Commonwealth Bank’s Product
Fiserv PLUS System Enhances Commonwealth Bank’s Product Line with a Cost-Effective Bankcard…
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) announced today that its PLUS(TM) System has been implemented by Commonwealth Bank Ltd. in the Bahamas to manage the bank’s expanded credit-card processing operations.
Founded in the Bahamas in 1960 as a subsidiary of Laurentide Financial Corporation Ltd. of Canada, Commonwealth Industrial Bank was the first bank in the Bahamas to offer services to working Bahamans. Now fully Bahamian owned, Commonwealth Bank Ltd. has experienced rapid growth and increased automation, expanding its assets from $17 million in 1984 to more than $660 million in 2001, with more than 400 employees serving nine branch offices.
In 1990, the Central Bank of The Bahamas approved Commonwealth Bank to be a clearing bank, completing the transformation from a savings and loan institution to a full-service bank. To increase value-added services for its customers, the bank recently expanded its product offering by adding MasterCard(TM) services.
“Commonwealth Bank already was a member of the Fiserv client family, and we are excited that they have chosen to expand the relationship by selecting the Fiserv PLUS System to manage their new MasterCard offering,” said Max Narro, President of Fiserv Credit Processing Services. “With this upgrade to a globally accepted credit card, Commonwealth Bank has truly expanded its service to its customers.”
Commonwealth Bank has always seen itself as a community-oriented bank, said Charles Knowles, Vice President and CIO. The bank now serves more than 56,000 customers throughout the more than 700 islands that make up the Bahamas.
“Commonwealth Bank has worked hard to help satisfy its customers’ financial objectives and has a commitment to being the best,” Knowles said. “We have never been satisfied with a second best effort. We offered the first Bahamian private-label credit card, SunCard(TM), in 1984. It has been an excellent product for local purchases, but we wanted to expand our service to offer a card that would give our customers global purchasing power. That is why we added MasterCard to the bank’s product line.”
Knowles noted that Fiserv already provides its international core processing system, ICBS, which is managed in-house.
“But in this particular instance, we decided we didn’t have enough expertise and, given the importance of the launch of the MasterCard system, we wanted to work with people who knew the industry from the perspective of launching an international card,” he said.