31-Jan-06
Brussels, Luxembourg - 13 January 2006 - Fortis, one of the top 20 European financial institutions, has chosen Odyssey’s solutions in order to support its Cityplan restructure program, and the integration of newly acquired Dryden Wealth Management Ltd. The leading Benelux bank is in the process of unifying its wealth management systems from Odyssey in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in order to offer the same superior service levels to its customers, irrespective of location. The bank also aims to reduce overall IT costs by merging its IT operations across the regional branches. In addition Fortis has decided to implement Odyssey’s Portfolio Management and Relationship Management Workstations to support the Dryden Wealth Management organisation in the UK, and to extend the use in Asia of the current Odyssey Triple’A system to serve Dryden Wealth Management in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In addition to extending use of the existing portfolio management system, Fortis decided to implement Odyssey’s relationship management component suite as the strategic CRM solution in Private Banking, and to use it in the roll-out of a new generation of its customer internet site. Implementation is planned to start early in 2006, and the rollout will take place in several incremental phases in 2006/2007.
This latest signing was made possible through a long lasting relationship of trust between Odyssey and Fortis, and results essentially from a long-standing joint team effort. From 1997 through to 2003 Fortis successfully implemented Odyssey’s Triple’A system in several locations globally, providing the bank with measurable operational improvements and business benefits, and thus making Triple’A the bank’s standard solution.
“Odyssey is fully focused and specialised in providing Private Banking applications, and their integrated solutions represent clear added-value for our business, especially in the CRM area in comparison with generic software solutions”, says Ron Barends, Program Manager Global Private Banking, Fortis.
Charlie Barrass, CEO at Odyssey Asset Management Systems says: “This latest contract represents the biggest license order within Odyssey’s history, and is the result of a tremendous teamwork and many years of hard work and commitment by both parties. Fortis’ investment system platform now includes almost all of the components from Odyssey’s wealth management offering, providing added-value across the board to the Fortis off-shore sites, on-shore units, and head-offices. We are proud to be seen as a strategic partner to the Fortis Group globally.”
About Fortis
Fortis is an integrated financial services provider active in the fields of banking and insurance. With a market capitalization of EUR 32.8 billion (30 November 2005) and around 56,000 employees, Fortis ranks among the top 20 European financial institutions. In its home market, the Benelux countries, Fortis occupies a leading position that it aims to develop and bolster. Fortis is drawing on the expertise it has acquired in its home market to realize its European ambitions via growth platforms. Fortis also operates successfully worldwide in selected activities. In specific countries in Europe and Asia it effectively exploits its know-how and experience in bancassurance. Fortis is listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam, Brussels and Luxembourg and has a sponsored ADR program in the United States. More information is available on www.fortis.com
Kristine Solf
Marketing Officer
Tel: +352 42 60 801
email: ksolf@odyssey-group.com
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