Callataÿ & Wouters

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History

 

First Clients

The company was created in 1983 by Didier de Callata˙ and Godefroid de Wouters to provide IT consulting and services to the financial services sector. After initial assignments with Générale de Banque, Crédit Communal, Nagelmackers, Puilaetco, Banque Commerciale Zaďroise, Callata˙ & Wouters embarked in 1985 on projects involving development and implementation of new IT systems for Comptoir d’Escompte de Belgique, Petercam, and Banco Hispano Americano, among others. In 1991 – after a period of rapid growth and the recruitment of several senior staff members – the company launched its first foreign subsidiary in Luxembourg, took on a project for Kredietbank Luxembourg, and created a research and development department. In 1993, an additional project based on the Caisse Privée system was undertaken for Fortis Bank Luxembourg. The system was redeveloped on a UNIX – a client-server, relational database platform – to create a true multi-platform software package for banking.

The launch of Thaler

In 1995, with a substantial expansion of the research and development department, this integrated standard software package was launched under the name THALER. Patriotique Banque d’Epargne, Banque de la Poste, Argenta Spaarbank, Creditmar, SanPaolo Bank Luxembourg, AGF/Assubel Bank, and Anhyp were among the first customers for this package. In 1998, the company enhanced its capital position by partnering with institutional investors such as SOFINDEV (SOFINA) and ISEP (FORTIS). In 1999, thanks to a global partnership with Siemens Business Services for the marketing and implementation of Thaler, the software was first installed outside the Benelux area, in Britain’s National Savings Bank. Callata˙ & Wouters then incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary in the United Kingdom in the spring of 2000.

More choices, enhanced design

The year 2000 was notable for the launch of TERAN, a business intelligence solution for financial institutions that was successfully implemented at SanPaolo Bank in Luxembourg, Fortis Bank Luxembourg, and Banque de la Poste in Belgium. KYUDO, an Internet banking system developed with Argenta Bank, became available the same year. A second version of Thaler, built on a completely new framework, was launched in 2001. The same year, Robeco started a new branch in Brussels equipped with Thaler, Kyudo and Teran. BKCP (a subsidiary of the Crédit Mutuel du Nord) began a Thaler project at the same time, and the CPI (a branch of the BKCP’s network) started its migration to Thaler.

An international presence

A diverse group of banks signed contracts for Thaler in 2002, including: Cortal Consors Belgium, Rabobank.be, Crédit Agricole Belgium, Eural, and Sarasin-Rabo Singapore. Callata˙ & Wouters continued to pursue an international presence – signing contracts in 2005 with PT Bank Commonwealth (the Indonesian subsidiary of a huge Australian group) and the Internet bank RaboDirect in Ireland. In October 2005, Callata˙ & Wouters received the Company of the Year award from Ernst & Young for its outstanding growth.

Innovative options to cover new business needs

To cover the specific needs of Private Banking Callata˙ & Wouters launched Thaler Wealth Management, a tailored version of Thaler, in 2006. Furthermore, several new infrastructure sourcing options were proposed for the first time to the market that same year. Banks can now choose the model that makes most sense for their value chain and can opt not only for Thaler run in-house, but also for Thaler in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) mode or in business process outsourcing (BPO) mode.