The internet banking pioneer

In our annual report 2009 employees of Ergon tell about projects and experiences. One of them is Thomas Ward, who was and is involved in projects from Credit Suisse and LLB.

Credit Suisse’s internet banking solution was an important milestone for Ergon – and it was a real success story too. Developed in the space of just a few months, the solution heralded a new era in the financial industry.

Thomas Ward, who studied IT and worked for two years before a foundation programme led him in the direction of Ergon, was in at the start when work began on the first e-banking solution in Switzerland: “Those were exciting, pioneering times! Although the work was incredibly intensive, it was great fun as well. It’s not often that you get the opportunity to develop a project like this from the ground up.”

Best internet bank in Europe

DirectNet was a resounding success for Credit Suisse: the solution was twice named Europe’s best e-banking platform, and it set new standards in electronic payment transactions. In 1998 the browser version of DirectNet was followed by the first Java Client. Since then a number of financial institutions have called upon Ergon’s technical expertise to develop individual internet banking solutions.

Thomas Ward is always on the ball. The keen table tennis and handball player brings with him to every project his 14 years of experience in the e-banking environment and the associated expertise he has acquired – an invaluable advantage for customers. “I throw myself wholeheartedly into every project. It’s always exciting to get involved in a new customer relationship.”

Strategic partnership with LLB

That’s exactly the case with his current project for Liechtensteinische Landesbank. As a strategic partner of the bank since 1999, Ergon has already developed LLB’s current internet banking and trading application, which provides the wide-ranging functions needed to manage the needs of professional trustees and asset managers as well as private customers.

When it switches over to the Avaloq banking system, scheduled to take place in early 2011, LLB will continue to rely on a Java Rich Client solution developed by Ergon to meet its high standards of security and ease of use. The development work has been going on since the start of 2009. Customers of Bank Linth, which also belongs to the LLB Group, will have access to the new solution later this year.

Thomas Ward has been involved in this latest development too from the start. “We have a long-term partnership with LLB, over the course of which our mutual respect and trust has continued to grow.”