Zurich, December 15, 1999. The Zurich Financial Services Group and S1 Corporation (Nasdaq: SONE), a leading global provider of Internet banking technology, based in Atlanta, U.S., have signed a letter of intent to develop a European venture to provide world class technology and data center hosting for financial institutions. As part of this strategic alliance, the Zurich Financial Services Group will make a USD15 million equity investment in return for 10% ownership and options on a further 5% in a new European-based subsidiary of S1 Corporation to be established.
Zurich Financial Services will utilize the S1 Consumer Suite of Internet-based financial services applications in Europe and use the technology platform and European-based data center facilities to gain access to leading edge Internet banking technology. This initiative will enable Zurich Financial Services to develop a truly integrated financial portal. The provision of basic banking services is part of the e-commerce strategy of the Zurich Financial Services Group and is highly complementary to its existing initiatives. It will further leverage the Global e-Business Exchange being created by Zurich Financial Services’ venture with IBM and ChannelPoint.
Gunnar Stokholm, member of the Enlarged Group Executive Board of Zurich Financial Services and responsible for the development of the Group’s Global e-Business, commented: "We see the provision of transaction-based banking facilities as an essential part of an integrated, on-line solution to further develop and deepen our customer relationships, increase product density and attract new customers. Our strategic objective is to provide our customers with integrated financial solutions comprising basic banking, stock broking, asset management, financial planning and risk management, in addition to all forms of insurance, including ’best of breed’, third party products. Our alliance with S1 Corporation therefore, does not represent a shift into mainstream banking for the Group per se."
The Zurich Financial Services Group will provide a differentiated, flexible and tailored personal financial management service. Utilizing pan-European product platforms, Zurich will generate economies of scale by distributing products cross-border through localized financial portals. The Group expects to build on its existing low cost, "branchless" bank subsidiaries in the UK and Switzerland.
The Zurich Financial Services Group and S1 Corporation expect to sign a definitive agreement in the first quarter of 2000. It is anticipated that the Zurich will then begin to roll-out these on-line services in the second half of 2000.
S1 Corporation, the pioneer of Internet banking, is today’s leading global provider of innovative Internet-based financial services solutions. S1 offers a broad range of applications that empower financial organizations to increase revenue, strengthen customer relationships, and gain competitive advantage by meeting the evolving needs of their customers across various lines of business, market segments and delivery channels. Through its professional services organizations, S1’s applications can be implemented in-house or outsourced to the S1 Data Center. Additional information is available at http://www.s1.com.
