New Generation of High Street Banking Demands niu Know How

UK, 11th October 2010 – niu Solutions, an ICT services provider created from the acquisition and integration of some of the UK’s fastest growing IT and telecoms companies, today unveils its marquee customer, Metro Bank, the UK’s first High Street bank to launch in over 100 years.  Based on a multi million pound ‘pay-as-you-grow’ managed services contract, niu Solutions designed, built, and manages the retail bank’s entire ICT infrastructure, including on-site and hosted voice, data, virtual desktop, mobility, connectivity, website, user helpdesk, and data centre services.

The IT platform, created with innovation, agility and efficiency at the core, is hosted from dual data centres in the UK and provides a secure, highly virtualised and high-availability architecture within which Metro Bank’s frontline banking applications and third party suppliers are also integrated.

Metro Bank, which aims to transform the face of British banking and has adopted a retail store model, opened its first three stores in London this summer.  A further 40 stores are planned for Greater London over the next four years as part of a 200+ store expansion plan.

Underpinning Metro Bank’s promise to give ‘customers the ability to bank when, where and how they want – whether in store, on the phone, or online’, technology is fundamental to facilitating the bank’s revolutionary service differentiators.

Craig Donaldson, CEO of Metro Bank, explains: “Customers deserve a better banking experience. New customers can open accounts with a rapid opening procedure and are issued permanent bank cards instantly, and we employ the best technology money can offer to achieve this.”

The ability for Metro Bank’s IT platform to expand with customer demand and evolve with financial legislation is also a priority. Donaldson says:

“We have an ambitious growth strategy so it seemed logical to outsource IT operations to a partner with proven expertise in the latest technologies and service assurance.  We need an IT architecture that supports our strong customer service principles without compromising future innovation or frontline services.  The flexibility of niu’s IT service platform and commercial engagement ensures we can grow our customer base and open new branches on-demand as Metro Bank grows.” 

niu Solutions, launched today, offers a complementary vision and culture to Metro Bank, which niu’s Chief Executive, Gary Woodward, believes is a winning proposition for today’s businesses:

“Capturing the mood of organisations and consumers post-recession, both niu Solutions and Metro Bank offer a return to ‘good old fashioned business principles’ of quality, customer service and heritage, whilst keeping innovation and agility intrinsic to our respective product portfolios.  Businesses today place service assurance and supplier confidence equal to proven expertise and experience, which is why we’re increasingly regarded as the IT partner choice.”