Local software developer TVM has broken into the international market, beating a host of other vendors to win a lucrative contract from Rabobank.
Rabobank is the largest bank in the Netherlands, and was recently rated the world`s safest bank by the authoritative Global Finance magazine.
TVM`s product, CreditPlus, has been installed in Rabobank International`s Utrecht Corporate Finance Division. CreditPlus is used to administer a structured finance portfolio operating in multiple currencies and legal entities.
"As a global niche player, Rabobank International provides a select group of customers with a spectrum of services ranging from merger and acquisition advisory to equity transactions, lending arrangements and structured financing," says Rien Van Eck, Senior Administration Manager at Rabobank.
"Our extensive expertise in these complex activities enables us to offer our customers modern and innovative products. Of the various systems evaluated, CreditPlus was deemed to be the most flexible and best suited for this purpose."
TVM Technical director Igor Music believes the strength of the software is largely based on its component-based design and use of tools such as Rational Rose for object modelling. "Each component can be separately configured, providing massive flexibility. The resultant software is based on a three-tier client server model, using Microsoft technology such as SQL Server."
Van Eck says: "CreditPlus provides an integrated environment in which deal structures and their underlying products, including loans and funding, are recorded. Increased standardisation of the set-up of the administration will improve transferability of work among staff and thus reduce continuity and operational risk. Our workload is reduced and spread more evenly during the month."
Many SA-based software companies find it difficult to break into overseas markets.
"It was difficult for TVM to establish credibility when we had no installed base in the European region," says Jeremy Rich, MD of TVM Software. "To win the Rabobank contract we first had to prove that our software could functionally outperform some of the world`s best banking systems, and then use our rand-based costs to make the pricing attractive. Now that we have one of the best-known names in banking on our customer list, we are well equipped to expand into other overseas markets."
TVM recently opened a development centre in Belgrade, Serbia, which will also double as a European customer support centre. The company was formed in 1997 and CreditPlus developed over a three-year period. Johannesburg-based Brait Merchant Bank was the first to implement the software in March 2000 to administer its lending products. The bank moved its call, fixed and notice deposits to the system in May 2001.
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