Nationwide Announces Major Business Transformation Programme to Revolutionise the Society

Nationwide selects SAP(R) for Banking solutions to support growth and provide increased benefits to customers 


SWINDON, England, March 17  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nationwide, the world's largest building society, has today announced that it has selected the SAP for Banking solution portfolio as its new technology platform.  The Society will implement the new software as part of a 300 million pounds Sterling business transformation to provide increased benefits to its customers.  By doing so, Nationwide will become the first financial services provider in the UK to adopt the newest version of SAP for Banking(1), which it will use to service its growing Banking, Savings and Mortgage business(2). As part of the programme, named Voyager, Nationwide will modernise its technology with an integrated, next generation technology platform, streamlining its core processes while supporting business growth and reducing costs.

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Nationwide will lead a group(3) of world class business partners who each bring specialist skills and experience to integrate SAP for Banking into the Society by 2012.  The first phase of the programme will focus on current accounts, with subsequent phases supporting savings, mortgages and branch systems.  Nationwide is seeking major business advantages from its work with SAP, including improved operational efficiency, streamlining of its administrative processes, reduced operating costs and increased product agility.  For SAP this is a significant milestone and proof of their presence within the financial services industry.  In particular, it serves as validation of their flexible and scalable platform to support business growth, while maintaining operations during the IT transformation programme.

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software and has a proven track record in managing large-scale technology integrations around the globe. Through SAP for Banking customers will benefit from:

  -- new and innovative products
  -- greater product choice and flexibility
  -- improved turnaround and processing of applications and transactions.




The Nationwide director responsible for overseeing the systems implementation and project delivery is Darin Brumby(4), who has wide experience in leading business and technology transformation programmes.  He said: "The financial services sector is rapidly evolving and, in order for Nationwide to continue to stand out from competitors and meet tomorrow's business challenges, we must ensure we have the right technology in place to support our growth strategies.

"We are delighted to have formed this new relationship with SAP to support our business growth and customer service improvement plans.  We want to be at the forefront of this new innovation and exploit the benefits for our customers.  Our goal is to ensure that Nationwide can deliver the very best products and services to our members.

"SAP for Banking will give us the flexibility to adapt and respond to unseen future changes and advancements in the industry.  Not only will it enhance our speed to market with products, it will also improve the overall customer experience with the Society while reducing costs.  This is an exciting time for Nationwide which will see our technology systems move into the twenty-first century and strengthen our presence in the marketplace."

Thomas Balgheim, senior vice president global banking line of business, SAP AG, said: "We are proud to be a part of Nationwide's business transformation and look forward to a long-term relationship, supporting their strategic business transformation agenda.  We are very pleased Nationwide's technology operations and business processes will be based on the SAP platform, which will enable their growth today and into the future.

"SAP's banking specific solutions are built upon a flexible and scalable platform that provide the foundation for addressing the many challenges faced by financial services providers today, from increased competition and value adding customer services, to the demands of regulatory compliance and managing new growth opportunities."

   Media information:
   Roy Beale, 01793 655689, 
   Steve Cowdry, 01793 657112, 
   SAP: Evan Welsh, [phone], , CET

  Notes to editors:
  (1) The newest version of the service oriented-architecture (SOA)
      technology from SAP.

  (2) Current systems used by Nationwide include: Unisys 2200 Banking and
      Savings Platform for banking and savings; Unisys 2200 Customer
      Information System and Fujitsu mainframe for mortgages; branch teller
      systems used in Nationwide branches.

  (3) Nationwide will lead a group of chosen partners that include SAP,
      IBM, CAPGEMINI, KPMG, IFB and a number of existing technology partners
      who provide key services and support to the Society.

  (4) Darin Brumby's current business role is divisional director Business
      Systems Transformation at Nationwide Building Society, to which he was
      appointed in late 2007.  Darin was previously Group Chief Information
      Officer (CIO) at FirstGroup plc and responsible for leading,
      developing and implementing the IT strategy during five years of
      unprecedented growth and international expansion. Darin also spent
      several years with the world's largest human capital management
      company, TMP Worldwide & Monster.Com as European CIO, Asia Pacific CIO
      and Global Director Technology Services. This followed his time as
      Worldwide IT Director for Morgan Banks Ltd, Australasia's most
      successful executive search and selection firm, and executive
      technology leadership posts with many of the dominant Financial
      Services companies in his native country, Australia, including
      Colonial Financial Services, Legal and General and the Commonwealth
      Bank. The above roles were all preceded by a decorated military career
      in the Royal Australian Navy encompassing 16 years service.




To download a photograph of Darin Brumby, please visit the Nationwide Media Centre at http://www.nationwide.co.uk/mediacentre/spokespeople.asp.  For interviews, please contact Roy Beale of the Nationwide Press Office on 01793 655689.

Nationwide Building Society Nationwide is the world's largest building society with over 13 million members and assets of over 160 billion pounds Sterling.

Nationwide has mutual (as opposed to Public Limited Company) status, which means that it is owned by its members and is run day-to-day by an executive management team overseen by an elected board of directors.

Nationwide offers a broad range of retail financial services including mortgages, savings, current accounts, life assurance and investment products, personal loans and household insurance. The Society is the UK's second largest mortgage lender and the second largest savings provider. Nationwide's members can manage their finances through over 900 retail outlets, by telephone, internet and post.

The Society has around 19,000 employees.  Nationwide's head office is in Swindon with administration centres based in Northampton and Bournemouth.

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 46,100 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP(R) applications-from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver(R) technology platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/)

  (*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource
      planning and related applications such as supply chain management,
      customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and
      supplier relationship management.

  SAP for Banking


SAP for Banking provides banking specific (transactional banking, CRM, risk management) and banking relevant (financial accounting, human resources management, procurement) services and solutions created on a single enterprise SOA enabled business process platform (BPP). With more than 600 customers in 60 countries worldwide, SAP for Banking provides an integrated set of tools and automated processes to manage every aspect of the front- and back-office banking environment-from high-volume transactional banking processes and customer relationship management to financial accounting, cost controlling and profitability and risk analysis. Based on the open architecture of the SAP NetWeaver(R) platform, SAP for Banking helps companies expertly manage transactions and relationships across the institution to quickly identify and exploit market opportunities and easily tailor new products to the specific needs of individual customers. (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/banking) 

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DATASOURCE: SAP AG



CONTACT:  Roy Beale, 01793 655689, , or Steve

Cowdry, 01793 657112,  both of Nationwide

Building Society; or Evan Welsh of SAP AG, [phone],

, CET 



Web site:  http://www.sap.com/ 

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