IND acquisition opens chink in competitors’ armour for Misys
The acquisition of digital banking specialist IND Group will give Misys access to parts of its rivals’ customer base that it intends to exploit as it develops its offerings in the digital banking channel.
In March last year Misys started a partnership with IND primarily to address the needs of its own customer base as they began to focus on improving their digital channels. Nadeem Syed, chief executive of Misys, said that consumers are increasingly using online mechanisms as their primary interface with their banks. “Banks are realising that this is the reality of their customer interactions – it goes beyond basic transactional capability on mobile devices and into a full customer experience,” he said.
Budapest-based IND was founded in 1997 and has some 30 banking clients in eight countries using its Service Oriented Architecture-based digital banking applications, which are designed to integrate with existing core banking platforms and provide better customer experiences in online and mobile banking services, including the use of gamification techniques. These range from established industry names like UBS to newcomers like the Polish bank Alior, which has won plaudits for its Sync online and mobile banking services, including the 2012 Banking Technology Award in the Best Internet Banking Service category. Other clients include Belfius, CIB Bank, Erste Bank, UniCredit and Raiffeisen Bank Hungary.
Syed declined to disclose the terms of the deals, saying only that Misys regards it as “accretive” to revenue. Under the terms of the deal; all 200 IND are transferred to Misys with immediate effect and the IND name will disappear as the products and services are marketed and supported under the Misys Bank Fusion Digital brand. Balázs Vinnai, IND Group chief executive, (left) has joined Misys as general manager for digital channels.
On the technical front, Syed said that the modular nature of the product would be retained, allowing it to offer the products to users of other core banking platforms such as Temenos. “We will continue to offer and support the autonomous, standalone product as well as integrating with our core platforms for a much richer customer experience,” he said.
Equally, of course, the closer integration of the IND capabilities will also shore up Misys’ defences against competitor encroachment of its own ageing user base.
While IND’s background is in retail and consumer banking, Syed said that Misys will develop the software to other areas covered by its Midas platform, as well as providing broader international support.
