Mizrahi-Tefahot Online Banking System
Matrix develops the next generation of online banking system for the Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank, providing maximum accessibility for bank users; efficient, scalable, and secure operations on a .NET platform working in conjunction with Microsoft servers.
The Client
Mizrahi-Tefahot, the fourth largest bank in Israel, was created through the largest ever merger in the Israeli banking industry. The bank operates some 120 branches across the country. Mizrahi-Tefahot provides banking and financial services, as well as mortgages of various types to both private and institutional clients.
The Challenge
Bank management decided to expand the online banking site with a range of financial channels, an intuitive and friendly interface, and advanced technology. Reaching beyond user-oriented service, Mizrahi-Tefahot asked to improve the efficiency and speed of the site and to ensure high survivability and greater future ability to accommodate large numbers of new customers.
"A banking system is by nature complex, subject to regulations, conditions, and authorizations for operations," says Jerry Polani, Manager of the Direct Banking Department, the computer division of the bank. "Therefore, it is necessary to maintain several central standards, such as flexibility (because heavy loads arrive in waves, as on days when salaries are paid or options mature), scalability (to offer new products quickly and fully integrated with other banking systems), and security (both of the data and of data communication in the various channels)."
The Solution
Mizrahi-Tefahot chose Matrix to implement the online banking site in parallel with a new internal baking system and deployment of a wide range of Microsoft platforms to handle transaction processing, content management, trade, data security, communication, integration, and more.
The Internet service of Mizrahi-Tefahot enables bank customers to perform a range of financial operations under one interface, maintaining high levels of security and survivability.
The new site provides the bank with an advanced facade at the point of virtual contact with the end user. The site enables customers to enjoy secure direct banking services 24 hours a day from any location. Customers can receive information about their accounts and transactions, mortgage payments, investments, credit cards, loans, etc. In addition, the site contains information about sales, benefits, and discounts on banking operations.
The bank emphasizes that the system has been developed with a forward-looking approach, and that the scalability built into its architecture provides great flexibility and serves as a catalyst for rapid change and future growth, consistent with the dynamic nature of the banking industry.
Shahar Hevroni, the Matrix project manager, adds: "The smart architecture of the system is manifest in several clear benefits: robustness, stability, performance, ability to expand, flexibility, and longevity. But its greatest advantage is its ability to serve as an advanced starting point for provisioning new services. To date, several months after the system went live, we rapidly provisioned a large number of additional new services."
"The system places us in a strong starting position for the next ten years, it enables us to merge our infrastructures in the future, and will serve as a real marketing lever," summarizes Polani.
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