In keeping with our commitment to being truly the first, FirstBank continues to make strategic investments in robust industry-leading technology solutions that support our strong customer-centric approach to financial service delivery. In this regard, our information technology infrastructure provides the enabling competence for managing customer experience across our growing touch-points, including 536 branches, about 1,000 ATMs and POS terminals, internet banking, mobile banking, electronic payment systems, and alert services (SMS & e-mail).

With information technology being the backbone of the industry, FirstBank intends to strategically exploit the use of technology to drive process efficiency, product innovation and service delivery. Accordingly, during the review period, in a bid to further secure our customers' transactions, we became the first financial institution to deploy multi-factor authentication technologies on electronic banking platforms.

First Bank also completed the deployment of the following new applications in the year:

• Oracle HR (for the automation of our entire human capital and talent management processes including training, performance and benefits administration);
• FirstECM (for enterprise content management and workflow automation); and
• nCompass (to further improve our automated clearing process nationwide using modern cheque truncation and collaboration technologies).

Amongst other initiatives, FirstBank is currently implementing a Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence project that will enable our new performance management framework and put us on the clear path to full Basel II compliance. We are also in the process of setting up a best-of-breed contact centre supported by a robust Customer Relationship Management application. We expect the completion of these initiatives within the current financial year to enhance our competitive advantage.