A joint venture of AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications
Wednesday made one of its first deals, agreeing to build Web services for
National Australia Bank Ltd.
As one of the first companies to trial the co-created products of Concert, the venture created by the two
telecom superpowers, National Australia Bank (NAB) expects that the new
applications will allow the bank to cut costs significantly, according to
published reports.
NAB is also relying on the new applications to propel it into new levels of
the e-commerce arena, following criticism that the bank was not up to par
in the digital market, reports said. NAB has yet to enter the online
brokerage market, unlike several banks in the country.
Concert will also be creating an intranet for NAB.
The bank also has a deal with FreeOnline.com.au as its ISP service, and has
also inked an agreement with smartcard and e-commerce company Keycorp to
create an online payment system, according to reports.
The FCC cleared the $10 billion joint venture through its regulation
process last week, and Concert is expected to be formally launched in the
next month. Concert was previously cleared by the European Commission and
the U.S. Department of Justice.
