China's rapidly reforming financial services industry is proving fertile ground for Western technology providers. Chinese banks are plying their newfound autonomy to boost online and other automated customer services to catch up with the technological sophistication of Western banks that are also trying to build a marketplace in China.
FIS has stepped into the fray, inking a license deal with Bank of Fushun to deploy the FIS eCAS2 core banking suite to support the bank's expansion into automated banking. The bank is planning to expand its service channels to include SMS, telephone banking and online banking, which is expected to be operational by late 2011.
The eCAS2 suite will provide support for the bank's deposits, loans, payments, cards, treasury management, settlement and wealth management businesses. There's also a CRM component, as the bank hopes to facilitate cross-selling across multiple business lines.
China's become a target for outsourcers and other external tech activity as the country's traditionally government controlled banking industry evolves toward allowing more control to the banks. These national and local banks have generally lagged in tech sophistication when compared to Western banks, and that tech deficit's proving attractive to not only FIS, but myriad other tech firms.
For example, a financial services outsourcing summit in early July conducted by the Global Leaders Institute attracted more than 200 attendees, including representatives from the People's Bank of China, UBS, Standard Chartered Bank and State Street Hangzhou, along with a number of technology firms.
