PointBank is converting its core banking to VSoft's CoreSoft, a modern browser-based system built with J2EE technology. The $350 million bank is so confident in CoreSoft's abilities that it plans to offer the system as an outsourced service via PointBank's in-house data center to other Texas banks needing modern core processing, in addition to powering PointBank's nine branches.
"CoreSoft is going to increase four-fold our ability to handle what we're doing now with the same staff we have today," says Ray David, president of the Pilot Point-based bank. "We thought, 'Why not bring on 20 or 30 other branches from non-competing banks in South or West Texas that just don't want the headaches of handling operations? Why not turn this into a source of income for our bank?'
"We're on the outskirts of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and a lot of smaller banks out there need someone to offer that personal touch they can't get from some of the bigger houses," David adds. "This product is going to allow us to move into that outsourcing arena."
PointBank won't launch the service bureau for at least another year, because full conversion to CoreSoft won't occur at the bank until the end of January 2014. The addition of ancillary services is already underway: Products are being added, tested and manually entered into PointBank's legacy core where needed, and services will run in parallel prior to conversion day.
But the switch is primarily being undertaken so the bank can resolve longstanding operational problems caused, David says, by the shortcomings of PointBank's legacy system. The main goal is to make currently manual tasks like loan processing more electronic, as well as to boost CRM and compliance, and speed delivery of services like mobile remote deposit to customers.
"It's tough to want to reinvest in a whole new system after you get the initial investment in a legacy core depreciated off your books," David says. "But there is a pain point in inefficiencies reached that makes switching required."
A specific problem with the old system occurs whenever there's a holiday: The release dates of holds placed on customer deposits are changed to the wrong day then, so the bank's tellers must manually correct every inaccurate hold card. "Our system changes our dates on us and we have to go back and change it to the next day every time," David says. "Messing those up is a compliance issue. So I've had to set up a two-tier system of audits just to make sure those dates are right and we're getting them out."
A modern programming code was the main draw for PointBank in tapping VSoft's CoreSoft. "The fact that it's written in JavaScript 2 language, that really piqued our interest," David says. "There will be a lot more products we'll get to integrate and layer in better when it's in the same language, as opposed to writing a third software program to interface the old code to."
Mobile deposit capture was slated at press time to go live Feb. 1. PointBank expects to launch online account opening by the end of the first quarter. Services like these, as well as loan documentation and CRM, currently require staff to re-enter data into PointBank's legacy core system, because the old core lacks an interface to these processes. But when conversion to the new core occurs next year, the data will flow through automatically to CoreSoft.
VSoft has won fans for enabling integration of CoreSoft with third-party products and databases. The Duluth, Ga.-based vendor cut its teeth first in the imaging solutions space before publicly entering the core systems market in May 2010, when it announced the beta conversion of Carter Bank & Trust to CoreSoft, following a quiet, three-year development of the system with the $4.3 billion in assets, Martinsville, Va.-based bank.
David is particularly excited about CoreSoft's database culling features, and the possibilities of integrating the system with more automated account opening and documentation products like those offered by Andera and ComplianceOne.
"A lot of reporting solutions out there are limited to what they can pull out of the system to be give you a full, accurate view," David says. "I spent 10 years as a forensic accountant, so analyzing data is very critical to me. And this product, because of the way the database flows, allows us to extract more data on our customers than we've ever been able to before with any other system. In the future, such a technology combination will allow the bank's customers to use iPads to fill out forms and open accounts in its lobby.
CASEFILE
BANK: PointBank
PROBLEM: Bank needs a new core system, but at what expense?
SOLUTION: Tap an internet-based system and sell leftover processing to other banks.
