German Vendor Offering Bank Software in U.S.

The German software company SAP AG is following through on its plan to pursue more customers in the U.S. financial services industry.

Known in the general corporate market for its R/3 enterprise resource planning software, SAP began targeting U.S. financial companies about 18 months ago. It recently released four software "suites" for banking in the United States: Strategic Enterprise Management, Business Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Core Banking. All are based on the R/3 platform.

SAP has already released software for analyzing risk and profitability. Other applications, including credit risk software, are to be released in coming months.

SAP, which posted $3.4 billion of sales last year, says it expects its financial services business unit to generate 10% of earnings within five years, up from 3.5%. Its emphasis is on the United States, Germany, and Japan.

SAP has more than 190 financial services customers in about 30 countries. They include most of the leading banks in Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

First Chicago NBD Corp. and UMB Bank of Missouri are piloting its profit analyzer software. Users of SAP's R/3 for general-ledger purposes include Wells Fargo & Co., Putnam Investments, Allstate Corp., and the World Bank.

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