NSTC Ness Technologies, Inc. (MM)

HACKENSACK, New Jersey, June 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ness Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSTC), a global provider of IT services and solutions, today announced that it has been awarded a contract by Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank, Israel's fourth largest banking group, worth approximately $4 million, to computerize the bank's provident funds for planholders. The choice of Ness Technologies over other leading companies was made by ITeam, the bank's information technology (IT) subsidiary. The new system will make it possible to contend successfully with the business and regulatory challenges of the Israeli capital market, which is currently undergoing substantial changes. As part of the engagement, Ness Technologies will implement a core banking system at Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank to manage the assets of provident fund planholders. The system will support existing and new products, according to the bank's needs, and will be adapted to the new regulatory requirements in Israel. The new system, which will be installed in the bank's branches, is compatible with current trends in the banking industry, according to which the teller is a one stop shop for his/her customers, providing them with professional and reliable service in all areas of their activity, including provident funds. At their request, bank customers will at any time be able to receive current, reliable information on their provident fund accounts, through various channels, while meeting the new banking industry requirements. "We consider this project a significant opportunity for Ness Technologies, combining advanced mechanisms for overseeing processes related to provident fund management," said Shachar Efal, President of Ness Israel. "These mechanisms, and the fact that the system is built in a user-friendly and intuitive manner, will significantly streamline the bank's activities and getting information to the customer, and will provide a powerful managerial tool for tracking and control." "Last year, Ness Technologies won many projects for banks, insurance companies and financial companies," said Raviv Zoller, president and CEO of Ness Technologies. "In February 2006, the company acquired Innova Solutions, which develops strategic solutions for leading global financial corporations, addressing fund management, reference data management and performance analytics. This engagement exemplifies a key aspect of licensable intellectual property within our financial services vertical, namely the ability to manage enterprise transactional data effectively in real-time, as we do in our reference data management solutions for many customers." "The new provident funds initiative indicates an additional significant investment in a wide range of projects approved by the bank's management," said Sammy Keinan, ITeam General Manager . "This is an innovative project in architecture, technology and marketing approach, and it will promote the bank's businesses in providing complex operational services to the management companies. One of the system's essential benefits is the ability to move the focus from concentrating on regulatory aspects to constantly improving the quality of service provided to the management bodies." Yosef Nitzani, Mizrahi-Tefahot's Vice President for Customer Assets and Consulting, sees the system as a proven qualitative leap in the bank's ability to provide complex operational services to provident fund planholders. "This is an intelligent platform that will significantly upgrade the service provided to our current customer base," said Nitzani. "With this system we will be able to increase the number of customers and use the system as an additional growth engine for the bank's businesses." About Ness Technologies Ness Technologies (NASDAQ:NSTC) is a global provider of end-to-end IT services and solutions designed to help clients improve competitiveness and efficiency. Ness specializes in outsourcing and offshore, systems integration and application development, software and consulting, and quality assurance and training. With 7,000 employees, Ness maintains operations in 15 countries across North America, Europe and Asia, and more than 100 alliances and partnerships around the world. For more information about Ness Technologies, visit http://www.ness.com/. Forward Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements often are preceded by words such as "believes," "expects," "may," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "assumes," "will" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current expectations, as of the date of this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Ness' actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward looking statements as a result of various factors. Some of the factors that could cause future results to materially differ from the recent results or those projected in forward-looking statements include the "Risk Factors" described in Ness' Annual Report of Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 15, 2006. Media contact: David Kanaan USA:+1-888-244-4919 Intl: +972-3-540-8188 Email: Investor contact: Drew Wright USA:+1-888-267-8160 Email: DATASOURCE: Ness Technologies Inc CONTACT: Media contact: David Kanaan, USA:+1-888-244-4919, Intl: +972-3-540-8188, Email: ; Investor contact: Drew Wright, USA:+1-888-267-8160, Email:

Copyright