Unity Bank Plc, one of ICS BANKS® users,the first to run Oracle’s latest technology in Africa

Nov. 27, 2011 - PRLog -- ICS Financial Systems Limited (ICSFS), the global application software and services provider, announces the completion of ICS BANKS® migration at Unity Bank Plc to run on the latest Oracle technology, Oracle Database 11g and Oracle WebLogic Server 11g. Unity Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading retail banks that emerged from the largest merger and consolidation in Nigeria’s banking industry, is the first to run a universal banking application on Oracle’s latest database and server technology in Africa and the Middle East, and indeed most parts of the world. Unity Bank is also one of the largest employers of labour in Nigeria and a major contributor to its gross domestic product (GDP). The bank and its associate companies employ over 5,000 people.

The migration process started in June 2011, and was accomplished in a record time of two months. The process was smooth, swift and transparent. ICSFS continues to lead the performance enhancement for end of period activities. Unity Bank deployed the earlier version of ICS BANKS® in 2006, and with this migration, the bank now enjoys record processing levels, running end-of-day processing for over 250 branches and around 5,000 online users in less than 30 minutes.

Managing Director of Unity Bank, Ado Y. Wanka, stated:
“Staying at the forefront of technology has always been our priority at Unity Bank. The success of our relationship with ICSFS can be attributed to their excellence in providing high standard services and technologies, one of which is running ICS BANKS® on Oracle’s latest technology, Oracle Database 11g and Oracle WebLogic Server 11g. We are proud to be the first African bank to use this innovation, and this will result in greater service efficiency for our bank through improved data consistency, integrity, security, and manageability. ”


Mr. I. T. Mohammed; Executive Director of Unity Bank, commented:
“ICSFS has been our IT partner since 2006, and running ICS BANKS® on Oracle Database 11g and Oracle WebLogic Server 11g places Unity Bank in a leading role as a financial services provider. We are already seeing outstanding results, such as high performance and cost effective solutions. The fully integrated ICS BANKS® has also proved to be highly adaptable to the regional and Nigerian market trends and helped us innovate and deploy new products.”

Managing Director of ICSFS; Mr. Robert Hazboun, stated:

“Our clients are our number one priority, and it is essential that we deliver the best technology to meet their needs effectively. We are confident that running ICS BANKS® on Oracle’s latest technology will enable Unity Bank to deploy high level services, in order to meet clients’ needs more efficiently. Our strong partnership with Unity Bank aims to bring together the best in cutting-edge solutions and technical support. We wish the bank ongoing success of providing the most advanced technology available today.”

Executive Director of ICSFS; ¬¬¬¬¬ Mr. Wael Malkawi, stated:
“We are proud to be the first company to introduce universal banking solutions on Oracle’s latest technology in Africa and Nigeria in particular. Nigeria today is a leading financial hub, and a leader in utilizing the latest technologies for modern and innovative banking services.  We have been leaders in servicing the banking industry in Nigeria since the 90’s, and will continue to do so. This commitment resulted in ICS BANKS® receiving the award of Banking Software of the Year (2010) that was voted by thousands of Nigerians.” Mr. Malkawi continued: “As many banks today in Nigeria are looking to introduce Islamic banking window, ICSFS is happy to facilitate interested organizations on building the capacity and expertise with its ICS BANKS® ISLAMIC solution.”

Alliances & Channels Manager of Oracle; Mr. Tamer Draz, said:

“With more than 30 years of an outstanding leadership, ICSFS have had a profound impact on the financial arena globally. Their dedication, specialization, accountability, under-promise and over-deliver approach are the mainstay of such incalculable accomplishment. Their strength lies in professionalism, flexibility and superb technical skills. ICSFS solutions are parameterized; therefore clients can quickly put to use the features they need with a minimum amount of time, effort and cost. Being one of the first WebLogic 11g and DB 11g adopters globally, ICS BANKS® Software has leveraged the strength and capabilities of Oracle latest technology to place its head and shoulders above the rest.”
ICS BANKS® provides a complete suite of banking business modules with a rich sweep of functionality and features, addressing business needs and automating accounting processes, as needed, to improve a bank’s business performance. ICS BANKS® has always been a pioneer in utilizing the latest technology to serve financial institutions. In addition to its embedded Service-Oriented-Architecture (SOA), the system is deployed in a multi-tiered setup that runs on a web thin client, J2EE environment.

About Unity Bank Plc.: one of Nigeria’s leading retail banks. Unity Bank emerged from the largest merger and consolidation in Nigeria’s banking industry. Following the landmark banking reforms initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), nine financial institutions with competences in investment banking, corporate and retail banking came together in January 2006 to form Unity Bank Plc.  It is Nigeria's 7th largest bank by business locations.
http://unitybankng.com/index.php

About ICS Financial Systems Ltd. - (ICSFS): sister company of Computer and Communications Systems Ltd. - (CCS) and International Computer Systems (London) Ltd – (ICS-London) ,is a leading provider of modular, core banking systems. ICSFS’ success can be attributed to our turnkey offering, ICS BANKS® that serves and supports customers across the globe. ICS BANKS® is a fully integrated universal, banking application that deploys a solution and a range of professional services to automate and streamline banking services. www.icsfs.com
About Oracle: Oracle  is the world's most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems company. For more information about Oracle, visit oracle.com.

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ICS Financial Systems (ICSFS), part of the International Computer Systems (London) Ltd. (ICS) group,is a leading provider of modular, core banking systems. ICSFS’ success can be attributed to our turnkey offering, ICS BANKS® that serves and supports customers across the globe. ICS BANKS® is a fully integrated universal, banking application that deploys a solution and a range of professional services to automate and streamline banking services.