One of Singapore"s leading financial institutions, OCBC (Overseas Chinese Banking Corp.), has used Microsoft Corp."s .Net web services platform to overhaul its Internet banking services.

OCBC Bank is a Singapore-based financial services group with assets of S$119 billion (US$72.7 billion). It has operations in 14 countries and territories including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom and United States, and has more than 110 branches and representative offices around the world.

The .Net implementation was aimed at providing more than 200,000 customers with secure, fast and highly personalized services and cutting response times by 50 percent.

According to Patrick Chew, head of delivery, OCBC Consumer Financial Services, personalization of OCBC"s Internet banking services was a strategic objective. "The more relevant we are to our customers the more they will appreciate it, the more likely they will stay with us," he said.

In addition, the .Net web services platform enabled OCBC to offer the first virtual keyboard on a Singapore banking web site.

The feature allows customers to enter in their username and password using a mouse to minimize risk of malicious programs such as Trojan Horses capturing the keying of confidential information, thereby enhancing security for OCBC Internet banking customers.

OCBC conducted a three-month evaluation period with Microsoft certified partner EBWorx and consulted independent IT analysts before selecting Microsoft .Net for its new Internet banking service.

Work on the transactional capabilities of the new online banking site began in July 2004 and phase one of the implementation was launched after three months.

The Microsoft .Net platform will also be used to further the integration between the bank"s customer relationship management (CRM) system with its Internet banking platform.

"Our goal is to make Internet banking a primary channel for our customers, something that everyone wants and cannot do without," said Chew.

The bank expects to roll out its digital banking solutions to other media in the coming year.

OCBC was one of the first banks in the region to integrate its CRM system with its ATM network, an initiative which won it the Best Practice ATM Deployment Award in the Financial Institution category at the annual ATM Industry Association Industry Awards earlier this year. It was the first time that a bank in Asia had won the accolade.

The ATMIA members were "impressed by OCBC Bank"s technologically progressive self-service strategy in linking its ATM network with its CRM strategy to deliver customized marketing messages and personalized customer experience on the ATM channel".

The ATM-based CRM approach enables customers to respond instantaneously at the ATM to targeted marketing messages. From the customers" responses to the marketing messages, the bank is able to identify the right products and services that specifically meet customers" financial needs.

To further augment its ATM service offerings, OCBC Bank has also made available the option for customers to customize and preset their frequent and usual ATM transaction choices such as the dollar amount and receipt option. With this personalized ATM feature, customers" transaction time can be reduced by up to 75 per cent