SAP Banking Solution Working for Bank One Corporation; Implementation Will Be One Of The Most Comprehensive SAP Banking Projects In The World.

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 27, 1999--

SAP America, Inc. (NYSE: ADR SAP) today announced that BANK ONE CORPORATION is productive on the SAP(TM) Banking(TM) solution for its legacy systems replacement at First Chicago NBD, which was acquired by BANK ONE.

BANK ONE, the nation's fifth largest bank holding company, plans to roll out the SAP Banking solution, specifically with the SAP Strategic Enterprise Management/Profit Analyzer component, to the rest of the corporation by the end of the year.

"Our vision is to have our finance organization provide valuable, strategic analysis and information to the rest of the organization, and SAP was the only company to provide an integrated system across the important functional areas that will help us realize our vision," said Robert Rosholt, Bank One's chief financial officer. BANK ONE CORPORATION was formed by the merger of First Chicago NBD and BANC ONE in October 1998.

"The financial services environment is growing exponentially more competitive with each new twist in the marketplace; mergers and acquisitions, the adoption of the Euro, and expanding global business opportunities are just a few of the factors that must be taken into consideration when planning for the future," said Kevin McKay, CEO and president of SAP America. "Through continually improving our core applications and leveraging the Internet within that context, SAP provides financial services firms of all sizes with the tools and strategies necessary to thrive in this dynamic industry."

The implementation of the SAP Profit Analyzer component complements the original SAP software solution used in the bank, which began in 1997 with introduction of core SAP R/3 applications including general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchasing, fixed assets, cost accounting and allocations, and capital projects.

"We put a time frame around being productive on the SAP Banking Profit Analyzer solution for January, 1999 reporting, and we've hit that goal," Rosholt said. "The subsequent mergers that we have participated in since we initiated the project at First Chicago have created more challenges, such as inefficiencies dealing with multiple systems, completing manual-intensive work and operating old legacy systems. Once the system is in place across our entire organization, we will be able focus more on strategic analysis, and spend much less time gathering the data."

"Bank One is in the midst of completing one of the most comprehensive implementations of the SAP Banking solution in the world," said John Macdonald, senior vice president and general manager, financial services sector, SAP America. "The solution is working for them. Even with all the mergers, it completed the initial scope on time. While it has more to go, Bank One now has a robust, integrated infrastructure which will allow it to continue to grow and prosper into the 21st century."

SAP Banking Profit Analyzer Shows Early Results

The SAP Banking Profit Analyzer solution consolidated three old legacy profitability platforms, some of which were not Year 2000 compliant, into one integrated platform. The new SAP solution created a common view into customer profitability, including the product organization, for its larger commercial customers.

Early into the productive phase, Bank One is already seeing improvements including:

- a defined common catalog of products - easier and more timely availability of information - easy "point-and-click" drill down capabilities - for example

looking at a variance and dissecting it in terms of company,

product, and customer, and significantly easier extracts of data

and linkages to spreadsheets. The ability to rotate and analyze

across multiple dimensions will transform gatherers of

information into real analysts. - a clearer audit trail - less paper moving across the company - more transparency from sources

BANK ONE is using the funds transfer pricing capability within SAP Profit Analyzer as well as capital, liquidity, credit, tax and expense allocations.

"The SAP software solutions will allow us to standardize on one methodology," said Craig Coit, Bank One's senior vice president of finance systems. "Previously, with multiple systems and methodologies, an organizational unit or a product looked good on one system but not on another. It's difficult to analyze the business and make effective decisions in that mode. The SAP Banking solution will allow a common understanding across the entire bank."

Return on the Basics

With the initial implementation of the core SAP R/3 applications by First Chicago NBD, which occurred prior to its merger with BANK ONE, the Chicago-headquartered bank realized significant savings, including $16 million in Year 2000 remediation work.

First Chicago NBD also replaced five general ledger systems with one from SAP, moving to a common chart of accounts that supports external regulatory reporting and controls. The management reporting function is now performed within the SAP Profit Analyzer or the SAP Controlling component.

This allows the general ledger to be more streamlined, while the SAP Profit Analyzer and the SAP Controlling components provide for more robust reporting and data drill down capabilities into organizational, product and customer profitability.

"More people have access to information they need on a daily basis," said Eric Harris, Bank One's senior vice president of financial systems. "Finance staff and managers are more self-sufficient. For example, through the integration capabilities of SAP, people can see their expenses in real time and can drill down on those expenses, both external and those from other bank units, which have been charged to their cost center. They can determine what invoices have hit their cost center, whether they've been paid and when, and how much remains on related purchase orders. They can also tell how much has been spent with each vendor across the entire corporation. As a result, the Accounts Payable group doesn't have to answer as many questions, there is much faster response time and people feel empowered to get it done on their own."

Bank One currently has 2,000 users on the system, which is running a UNIX operating system on Hewlett-Packard hardware. SAP worked closely with the bank throughout the implementation, and Computer Sciences Corporation provided additional resources, focusing primarily on hardware, architecture, integration and consulting on all components.

PricewaterhouseCoopers also provided assistance with the SAP Profit Analyzer implementation.

About SAP Financial Services

SAP America helps banks, insurance companies, investment firms and other financial services institutions to achieve a better return on their information, by providing them with functionally rich, user-friendly tools for core operations, strategic enterprise, customer relationship, investment, human resources, treasury and business/cash management, and related reporting.

Armed with integrated solutions from SAP Financial Services, an institution can convert its enterprise data into targeted products, reduce time-to-market, enable a more customer-focused environment, profile risk/reward scenarios, streamline transaction processing, and increase productivity, with the goal of enhanced profitability.

About SAP

SAP, the world's largest inter-enterprise software company, provides companies of all sizes with business solutions that deliver A Better Return on Information (SM). SAP products and services integrate an organization from financial and human resources to manufacturing and sales and distribution.

This integration enables companies to optimize supply chains, strengthen customer relationships, and make more accurate management decisions. Founded in 1972, SAP today leverages a global network of people, processes and products to assure customer success.

SAP is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." The SAP World Wide Web site can be found at http://www.sap.com.

About Bank One

BANK ONE CORPORATION (NYSE:ONE) is the nation's fifth largest bank holding company, with assets of $250 billion. Bank One offers a full range of financial services to commercial and business customers and consumers. It is a major commercial bank in the U.S. and in selected international markets. Information about Bank One can be accessed at www.bankone.com.

SAP, R/3, SAP Banking, A Better Return on Information and all SAP product and service names referenced herein are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of SAP AG. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. (c)Copyright 1999, SAP AG.