Bremer Bank Recognized as a Model Bank in Celent Report
St. Paul, Minn. - March 17, 2008 - Bremer Bank, a regional financial services company jointly-owned by its employees and the Otto Bremer Foundation, was recently recognized as a model bank in the Celent Model Bank 2008: Case Studies of Effective Technology Usage in Banking report. Celent, a research and advisory firm, recognized Bremer for its retail online banking platform, which was rolled out in September 2007.
Bremer's online banking platform provided an upgraded online banking experience for clients including: improved navigation, more security, upgraded bill pay capability, self-service features and alerts and secure messaging. Since the launch of the platform, the total user base has grown 18 percent. Additionally, the use of bill pay and online statements has grown tremendously.
"Online banking is experiencing increased adoption,"; said Jacob Jegher, senior analyst with Celent's Banking Group and author of the report. "Celent has recognized Bremer as one of the model banks not only for the structure of its online banking platform, but also for the way the organization responded directly to client needs and prepared its employee base for a successful launch."
In total, the report highlighted 18 model bank component case studies that ranged from infrastructure and architecture level to more specific levels: product development, marketing/sales, distribution/channel management, transaction processing, loan processing, customer service/support and security and risk management.
"We are honored to have our online banking platform recognized in the Celent Model Bank report," said David Whitaker, eCommerce channel manager for Bremer. "Listening to our clients, we recognized the need to offer an updated online banking solution and are very pleased with the adoption of our clients to the new system and the growth overall."
Bremer partnered with Corillian Corporation, now part of CheckFree in building the new Bremer Online Banking platform. For additional information on the new Bremer Online Banking platform access http://www.bremer.com/onlinebanking.
Bremer Financial Corporation
Bremer Financial Corporation is a privately-held, $7.2 billion regional financial services company jointly owned by its employees and the Otto Bremer Foundation. This unique ownership structure is the only one of its kind in the nation. Founded in 1943 by Otto Bremer, the company is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and provides a comprehensive range of banking, investment, trust and insurance services to more than 100 locations in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Company profits are distributed in the form of charitable grants by the Otto Bremer Foundation to communities served by Bremer. In 2007, more than $30 million in charitable donations were given across the Bremer footprint and employees donated more than 92,900 volunteer hours to their communities.