Malaysian Bank Invests $5.5 Million in Power Systems Upgrade

Published: March 17, 2009

by Alex Woodie

The EON Bank Group has implemented a new core banking system that consists of Silverlake Group's software running on i OS-based IBM Power 550 Express hardware, the IT vendors announced last week at a press conference in Malaysia.

With deposits of RM41.5 billion (or about $11.5 billion at current exchange rates), EON Bank Group is one of Malaysia's largest banks. The bank employs more than 5,000 people, who serve more than a million consumers and business from 136 branches across the nation.

Recently, the bank has been implementing strategic changes to its underlying organizational structure and process as part of "Project Quantum Leap." One of the ways the company figured it could improve customer experience was by upgrading its core banking system, called Silverlake Axis Integrated Banking Solution (SIBS), with a new Power Systems box.

EON Bank and Silverlake, which is also its systems integrator, decided that a Model 550 Express was an appropriately powerful machine that would serve the bank for years. SIBS went live on the Model 550 at i5/OS V5R4 on March 8, following a press conference attended by EON Bank, Silverlake, and IBM a week earlier.

EON Bank Group CEO Albert Lau Yiong, who has checked out the new Power 550 Express, says the new system proved "stable, scalable, and flexible" during tests, and should easily support the bank's growth over the next five years. "We are proud to be the first financial institution in Malaysia to acquire this new system, which will improve business responsiveness and customer service efficiency," Lau says.

As part of the system upgrade, EON Bank Group improved its disaster recovery site and DR processes, the companies said.

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