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Media Contact for AFS William Mills Agency 678.781.7210 |
Patricia McFeely, AFS
Corporate Communications 484.875.1376 pmcfeely@afsvision.com |
Automated Financial Systems Opens New European Subsidiary in Vienna
-AFS Taps Wade Baker to lead European Business Development-
EXTON, Pa., September 20, 2004 — Automated Financial Systems, Inc. (AFS-Exton) announced it has formed an Austrian subsidiary, Automated Financial Systems GmbH (AFS GmbH), that will operate in Vienna as its continental European headquarters. AFS is the dominant provider of commercial lending software for U.S. financial institutions. The formation of AFS GmbH and opening of the Vienna office coincide with the roll-out of AFS' new real-time, multi-lingual, multi-currency integrated lending system that is designed to support the lending and risk management requirements of global enterprises in accordance with Basel II directives.
The new office will be the company's center for European sales and for the local customization of AFS' extensive commercial lending product suite. "We selected Vienna for our European operations center because the Austrian banking system is highly developed and many major financial centers have offices and branches there," said AFS president, John Shain. "We believe the recent entry of several Eastern European countries to the European Union will shift the focus of the continent's activities from its traditional Western European axis to a wider geographical area which will be better served from a Vienna hub." The Austrian Business Agency, a government-operated consulting firm, was very proactive in recruiting AFS as one of the city's newest corporate residents.
Overseeing the Austrian operations is AFS GmbH's newly appointed Regional Sales Manager, Wade Baker, who has more than 16 years of experience as a management consultant and business analyst in the financial industry. Prior to joining AFS GmbH, Baker worked for Morton's Chartered Accountants and the National Australia Bank. With both companies, he worked on numerous projects to evaluate and enhance technology for financial institutions, including designing a new system that serviced the global database for the National Australia Bank's daily market activities.
Currently, approximately 70 percent of the top 25 U.S. banks process, collectively, more than $1 trillion in commercial loans on AFS' systems. The company has been in business since 1970 and employs 325 professionals in its U.S. headquarters. The new European office is located at Seidlgasse 22, Top 4, 1030 Vienna, Austria and can be reached at 43 (1) 714 1009. The company also has offices in New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois and California.
About AFS
Automated Financial Systems, Inc. provides asset and liability products and services as an Application Service Provider (ASP) delivery through its fully integrated e-business model AFSCommerceT. With more than 34 years of experience in delivering financial services software, AFS is the industry leader in the execution of lending and treasury management solutions for top-tier financial institutions. AFS is the only business partner willing to use its capital and technology to guarantee accretive earnings within each client's business model, both short and long-term creating a no-risk solution. For further information contact AFS at www.afsvision.com or its U.S. headquarters in Exton, Pennsylvania at +1 610 524 9300.
