i-flex completes Flexcube roll-out for Citi

Information technology solutions company i-flex Solutions announced that it has completed the roll-out of Flexcube, its flagship banking product, in 67 countries within Citi's markets and banking division, according to a release to the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

Citi had started the implementation of Flexcube in 2000 with Finland being the first country to go live. During the next several years, Citi re-worked its core banking platform for its markets and banking unit. The technology replacement was part of a worldwide initiative of Citi, which embarked on a programme to modernise its entire technology and infrastructure by standardising on a common platform.

According to Celent, a leading industry analyst firm, "We believe Citibank will, ultimately, be able to save close to $ 110 million annually through reduced maintenance costs as well as more rapid development times."

N R K Raman, chief operating officer and managing director, i-flex, said: "The scale of the Flexcube rollout at Citi has never been attempted nor achieved. As partner in the transformation program at Citi, we have together demonstrated the enormity of benefits that a bank can reap by standardisation of the processing platform and leapfrog to a new level of operational excellence and cost management."

Launched in 1997, Flexcube is a multi-currency system capable of being deployed across multiple geographies while centralising data processing at single or multiple hubs. It can processes more than seven million transactions per day. It also has the ability to "talk" to other applications designed for niche banking operations. These capabilities in particular address the needs of large, tier-one banks, such as Citi, with operations in several countries, each of which often have a host of in - house systems built for specific requirements.