BSS sums up the results of 2002
Dear friends,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We wish you success and realization of most daring plans in 2003.
We hope that 2002 was as successful for you as it was for us, which is confirmed by the summary of BSS's activities in 2002.
That year, the amount of banks (branches) to purchase BS-Client during the year exceeded 200! Two hundred and two banks started live operation of BSS's software products and solutions during the year. Thus, the total amount of credit institutions servicing their customers on-line through BS-Client exceeded 700. Our customers include Russian and foreign banks and branches/subsidiaries, banks and branches/subsidiaries in former CIS countries and Baltic states, as well as tens of thousands of their clients.
High quality of offered products and services is confirmed by the fact that more than half of top 50 largest Russian banks chose our solutions. BS-Client ensures electronic banking in the following banks: Vneshtorgbank, Gazprombank, Surgutneftegasbank, Trust Investment Bank, MDM Bank, Uralsib, Petrocommerce, BIN-Bank, Sobinbank, NOMOS Bank, National Reserve Bank, GUTA Bank, ING Bank (Eurasia), AK BARS, "Vozrozhdenije", Transcreditbank, Bank of Khanty-Mansiysk, Severo-Vostochny Alliance, Moscow Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Promsvyazbank, Russian Agricultural Bank, CreditTrustBank, Bank "Solidarnost", Dresdner Bank, International Moscow Bank.
Banks prefer BSS's solutions to solutions of other Russian developers mainly due to the high quality and wide range of our products and services, as well as our comprehensive approach to individual requirements and usage of advanced technologies, which all together meet banks' high requirements on their partners.
It should be emphasized that our implementing the project-based business structure in accordance with international recommendations in 2002 largely affected the decision-making of a number of banks with 100% foreign participation to use our products and services. Thus, in 2002 our customer base enlarged with: "Netixis Bank Populaire", "First Czech-Russian Bank", "DeltaBank" and other foreign banks.
All this as well as dedicated effort of more than one hundred and fifty highly qualified specialists enabled BSS's 2002 turnover to exceed $5 mln, which is two times the 2001 turnover.
During the past year, the company was systematically expanding over former CIS countries and was actively developing its dealer network outside RF. In September, the comprehensive system for on-line banking BS-Client was implemented in some largest Kasakh banks - Caspian Bank and "TAIB Kazakh Bank".
BS-Client versions for Ukraine and Armenia appeared in 2002.
An agreement between "Bank's Soft Systems" and Globo-Centre research institute (Minsk) was concluded giving the right to sell BS-Client in the Republic of Belarus.
At VIII International forum of integrated banking systems developers (where BSS was actively participating), representatives of banks in former CIS countries particularly pointed to the fact that it is BS-Client's flexibility and scalability, capability to quickly adapt to a bank's national legislation requirements, support for various national languages that enable its usage not only in Russia but abroad as well.
Our representative office in St. Petersburg went off with much success this year. The office serves such banks within the Northwestern region as Bank for Electric Power Industry, Hansacombank, Petroenergobank, Vitabank, and multiple subsidiaries of foreign banks, with most of them purchasing comprehensive support and maintenance programs including installation and maintenance of bank customers.
In 2002 we continued to technically enhance BS-Client. In July, Release 014 of the comprehensive system was announced and we started to systematically switch our customers to it. The new Release accounts for multiple wishes of system users and applies novel information technologies. Innovated were all subsystems, though most affected was "Internet-Client": its Web interface is completely revised to be built based on the XSL and XML formats. The main feature of the new approach is to separate data from its display-related information that the user loads just once and its browser then caches it. Performance of "Internet-Client" increased due to optimized algorithms - traffic is cut from 2 to 10 times, HTML screen form data is validated and master data rows are reloaded without reloading a page. Also, XMLHTTP and XML Data Binding enabled us to improve the interface and make it as much like the customary Windows interface as possible. Release 014 includes such technological solutions that improve performance and fault tolerance of the "Internet-Client" subsystem, provide the capability of simplified implementation of additional business functions and features as well as the capability to self add new interface languages.
In the late 2002, the next system Release 015 was prepared for release. It will not depend on the BDE technology, have the standard memory manager replaced, and application code optimized. There is the capability added to install a client part and operate it under DBMS MSDE. The operation logic of the cryptographic protection system is modified for certificate-based cryptographic providers. All this ensured significant enhancement of BS-Client operation, which first of all considerably improved performance and fault tolerance of the system.
In 2002, some retail on-line banking projects were for the most part implemented with end of works scheduled for the first half of 2003. We can safely say that one of RF largest projects for e-servicing of individuals is in progress with our company participating. The system will be announced in the upcoming year. When implemented, the projects will enable the banks to provide their private customers with a wide range of banking products: from bank card maintenance to public utilities payments. Our policy allows banks to choose appropriate banking products from the wide range of available ones.
In 2002, we obtained three new FAPSI (Federal Agency for Government Communication and Information) certificates that regulate the company's activities regarding application of cryptographic protection facilities within e-workflow systems: the right to design information systems protected through encryption tools, the right to produce information systems protected through encryption tools, the right to render services regarding information encryption. These licenses will considerably enhance BSS's capabilities as regards services related to application of cryptographic security tools.
BSS's results for 2002 suggest that 2003 will be as successful from the point of view of BS-Client development and customer base growth.
