomir Ziajka, director of Product Planning and Development at the Commercial Banks Division, Asseco: “At Asseco, we believe that optimal architecture and proven functional design determine the quality and value of our products. BIAN opens the platform to provide the complete foundation for functional service oriented architecture and establish an industry-wide standard. Ultimately this will be beneficial to both banks and their IT solution providers.”

About BIAN
Established in 2008, The Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) is an independent, member owned, not-for-profit association to establish 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.

BIAN Members: ABN AMRO, Asseco Group, Axxiome, Banco Galicia, Bangkok Bank, Capital Banking Solutions, CGI, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, COREtransform, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Postbank, Erste Group, FERNBACH, HCL Axon, IBM, ifb group, IKOR, Infosys, ING, innobis AG, KfW Bankengruppe, Microsoft, Nucleus Software, PNC Financial Services Group, Rabobank, , SAP, Scotiabank Group , Singapore Management University, Sopra Group, Standard Bank of South Africa, SunGard, SWIFT, TCS Bancs, Temenos, UBS, UniCredit Group, Zürcher Kantonalbank.

About Asseco Group
Asseco Poland S.A. specializes in the production and development of software and as the largest software house with Polish capital is proud to successfully compete with the worldwide market global companies. As a leader in the Asseco Group, we focus profitable companies in the IT sector. We offer comprehensive, proprietary IT solutions for all sectors of the economy.

Own solutions account for over a half of Asseco Group total sales revenues. This puts us among the top ten software vendors in Europe. Asseco Group operates in most of the European countries as well as in Israel, USA, Japan, and Canada. Companies from the Group are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, TelAviv Stock Exchange as well as on the American NASDAQ Global Markets.

http://www.asseco.com/

About KfW Bankengruppe
KfW Bankengruppe is one of the leading and most experienced development and promotional banks in the world. Established in 1948 as a public law institution, KfW is today owned 80% by the Federal Republic of Germany and 20% by the federal states (“Länder”). With a balance sheet total of EUR 494.8 billion (as at 31 December 2011) it is one of Germany’s three largest banks. KfW is committed to the sustainable improvement of economic, social and ecological conditions in Germany and abroad. In 2012 KfW made loan commitments in a volume of EUR 73,4 billion.

The focus of its activities is on the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises and business start-ups, programmes to promote the housing industry, environmental protection and education finance for private customers, financing programmes for municipalities and regional promotional banks, export and project finance as well as the promotion of developing and transition countries.

In the framework of its modernisation process, KfW has currently launched several internal large-scale projects. Within in five years KfW will invest about EUR 500 million into the renewal of the IT infrastructure and adjustments to the internal processes.

http://www.kfw.de/

About Nucleus Software
Nucleus Software is a leading software powerhouse providing innovative and pioneering software solutions for Banks and Financial organisations globally. Nucleus Software offers a host of competitive IT solutions and consultancy services designed to support the whole spectrum of business offerings across retail banking, corporate banking, cards and cash management. With over 150 customers across the globe, the company is consistently innovating with cutting edge and industry driven products in the domain. Nucleus Software is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit www.nucleussoftware.com

http://www.nucleussoftware.com/

About PNC Financial Services Group
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (www.pnc.com) is one of the U.S.’s largest diversified financial services organizations providing retail and business banking; residential mortgage banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management.

https://www.pnc.com/