The agreement was formalized at a recent signing ceremony held in Beijing, China. The implementation of the BANCS core banking solution by TCS-FNS is part of the bank's efforts to transform its operations and prepare for future growth.

Today's announcement demonstrates that HXB, a corporation that believes in the vital role of transformation and innovation in maintaining rapid business growth, is committed to continuing to take a leading role in the industry by being one of the few Chinese banks to date that are implementing and standardizing their core banking systems.

HXB decided to transform its current core banking system to help fulfil its growing business needs. After careful consideration and evaluation, HXB chose TCS-FNS to revamp the bank's software systems. HXB expects that the BANCS implementation will assist the bank in achieving its growth ambitions and respond to market demands as the Chinese financial market deregulates. HXB aims to set up a service-oriented banking system architecture—a system designed to enable the bank to accelerate the development and launch of new products and to provide the bank with strong technical support in serving its rapidly growing customer base.

"Operating in a gradually opened financial market, HXB will be inevitably facing various significant challenges due to the market maturity and standardization in compliance with international best practice," said Mr Zhao Yuehua, General Manager of HXB IT Consolidation Office. "Given this background, advanced technology infrastructure has been identified as the backbone of the bank's future growth. By setting up the IT Consolidation Office that plays an organising role in the bank toward the next generation IT architecture, and the cooperation with TCS-FNS, a world famous core banking system provider with strong reputation, we will be able to provide effective support to the demand of financial product and service innovation, thus helping the bank to secure a position among the most competitive banks in China and world market."

By implementing the BANCS solution, this leading Chinese commercial bank will significantly improve customer service, integrated risk management and product innovation. The solution—which includes deposit and loans, domestic and international payments, treasury management, corporate accounting and a multi-channel front-end solution for tellers and customers — is designed to enable HXB to manage all transactions through the one integrated solution. The software will help HXB streamline its operations, better manage costs, increase profitability and reduce operational risk especially in light of Basle II. As part of its standard core banking software for HXB, TCS-FNS will incorporate localized functionality specific to deposits and loans in China. The BANCS solution will also enable HXB to more effectively satisfy the demands of China's banking industry laws and regulations.

"By selecting TCS-FNS, HXB demonstrates the increasing demand for banks in Asia Pacific and worldwide to standardize their core banking processes," said Tony Ward, CEO, TCS-FNS. "BANCS will enable HXB's processes to be efficient, flexible and scalable, as evidenced by our customer base who have won many industry awards around the technology and business processes deployed."