Press Release
Mattoon, Illinois - September 4, 2003 - First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust (www.firstmid.com), which signed its charter in 1865 to become the 24th U.S. National Bank, announced today that it has selected Andera's (www.andera.com) Online Account Opening solution to augment their in-person process for generating new accounts.
First Mid-Illinois is a billion dollar financial organization which provides community banking, trust and investments, and insurance services to customers in 24 locations in 17 communities across Illinois. According to Randall Ross, Senior Vice President, Electronic Banking, for First Mid-Illinois, "working with Andera underscores the bank's commitment to intelligently deliver web-based systems as another resource for our customers."
"The primary reasons we are implementing Andera's Online Account Opening system are to make it easier for customers to start banking with First Mid-Illinois, and to make it convenient for existing customers to open additional relationships" said Ross. "We are proactive in utilizing technology and believe that offering account opening online will become increasingly important to customers. We wanted a solution that would make us stand out from other banks in our area, and anticipate that Andera's solution will further identify us as progressive and technically competent."
By incorporating real-time identity verification, initial funding, instant approval, personalized cross-selling, and compliance with USA PATRIOT Act and OFAC guidelines, Andera's Online Account Opening solution is a comprehensive platform designed to support all aspects of the account opening process, through a secure browser-based environment. Immediate benefits to financial institutions include increased usage of online product applications, increased completion rate of online applications, cost savings, and increased efficiencies associated with straight-through processing.
According to Andera President, Charles Kroll, leveraging technology and the Internet is important to the success of community financial institutions. "With Andera's Online Account Opening system, community banks and credit unions can distribute product and service offerings quickly and inexpensively through their Internet channel. This enables them to be highly competitive, even with much larger institutions," said Kroll, adding, "As it has been with online banking, we expect online account opening to become a new strategic imperative for financial institutions over the next few years."
"First Mid-Illinois knows where it wants to go, and has asked Andera to help get there. We are extremely pleased to be working with First Mid-Illinois," said Kroll.
About Andera
Andera is committed to providing financial institutions with innovative banking-related technology and to helping them profit from its use. The company's achievements are founded on the relationships it has with its clients, and on the practical use of technology to accomplish business objectives. With core competencies in retail and commercial banking, Andera specializes in integrating its secure, user-friendly Internet-based solutions for progressive small and medium size financial organizations. Andera customers include Bank Rhode Island, John Hancock Financial, Elmira Savings & Loan, the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Brown University, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Andera is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. For more information about Andera, please call 401-621-7900 or send an email to afs@andera.com, or visit the Andera Web site at www.andera.com.







