FirstRand Bank has launched Hyphen Technology - a consolidation of MC2 Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Momentum Life, and the electronic banking division of FNB Corporate.
Jakes van Rensburg, CEO for Hyphen and former CEO for MC2, says the company will deliver a comprehensive range of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and e-business solutions.
Explaining the reason for the name change, Van Rensburg says MC2 Solutions provided only a portion of the new offering Hyphen is taking to market. "We took great care in compiling a larger proposition with various components coming from MC^2 Solutions and the bank. If we continue to brand this under MC^2 Solutions then we run the risk of being associated with the single component they knew from the past," he says.
In addition to the value-add and electronic banking services previously provided by MC^2, Hyphen has become a universal acquirer through its incorporation of the FirstCard acquiring business. This means that Hyphen already has over 50 000 client touch-points through point-of-sale devices, Internet banking (by way of distributed computing), and client-server and host-to-host connections to its electronic banking products. Hyphen is also a provider of specialist e-commerce, e-business and e-procurement services.
Paul Harris, CEO for FirstRand Banking Group, says the announcement is one of a number that will be made over the next few months regarding the group`s e-commerce strategy.
"Hyphen forms the cornerstone of some of the other initiatives we will be announcing," says Harris. "We believe that once these have all been rolled out we will be able to paint a holistic picture of our strategy that will position us as a leader in e-commerce in SA. A number of these initiatives also have the potential to become global businesses."
FirstRand has transferred a contingent of business teams from within FirstRand to Hyphen, and appointed additional top performers from outside the organisation.
Hyphen operates on a profit basis and according to the company, already processes an e-commerce value of R50 billion per month. A further R10 billion is serviced through its value-add processes.
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