Under the concluded agreements, Asseco will be responsible for the proper operation of the IT systems HandelMax and EnergOS used in the PGE Group for servicing and billing of customers in three branches of PGE Dystrybucja: Rzeszów, Zamość, and Skarżysko-Kamienna.

For years we have been cooperating with the PGE Group, implementing projects of various complexity levels, providing both maintenance services as well as implementation and development services. I am glad that we have been trusted once again, said Magdalena Kaczmarek, Sales Department Director, Asseco Poland.

Additionally, under agreements signed separately, Asseco will provide maintenance services for the data acquisition system AUMS ADO and the portal for electricity retailers AUMS PSEE in PGE Dystrybucja. The gross value of the contract amounts to nearly PLN 2 million.
Asseco is the leader of IT solutions for the energy sector in Poland. It has been also developing its activities on international markets, including Serbia, Nigeria and Ethiopia. The flagship solutions of the company are the IT systems from the AUMS line, which support all processes related to the management of electricity. They are used by trading companies, energy distributors and customer service companies. Asseco offers products and services which allow for a measurable reduction of operating costs, streamline operations and increase the competitiveness of companies from the energy sector. It also implements projects of centralization and migration of large data volumes. It has about 65% share on the Polish energy market. In addition, nearly 60% of energy bills are generated on the basis of the company's proprietary billing systems. Asseco's competence centers are located in Poland, Czech Republic and Germany.

For the purpose of assessing the financial and business position of Asseco, the key information is the basic data published on a non-IFRS basis, supplementing the data reported in accordance with IFRS*. In the first quarter, non-IFRS operating profit amounted to PLN 281 million and was higher by 19%, while non-IFRS net profit increased by 10% to PLN 90 million.

, said Rafał Kozłowski, Vice President of the Management Board, Asseco Poland.

The Asseco Group's sales revenues are diversified by sectors and in the first quarter of 2019 they were distributed among general business (38%), banking and finance (39%), and public administration (23%). Asseco is also geographically diversified and presents its results broken down by three segments. Formula Systems generated 61% of consolidated sales revenues of the Group, Asseco International-27%, and Asseco Poland - 12%.

Currently, the Group's order backlog for 2019 at the revenue level amounts to PLN 7.2 billion and is by 9% higher than the backlog presented in May 2018.

ComCERT is the first consulting company in Poland specializing in CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) services for companies and institutions, not connected with any telecommunication operator. ComCERT experts analyze areas vulnerable to hacking attacks in customers' systems, support them during an incident and analyze the state of systems after an event. At the interconnection point of these three services, the company is also developing its clients' Security Operations Center teams - not only actively helping to maintain a high level of network security, but also expanding their competence.

said Zdzisław Wiater, Director of the International Organizations and Solutions for the Security Sector Division at Asseco Poland.

, said Andrzej Dopierała, Vice President of the Management Board, Asseco Poland.

Asseco has been developing dynamically in the cyber security area and carrying out interesting implementations in Poland and abroad. In 2018 alone, the revenues from this area reached the level of PLN 80 million. In March this year, it was announced that Asseco Data Systems (ADS), in cooperation with Asseco Poland and ComCERT, will launch "CyberDefenseAfrica" in the Togolese Republic - the first institution responsible for cyber security in this country. This cooperation will be carried out as part of a joint venture which ADS has created with the Togolese government. The new organization will start operating at the beginning of 2020 and the cost of the investment will amount to approximately EUR 14 million.

More information at: alebank.pl

Owing to its integration with the banking system, the new Asseco platform is a solution which primarily automates most of the processes, e.g. data exchange, clearing of contributions or installments, as well as many other services which are currently performed manually by advisors at cooperative banks. Another facilitation for them is one common sales front end supporting various products, regardless of the number of partners providing them. CUI.Ubezpieczenia can already be used by the clients of the Cooperative Bank in Lubaczów, the Cooperative Bank in Namysłów and the Cooperative Bank in Płońsk.

We have been cooperating with Asseco for many years now, using the transaction system, e-banking solutions and tools facilitating the work of our advisors in our branches. A natural step was therefore the implementation of the latest functionality, which significantly improves the quality of customer service and automates sales and clearing processes. Such a solution is the CUI.Ubezpieczenia platform, which operates in our bank. Thanks to our partnership with Asseco and AXA, we have managed to expand the source of our revenues, said Paweł Kapel, President of the Management Board, Cooperative Bank in Lubaczów.

The CUI.Ubezpieczenia platform is offered free of charge to cooperative banks which already use the Asseco Internet Services Centre.

We understand the needs and current expectations of cooperative banks. That is why we have created the CUI.Ubezpieczenia platform, which can significantly increase their competitiveness and revenues. It is also very important that cooperative banks, which are already our clients today, can switch this functionality on and start offering new financial products in a completely cost-free manner, said Andrzej Nowakowski, Director of the Cooperative Banks Division at Asseco Poland.

Thanks to the integration of the CUI.Ubezpieczenia platform with the banking system and automation of processes, such as collecting contributions from a client's account, AXA has enabled the customers of cooperative banks to make payments on a monthly basis. The CUI.Ubezpieczenia platform, in addition to increasing the competitiveness of cooperative banks, has a chance to popularize a new model of bancassurance based on omni-channel solutions.

, said Marcin Wąsikowski, managing director of AXA's bancassurance and affinity sales.

The CUI.Ubezpieczenia platform is fully integrated with the Asseco Advisory Banking Platform designed for customer service in a branch as well as with the e-banking available within the Asseco Customer Banking Platform.

***

Asseco has been developing software for cooperative banks for nearly 30 years. It includes both comprehensive IT solutions and specialist systems facilitating the work of banks. Asseco systems are implemented in the on-premise model using local installations as well as in the cloud. The Asseco Internet Services Centre is already used by over 110 cooperative banks.
Asseco Poland is the largest Polish IT company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and the sixth-largest European software producer. It leads international Asseco Group, which operates in 54 countries and employs over 24,000 people. Development of software for banks is one of the key areas of Asseco Poland's business operations. The company offers solutions which respond to the latest trends in global banking.


AXA is one of the largest insurance groups in the world. It has been present in Poland since 2006. It is a universal insurer with a full range of non-life insurance and life insurance products used by over 3 million customers, including companies and multinational corporations. Additionally, it manages investment funds and private pension funds (OFE). AXA is the sixth-largest capital group on the non-life insurance market with 4.8% market share measured by gross premium written at the end of 2018. AXA holds ninth position in the life insurance segment. In Poland, AXA is mBank's exclusive partner in offering life and property protection insurance.

What do the new reporting rules apply to?

Since October 2018, institutions subject to the law have had a choice - they could report according to the old or new rules. As of July 2019, this will change and reports will have to be prepared in accordance with the regulations set forth in the Ministry of Finance Regulation. It is important to remember that the new AML law requires verification of a much broader spectrum of data and the conduct of a far more complex analysis. The area, which initially included only the verification of transactions and then a package of data about the client - their financial and economic activities - today already touches such specific information as IP addresses from which logging into electronic banking systems took place. Based on this information, financial institutions identify suspicious transactions and customer behavior.

However, the vague regulations, which do not make it easy to adapt IT systems to the required changes, remain the biggest challenge in implementing this law. Doubts about the interpretation of certain definitions, terms or concepts can consequently lead to many problems.

In what area are they imprecise?

The lack of precision in the provisions relates to several issues. First of all, institutions subject to the law still do not have clear guidelines for providing information on suspicious transactions and customer activities – and in the previous reporting there was a dedicated form. Secondly, there is also a lack of guidance on how to make corrections to transactions that have been submitted to the GIIF. Another issue is also that no test service has been made available so far, making it impossible to verify the new report files.

What does this mean for institutions covered by the new rules?

First of all, the need to use a proven IT system that will enable them both to report efficiently to the GIIF and to meet a number of other requirements under the Act. These institutions need a solution that will provide a comprehensive analysis of financial transactions and prevent possible fraud. It should be a flexible tool that will guarantee that institutions are fully adapted to the specifics of their operations, internal procedures and assumptions. An example of such a system is Asseco Anti-Money Laundering (Asseco AML), which monitors clients and transactions and generates GIIF reports containing information on selected financial operations. Each of the recorded transactions undergoes a validation process, which guarantees that the report complies with the requirements imposed by the regulator.

The blurring of the boundaries between data collected for AML, anti-fraud analysis, or tax information exchange also makes it a good idea to implement a comprehensive IT system, such as Asseco Integrated Analytical Platform (Asseco IAP), where AML, Anti-Fraud and FATCA&CRS modules use a common data repository and rules engine. This makes it possible to correlate data and use the results of analyses conducted in different areas.

Will such a solution provide them with efficient reporting?

Of course it will. We are a provider that not only offers a tool, but is also a partner that identifies the needs of customers and meets them. Together we work out the best solution, because our priority is that each institution has exactly the system it needs. We constantly follow what happens in their areas of operation. We also constantly monitor the regulator's environment, and we usually know earlier than the client what the changes will be and what their scope will be. We adapt our tools to the new requirements and provide a ready-made solution, so our clients are always prepared for the upcoming changes.

A good example of this is the creation of Asseco's Transaction Scanner tool. This time our goal was to enable financial institutions to comply with the obligation to apply specific restrictive measures against persons and entities on sanction lists, for card payments. This requirement stems from the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act. The Transaction Scanner enables real-time verification of senders of Visa Personal Immediate Payments and Mastercard MoneySend payments. The tool is also available as a functionality of the Asseco AML system.

However, up until now, not all institutions have used IT systems to meet the requirements related to the AML Law. Why is this necessary today?

Previously, smaller institutions subject to the law, such as cooperative banks and brokerage houses, for example, could meet the statutory requirements based on the so-called expert method. Current regulations make it necessary to constantly monitor transactions and verify a very wide range of customer information, which cannot be done manually.

It is important to remember that the new law is intended to ensure efficiency in preventing money laundering. Here, it is not only the diligence and pursuit of this goal that counts, but above all the result of this action. In the event of an inspection, an institution itself must prove due diligence in achieving the said goal. For this reason, the expert approach becomes much more difficult to defend against the supervisory authority. Therefore, it is in the interest of the financial institution to use appropriate IT tools that, in the event of an audit, will allow it to prove that effective fraud detection mechanisms were used.

What will happen in a situation where an institution misinterprets these unclear provisions?

In such a situation, institutions will face financial penalties, which have been made even more severe in the new law. Their amount depends mainly on the consequences that have arisen or may have arisen due to negligence. If, as a result of misinterpretation of the regulations, the verification process does not cover, for example, a particular type of large-scale transactions carried out by the bank, then the risk of money laundering being overlooked can be very high. This is why the role of the supplier is so important in adapting the system to the new regulations, as it must ensure that their interpretation is correct.