Fiducia IT

Fiducia IT AG was a Karlsruhe-based German IT-services company focused primarily on the technology infrastructure, banking software and operational services required by cooperative banks. Although the company originated as an accounting and auditing institution in 1924, it evolved into a major financial-technology provider as German banking became increasingly dependent on centralized data processing, electronic payments and integrated core-banking platforms. The company’s central offering was agree, a modular banking system used across the cooperative banking network. Agree combined a data-center back end with workstation and application components for branch operations, customer administration, payments, analysis and risk management. It was created by consolidating several earlier banking systems, including NBS Fiducia and systems associated with regional cooperative data centers. By the late 2000s, all banks supervised by Fiducia had migrated to agree. The platform was reported to support more than 700 banks, approximately 97,000 workstations and 67 million accounts worldwide. Fiducia’s activities extended well beyond core-banking software. The company operated redundant data centers, communication networks and outsourcing services, and supplied application, infrastructure and business-process outsourcing. Its services included hardware installation and maintenance, security and access-control systems, printing and mailing, electronic archiving, payroll-related services, telephone banking support and customer-service operations. Through subsidiaries and investments, Fiducia also participated in areas such as human-resources services, bank risk management, payment-card processing and online payments. The company played a role in the modernization of German banking. In the 1960s it moved from punched-card processing toward journal strips, magnetic tape and magnetic disks. In the 1970s it introduced interactive online processing and expanded its network of subsidiaries and interests. During the 1980s it supported the introduction of dialog-based automated teller machines and developed banking application procedures. Later developments included mobileTAN, e-banking applications, the Agree bank workplace and participation in giropay, an online-payment service established with partners from the German financial sector. Fiducia also invested heavily in resilient infrastructure. A high-security data center in Rheinstetten near Karlsruhe began operation in 2008, complementing another independently operated facility in the Karlsruhe region. The company described its infrastructure as highly redundant and supported by extensive communications connectivity. Its printing and mailing operation handled large-scale production of bank correspondence and other documents for financial-sector customers. Fiducia’s business was closely tied to the structure of Germany’s cooperative financial network. It served cooperative banks as well as customers from private banking, public institutions and other enterprises. Its expansion involved several regional mergers, including combinations with cooperative data-center organizations in Kassel, Stuttgart and Bavaria. These integrations helped produce the unified agree platform but also reflected the broader consolidation of German banking IT. After exploratory discussions with GAD eG, another major IT provider for cooperative banks, failed in the late 2000s, renewed negotiations began in the early 2010s. The merger was ultimately completed in 2015, forming Fiducia & GAD IT AG. The Fiducia IT brand therefore represents a predecessor organization rather than an active standalone company. Its technological and organizational legacy continued within the merged cooperative-banking IT group.

Fiducia was founded in Karlsruhe in 1924 as Fiducia Accounting and Auditing Institute AG. Its original role was connected with accounting and auditing, but the company later became an information-technology organization serving German cooperative banks. The name Fiducia derives from Latin terms associated with trust, reliability and assurance. In 1958, Fiducia approached supervised banks with the idea of organizing shared processing through a cooperative reservation community. The business initially relied heavily on punched cards. During the 1960s, its processing environment gradually moved to journal strips, magnetic tape and magnetic disks, reflecting the broader transition from mechanical and paper-based accounting to electronic data processing. During the 1970s, Fiducia established subsidiaries and investments to support a broader customer base and develop industry-specific solutions. It also introduced the Fiducia online method for interactive transaction processing. In the 1980s, the company supported payment automation through dialog-based ATMs and began developing a banking application procedure. It also merged with the cooperative information center GIC in Mutterstadt and incorporated the Saarland reservation community. Further consolidation shaped the company during the 1990s and early 2000s. A 1999 merger with GRK BG data center Kassel GmbH and a 2001 combination with RWG Rechenzentrale Württembergischer Genossenschaften GmbH in Stuttgart expanded Fiducia’s regional cooperative-banking base. Together with the Bavarian cooperative data center rbg Rechenzentrale Bayerischer Genossenschaften eG, Fiducia developed a unified banking procedure. The system brought together the earlier NBS Fiducia, Rubin, Gebos and Genos environments and was named agree. Version 1.0 was released in 2003, the same year that Fiducia IT AG and rbg merged. The agree platform became the company’s principal technology product. It covered central processing as well as the Agree bank workplace and related applications for analysis, control, risk management and customer operations. By June 2007, all banks supervised by Fiducia had migrated to agree. The platform was subsequently used by more than 700 banks and supported tens of thousands of workstations and millions of accounts. Fiducia continued to expand its infrastructure and service portfolio. It operated redundant processing centers in the Karlsruhe area, including a high-security facility in Rheinstetten that opened in 2008. The company also provided application hosting, infrastructure outsourcing, business-process outsourcing, printing and mailing, electronic archiving, hardware services and network connectivity. Its participation in giropay connected it to the development of online payments for German banks. It also introduced mobileTAN and made e-banking functions available through a mobile application. The company’s network included subsidiaries such as PERAS GmbH, which supplied human-resources services, Technologie Services GmbH, which handled bank hardware and security-related systems, and Parc IT GmbH, which developed risk-management software. Investments and partnerships extended into telephone banking, card processing, online payment and financial back-office services. Fiducia also operated VR-Web, an internet and telephone service aimed at cooperative-bank customers and employees, until the activity was closed in 2012. Fiducia’s owners and the wider cooperative banking sector repeatedly considered combining its operations with those of GAD eG. Initial exploratory discussions began in 2006, and a possible 2010 merger was discussed in 2008. Negotiations restarted in 2011 under pressure to reduce costs, but ended in 2012 after disagreements over valuation despite regulatory approval. Talks resumed in late 2013 and ultimately succeeded. In 2015, Fiducia IT merged with GAD eG to create Fiducia & GAD IT AG. Fiducia IT consequently ceased to operate as an independent company, while its systems, infrastructure and customer relationships became part of the merged cooperative-banking technology organization.

• 2015

  Merger with GAD eG

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  Fiducia IT and GAD eG merge to form Fiducia & GAD IT AG.

• 2012

  VR-Web business closes

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  Fiducia ends its VR-Web and VR-Web Phone internet and telephone services.

• 2008

  Rheinstetten data center opens

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  A new high-security processing facility near Karlsruhe becomes operational.

• 2007

  Migration to agree is completed

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  All banks supervised by Fiducia have migrated to the agree banking system.

• 2003

  Agree version 1.0 is released

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  Fiducia launches the first version of agree, combining several regional cooperative-banking systems.

• 2001

  Stuttgart cooperative data center joins Fiducia

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  RWG Rechenzentrale Württembergischer Genossenschaften GmbH becomes part of the consolidation that supports Fiducia’s unified banking platform.

• 1999

  Merger with GRK BG data center

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  Fiducia expands its cooperative-banking data-center network through a merger with GRK BG data center Kassel GmbH.

• 1980

  ATM and banking automation work expands

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  The company supports dialog-based ATMs and develops a banking application procedure.

• 1970

  Online processing begins

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  Fiducia establishes subsidiaries and introduces its online method for interactive transaction processing.

• 1958

  Shared processing model proposed

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  Fiducia proposes a cooperative reservation community to supervised banks and takes over its organization.

• 1924

  Fiducia is founded in Karlsruhe

  [1]Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org

  The company begins as Fiducia Accounting and Auditing Institute AG.

A specialized infrastructure and software partner for Germany’s cooperative banking network, combining centralized core-banking technology with outsourcing, payments, data-center and operational services.

• Core-banking system · 2003

  agree

  Agree was Fiducia’s integrated banking procedure for cooperative banks. It combined central data-center processing with the Agree bank workplace and supporting applications for customer administration, payments, analysis, control and risk management. The platform unified several predecessor systems developed by regional cooperative IT organizations and became the standard environment for banks supervised by Fiducia. It was also supported through implementation consulting, training, coaching and application services.

• Banking workstation software

  Agree bank workplace

  The Agree bank workplace was the front-end environment associated with the agree banking procedure. It provided bank employees with access to operational functions hosted through Fiducia’s broader banking technology environment and was designed to work as part of an integrated central and branch-processing architecture.

• Electronic banking service · 2010

  Fiducia eBanking

  Fiducia’s e-banking services supported functions such as account and transaction viewing, transfers and portfolio access. The company also made a related mobile application available for iPhone users, extending selected banking functions to mobile devices.

• Banking security service · 2006

  mobileTAN

  MobileTAN was a transaction-authentication procedure introduced by Fiducia for electronic banking. It used mobile communications as part of the authorization process and formed one element of the company’s broader security and online-banking offering.

• Internet and telephone service

  VR-Web

  VR-Web and VR-Web Phone provided internet access and fixed-line telephone services for customers and employees of cooperative banks and related institutions. The service was restricted to existing customers from December 2010 and ceased operations at the end of November 2012.

• Document services

  Printing and mailing services

  Fiducia operated large-scale document production and mailing services for financial-sector customers. The offering included printing, folding, inserting, postage optimization, dispatch, tracking, electronic signatures, archiving and invoice-receipt processing.

• 2007Security Cup

  Germany

  Fiducia ran the Security Cup campaign to promote security awareness and occupational safety within the organization.

  Outcome. The project received the Silver Safety Award from Baden-Württemberg for an outstanding occupational-safety initiative.

  Source
• 2005Karlsruher SC sponsorship

  Germany

  Fiducia sponsored Karlsruher SC beginning in the 2005–06 season and became the club’s exclusive sponsor from the 2010–11 season.

  Outcome. The sponsorship increased the company’s regional public visibility; the available reference does not provide further commercial results.

  Source
• Baden Marathon title sponsorship

  Germany

  Fiducia served as the main and title sponsor of the Baden Marathon, connecting the company with a major event in its Karlsruhe region.

  Source

• 2015

  Merger with GAD eGM&A

  Background

  Both cooperative-banking IT providers faced pressure from their owners to consolidate operations and reduce costs. Earlier negotiations had broken down in 2012 over company valuation.

  Action taken

  Fiducia IT merged with GAD eG to form Fiducia & GAD IT AG.

  Aftermath

  Fiducia ceased to exist as an independent company and its activities became part of the merged cooperative-banking IT group.

  Source

• 2012

  Withdrawal from VR-Web servicesStrategy

  Background

  Fiducia decided to discontinue its internet-access and fixed-line telephone activity.

  Action taken

  The service was limited to existing customers from December 2010 and closed on 30 November 2012.

  Aftermath

  Fiducia concentrated its business more clearly on banking IT, infrastructure and outsourcing.

  Source

• 2008

  Investment in a new high-security data centerStrategy

  Background

  Fiducia required resilient and secure infrastructure for centralized banking operations.

  Action taken

  The company opened a high-security data center in Rheinstetten near Karlsruhe.

  Aftermath

  The facility complemented a separate backup center and strengthened the company’s redundant processing model.

  Source

• 2003

  Launch of the agree banking platformProduct launch

  Background

  Fiducia needed to integrate banking systems inherited from several regional cooperative data-center mergers.

  Action taken

  The company released agree version 1.0 as a unified modular banking procedure.

  Aftermath

  Agree became the standard platform for the banks supervised by Fiducia, with migrations completed by 2007.

  Source

1. 1Fiducia ITen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Fiducia official websitefiducia.de