Union Bank of California of San Francisco, which is mostly owned by Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc., is replacing its in-house trade finance computer system with a Web-based version that it will share with other banks.
"It's very expensive maintaining a mainframe system when you're the only one using it," Barbara Hounsell, the bank's senior vice president of commercial loans and trade services operations, said in an interview last week. "The technology had changed enough that it was time to start over."
Last month Union Bank signed a five-year contract to use Proponix, a trade finance system hosted by CGI-AMS Inc., the Fairfax, Va., subsidiary of CGI Group Inc. of Montreal.
Ms. Hounsell would not name Union Bank's current trade finance technology provider.
The switchover is expected to take 12 months. When the new system goes live, she said, Union Bank employees will be using shared technology that is customized to meet its needs.
The system also offers an Internet portal for corporate customers.
Gillian Williams, the director of sales and marketing for the CGI-AMS trade finance business line, said other users of the Proponix system include Australia and New Zealand Banking Group of Melbourne, Bank of Montreal, and its Harris Bank of Chicago.
