PKO BP likely to implement new IT system with US Alltel

PKO BP, Poland's leading retail bank, plans to spend about zl.2 billion for purchase and implementation of a new integrated IT system. The contract is to be signed in the nearest future, most likely with the American firm Alltel supplying its Systematics technology. The company gained exclusive rights for negotiations with PKO BP last year. It is not clear whether Softbank, which according to its representatives is the only company in Poland that has specialists trained in Alltel's systems, will also benefit from the implementation of Systematics technology. PKO BP President Henryka Pieronkiewicz emphasizes that dynamic growth for a bank is impossible without such investment. She says that the first stage of implementation will begin before the end of March 2001. Plans are for the first PKO BP branches to begin using the central system in the year 2002, with the entire process completed by the year 2006. (Puls Biznesu pp.8-9) A.D.