ReleaseWire

Mantas to Provide the Habib Bank Limited, Pakistan with Industry Leading Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Compliance Software and Services

Mantas continues global momentum, and is deployed in more than 100 countries

Posted: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 at 8:26 AM CDT

New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/03/2006 --Mantas, Inc., a leading global provider of advanced solutions for compliance and risk management including anti-money laundering (AML), broker and trading compliance, fraud detection, and operational risk analysis, today announced its partnership with Habib Bank Ltd., the largest bank in Pakistan. With an extensive network of 1425 domestic branches and 55 international branches, Habib Bank plays an important role in Pakistan's financial and economic development.

Pakistan is in the process of modernizing laws governing the country’s financial sector. But the agreement comes before the proposed Banking Act, 2006, which includes new provisions to combat financial crime, has been enacted.

Previously Habib Bank used separate business unit solutions and manual processes to identify suspicious activity. However, the bank decided it needed a more sophisticated, robust and comprehensive platform to address regulatory compliance, protect its customers and brand, and prevent operational losses stemming from financial crime. Having evaluated different solutions, Habib Bank chose Mantas ONE to address their compliance and risk management needs in a rapidly deployable and cost-effective manner.

“To continue to build on our position as a globally recognized financial institution, we sought an enterprise approach to anti-money laundering. We chose Mantas because it is a proven product, and is able to cover a large number of subsidiaries and jurisdictions. Mantas also has worldwide brand recognition, an excellent implementation track record and is price-competitive. With this choice, we are confident we have selected the very best solution to augment our efforts in combating financial crime,” said Mudassir Khan, Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, Habib Bank.

“We’re seeing a tremendous interest from small-to medium sized banks across the world that wish to deploy the most acknowledged solution to combat financial crime. This plays a part in their strategy to continue to grow their business. But our clients also choose Mantas because they want a solution that can help them meet ever-evolving risk and compliance requirements as well as improve corporate governance and performance throughout their organizations,” said Simon Moss, CEO, Mantas.

Mantas Behavior Detection Platform
The Mantas Behavior Detection Platform is the industry's most comprehensive solution for avoiding risk, exceeding regulatory requirements, and enhancing customer relationships. Mantas analyzes the behavior of customers, employees, and partners in every transaction across the enterprise, from every angle – past, present, and future – empowering companies to act with precision and confidence. Mantas creates transparency, increasing a financial institution’s ability to understand and manage its business and identify risks and opportunities. Transparency, trust and operational excellence have been proven keys to retaining customers and growing market share.

About Habib Bank Limited
The Habib Bank Group is the leader in Pakistan's financial services industry. An extensive network of 1425 domestic branches – the largest in Pakistan – and 55 international branches enables the bank to provide comprehensive financial services for both local and international customers. This has ensured thriving client relationships that form the backbone of the Bank's operations.

Today, HBL plays an important role in Pakistan's financial and economic development. It has come a long way from its modest beginnings in Bombay in 1941 when it commenced operations with a fixed capital of 25,000 rupees. Habib Bank has been a pioneer in providing innovative banking services.

These have included the installation of the first mainframe computer in Pakistan followed by the first ATM and more recently, Internet banking facilities in all our 1425 domestic branches. For more information, please visit http://www.habibbankltd.com/html/media.cfm

About Mantas
Mantas provides its clients with the industry’s most advanced solutions for regulatory compliance, loss prevention and revenue generation. Our clients recognize greater transparency of their business and make better-informed decisions as a result. Mantas is a leading global software company with operations in Europe, the Americas and Asia/Pacific. Recognized as a leader in global operational transparency, the company’s products are used by more than 5,000 finance professionals in more than 100 countries.

Headquartered in Herndon, Va., the company has offices in London, New York, and Singapore. Mantas is a Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE: SFE) partner company. For further information please visit www.mantas.com.