Business Standard, Hyderabad, February 8, 2001

Electronic Financial Network Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based FNSTAR Inc., is planning to launch its flagship business solution "FNSTAR IFMS" in India. The solution addresses the requirements of financial intermediaries in the retail trading of investment products and integrates front-office, middle-office and back-office functionalities, Ram Puppala, CEO, FNSTAR said. It also has the unique advantage of supporting multiple interaction channels of an intermediary like WAP, web, branch office and sub-broker. The solution is offered on a service bureau approach rather than selling as a product and would cost Rs. 60-80 lakh over a three year contract period. Primarily meant for stockbrokers, the first component of the solution "FN Broker" will be launched by the end of this month.

About FNSTAR:

FNSTAR, headquartered in Englewood, CO, is a global provider of IT solution and services to the Financial services and Telecommunication industry. FNSTAR provides Offshore management consulting services for the telecommunication and financial services industry and a comprehensive suite of integrated software solutions created for retail financial institutions such as banks, brokerages and insurance companies.

FNSTAR's solution has been successfully deployed at tier 1 financial service corporations; and, enables them to offer a complete line of retail investment products while managing supporting activities such as portfolio management, record keeping, regulatory compliance, risk evaluation and management, clearance and settlement.

FNSTAR Integrated Financial Management Solution (fn*IFMS) provides brokerage house, banks with one stop solution brokerage solution for front office, middle office, internet trading, power trading, and correspondent clearing. Financial institutions can replace their legacy systems or expand globally with the integrated brokerage solution. FNSTAR’s cross border trading solution (fn*CrossBorder) enables financial institutions to execute cross borders trade in seamless way taking into account the cross border regulation, compliance, currency and account ownership.

FNSTAR's cross border trading solution (fn*CrossBorder) enables financial institutions to execute cross borders trade in seamless way taking into account the cross border regulation, compliance, currency and account ownership.

FNSTAR offshore management consulting services includes developing a viable offshore strategy for the company, performing program management and IT delivery services. There is a myth that Offshoring delivers dramatic cost savings whenever projects are off shored using the lowest cost vendor. FNSTAR insists that organizations must also take into account the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), IT budget, business drivers, added cost of offshoring related to knowledge transfer, logistics, data security, service levels, IT processes integration, long term strategy of the application, and long term strategy with the vendor.