ATLANTA, May 7, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Harland Financial Solutions, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of John H. Harland Company (NYSE:JH), announced today that Banknorth N.A., with $26.5 billion in assets has licensed the Encore!(r) suite of branch automation products, implementation and training services.
Harland Financial Solution's branch automation group has provided branch automation solutions for the financial industry for over 25 years. Today Encore! is a product set of customer interaction solutions for the branch and call center. The solutions are built upon the Encore! eServices multi-tier framework, which supports a customer-centric view that enables the financial institution to manage information delivery consistently across multiple delivery channels.
As a result of internal and acquisition growth over the past several years, Banknorth was operating with disparate branch systems that made operational consistency and functional upgrades difficult to implement. With the implementation of Encore!, all Banknorth locations will be on the same open system platform and will take advantage of the added functionality the system can provide.
"We look forward to taking full advantage of both significantly enhanced sales tools as well as efficiency improvements enabled by the Encore! Branch automation products," stated Banknorth's Wendy Suehrstedt, executive vice president and chief retail banking officer. Recently named by Forbes magazine as the best managed bank in America, Banknorth views Encore! as an extremely intuitive software application that is easy to use and fulfills all of the bank's end-user requirements. Further quoting Ms. Suehrstedt, "Harland Financial Solutions' track record of success in other large financial institutions and their honest, no hype approach was refreshing, making the ultimate vendor decision that much easier."
"We enjoyed working with the Banknorth team as they progressed through the decision making process. We are pleased that Banknorth recognized the out-of-the-box usability of Encore! which provides the best of both worlds: a robust application and comprehensive toolset for system tailoring. In addition, the bank values the system's workflow services and work queue management functionality which will help maximize the productivity of Banknorth's branch and back office staffs," said Connie Bruce, vice president and general manager, Harland Financial Solutions' Branch Automation Products Group.
About Banknorth Group
Banknorth Group, headquartered in Portland, Maine, is one of the country's 35 largest commercial banking companies with $26.5 billion in assets at December 31, 2003. The Company's banking subsidiary, Banknorth, N.A., operates banking divisions in Connecticut (Banknorth Connecticut); Maine (Peoples Heritage Bank); Massachusetts (Banknorth Massachusetts); New Hampshire (Bank of New Hampshire); New York (Evergreen Bank); and Vermont (Banknorth Vermont). The Company and Banknorth, N.A. also operates subsidiaries and divisions in insurance, wealth management, mortgage banking, government banking and other financial services and offer investment products in association with Prime Vest Financial Services, Inc.
About Harland Financial Solutions
Harland Financial Solutions (http://www.harlandfinancialsolutions.com) supplies software and services to thousands of financial institutions of all sizes. Harland Financial Solutions is a leader in deposit & loan origination, platform, teller, call-center, mortgage, business intelligence, core systems, customer relationship management systems and compliance training software.
About Harland
Atlanta-based John H. Harland Company (NYSE:JH) (www.harland.net) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "JH." Harland is a leading provider of software and printed products to the financial institution market. Harland's software solutions include, deposit & loan origination, platform, teller, call-center, mortgage, business intelligence, core systems, and customer relationship management systems. Harland's printed products offerings include checks, direct marketing and financial forms. Scantron Corporation (www.scantron.com), a wholly owned subsidiary, is a leading provider of software services and systems for the collection, management and interpretation of data to the financial, commercial and educational markets.
This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements." These statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of John H. Harland Company and members of its respective management, as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Reference is made to the Risk Factors and Cautionary Statements in Harland's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed under the Securities Exchange Act.