Commonwealth Bank of Australia has awarded a major contract to rebuild its Internet banking platform to a joint bid from Dublin-based component software supplier Eontec and IBM Business Consulting Services.
The winning tender for the multi-million dollar contract has been the subject of heated speculation. Commonwealth's current NetBank platform was developed in the late 1990s and was only ever intended to service one million customers. More than two million customers are now registered with NetBank.
Hugh Harley, the Commonwealth Bank’s group executive, retail banking services, says: "Our online customer base and transaction activity continue to grow rapidly and this upgrade will provide increased capacity to support future customer growth and will also expand the range of services available online."
The bank worked with outsourcing service provider EDS to whittle down a shortlist of five contestants for the project. The agreement involves IBM Business Consulting Services supplying, integrating and supporting an online banking product supplied by Eontec.
Executive director of EDS Australia, Stuart Bailey, says EDS will provide the infrastructure, develop linkages to other bank systems and operate the online banking service on an ongoing basis.
The new system is scheduled for launch during the second half of 2004.