RBA to revamp core banking platform
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is looking to overhaul its entire core banking solution, which currently supports banking services to the Australian government and a number of customers.
In issuing its tender for expressions of interest (EOI) for the provisioning and implementation of the solution, the RBA said the decision behind the forthcoming overhaul is to help it deliver an improved banking service for its customers with a more contemporary architecture and programming platform.
The platform will be used to support payments systems that process in excess of 320 million payment and 25 million collection transactions per year, which are posted to customer accounts on an aggregate, as well as individual, basis.
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The RBA said that as part of its new core banking platform, mandatory technologies that need to be used include either a Microsoft SQLServer or Oracle Relational Database server; a Microsoft Active Directory for identity management integration; and use technologies such as Secure FTP, secure assured messaging technology like MQ messaging, and web services-based integration.
It will be mandatory for the new solution to be hosted on the Reserve Bank's infrastructure, the bank said.
The RBA has also outlined that apart from the mandatory requirements, it prefers solutions that will be based on Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems; has a modern supportable language such as Java, C, or .NET; and virtualisation capabilities that use VMware tcServer or Oracle Weblogic.
The closing date for tender submissions is July 30. The invitation for EOI will be the first phase of the selection process from which the Reserve Bank intends to shortlist respondents for the services.
"As the services must support critical Australian government payment transactions, it is essential that the respondent has a substantial and proven track record in the supply and implementation of the solution," the RBA said.