New Zealand's Heartland Bank opts for Oracle

New Zealand specialist banking provider Heartland Bank will implement Oracle's Flexcube and Oracle Financial Services Lending and Leasing applications.

The applications boost flexibility without the bank's IT team being required to do further development and customisation, said James Mitchell, the bank's chief operating officer.

That in turn will help the bank deliver products and services more quickly and at a lower cost.
The Oracle products provide Heartland with capabilities in niche areas such as intermediary-introduced lending channels, Mitchell said. This enables the bank to differentiate itself in niches such as motor vehicle finance, livestock finance and home equity loans.
The software roll-out is part of a broader business transformation, Heartland said, allowing it to focus on customers rather than IT.

"We're a niche player by choice, with a strong emphasis on new product development," Mitchell said. "Responsiveness and agility are critical to our success, while continuing to reduce operational costs."

He said the products were tried and tested with big, global banks, yet scalable enough to meet the needs as a smaller local player such as Heartland.

The value of the deal was not disclosed.