Accenture Teams with SAP America, Inc., Financial Technologies International (FTI) and STC to Deliver Global Financial Banking Architectures

NEW YORK, NY April 20, 2000 - Accenture, SAP America, Inc. (NYSE:SAP), Financial Technologies International (FTI) and STC today announced a marketing alliance to deliver global financial banking architecture solutions to financial services organizations.

The alliance will enable financial institutions to quickly implement customized global financial banking architectures that provide "near real-time" information to manage their risk exposure and profitability more effectively. These architectures will integrate data from internal legacy systems and external market data feeds, leveraging data-driven, rules-based, message-oriented Net-centric technologies. By integrating the "near real-time" architectures with inter-enterprise software solutions, financial services organizations will be able to obtain enterprise-wide economic performance management information,including specific data about channel utilization, product profitability and customer profitability.

"Working together, we are offering a solution that will enable financial services firms to increase the speed and effectiveness of implementing global performance measurement infrastructures which enable executives to better manage customer, product and channel profitability and utilization", said Colin Davies, a partner in Accenture’s Financial Services practice. "This agreement demonstrates Accenture’s commitment to team with leading software providers to help clients achieve rapid change in today’s electronic marketplace."

The alliance leverages core capabilities from each of the alliance members. Accenture, a leading global management and technology consultancy, will provide its knowledge capital and advanced design models for the integrated performance management of a broad range of banking operations and activities, such as investment banking; brokerage; retail, commercial and private banking; and insurance. SAP, a leading global provider of inter-enterprise software solutions, will provide role-based mySAP.com solutions including Web portals, banking specific allocation engines,and multi-dimensional reporting capabilities. FTI, a leading provider of real-time business information platforms, will provide a rules-based accounting engine and a financial markets data model. STC, a leading global provider of eBusiness Integration (eBISM) packaged solutions, will provide its comprehensive suite of open, strategic eBusiness integration products that enables real-time, end-to-end process integration and trading-partner management within and among enterprises.

The architecture solution can be scaled to any broker/trader or asset manager environment, whether in a commercial bank, investment house or insurance company. The architecture will leverage Web-based applications, enabling users to generate customized reports through an Internet-based system. The architecture will integrate data from multiple market-data and transaction systems, including an organization’s existing product systems. As such, the architecture solution will be customized to each client’s specific needs.

The companies plan to demonstrate the architecture solution to prospective financial services clients starting in May 2000.

SAP

As the market leader of inter-enterprise software solutions, SAP is leveraging its strength in industry-focused business software and the world’s largest enterprise software customer base to deliver mySAP.com. mySAP.com provides an open collaborative business environment of personalized solutions on demand. This enables companies of all sizes and industries to fully engage their employees, customers and partners to capitalize upon the new Internet economy. mySAP.com allows people to harness the power of the Internet to work smarter, better and faster by optimizing supply chains, managing strategic relationships, reducing time to market, sharing virtual information, and increasing productivity and shareholder value. SAP is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." The SAP World Wide Web site can be found at http://www.sap.com.

SAP and all SAP product and service names referenced herein are registered or unregistered trademarks of SAP AG.

All other products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

###

Janet A. Sparre

+1 (917) 452 0710

janet.a.sparre@accenture.com