| 21st March 2001 TCA SYNERGO LICENSES TAROT2000 TO BANCA IMI TCA Synergo, the sharedealing software provider, has licensed its TAROT2000 software to the leading Italian investment bank, Banca IMI, to support the IMIWeb online retail broking service in the UK. The deal is potentially worth £3.5 million and is the first contract win for TCA Synergo with a large continental financial institution. The TAROT2000 product will be used to support the bank's newly developed web front-end application, via TCA Synergo's Delivery Channels Architecture (DCA) ensuring a highly integrated and efficient solution. The IMIWeb service fully supports international trading and settlement. Banca IMI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanpaolo IMI SpA, is part of one of Italy's largest banking groups. The bank specialises in equity trading and sales, fixed income trading and research, as well as corporate finance and capital markets advice. TCA Synergo has provided the technology solution to support the new internet broking operation, enabling the trading of UK securities by UK and international retail clients, as well as UK retail clients trading foreign securities via the internet. Michele Raris, Managing Director of Banca IMI in London said: "Banca IMI have a clear vision for the development our online trading service in the UK and therefore we wanted to work with a market leader. We needed the very best solution available to secure our success in this highly competitive market. TAROT2000 has the highest level of functionality and is proven to process large trading volumes efficiently." Banca IMI required a high level of integration between the internet front end application andTAROT2000. Eric Dickinson, Business Development Director at TCA Synergo commented: “We are naturally very excited that Banca IMI has chosen TAROT2000 to underpin their new UK broking operations. Currently, IMIWeb has links with seven principal European Markets, NASDAQ, NYSE, and Japan, and the firm has established itself as one of the premier European online brokers. The desire to sustain this strong market position was one of the key drivers in choosing the TAROT2000 product. "As well as its scalability, Banca IMI were impressed by the product’s ability to support new distribution channels. For example, using TCA Synergo’s Delivery Channels Architecture we have built a Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP) interface to TAROT2000 in a matter of days. Banca IMI’s commitment to TAROT2000 is an endorsement of our ability to support international clients and is proof of our growing activity in the continental marketplace.” -ENDS- |