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In spite of the cutback, Bradesco's data processing department remained the largest IT work force among private Brazilian financial institutions. Today, they account for 2,000 people working at two large data processing units. One of them is located in the city of Alphaville, and the other is at the bank's headquarters in Cidade de Deus, Osasco, both towns in the state of São Paulo. According to Bianchi, Brazil has plenty of skilled IT workers, which is good news in face of the onrush of technological innovation, the challenge of keeping ahead of the strong competition, and the necessity to ensure perfect operation of the bank's diversified financial transactions.

Bradesco's knack for technological pioneering is well-known in the banking industry. Apart from being the first private company to own a computer in Brazil and the first Brazilian bank to interconnect its operations on-line in real time, Bradesco was also the first financial institution to make use of satellite transmissions -- the traffic of approximately 1,600 branches. Its self-service network of 15,000 machines, including ATMs, fax terminals, and cash dispensers, was another innovation. In 1995, Bradesco was the first Brazilian bank to set up a web site, which evolved into yet another pioneer project--home/office banking.

Three years later, Bradesco's web site registers an average of 1.5 million hits a month, while the home/office on-line banking has peaked at over 22,000 transactions daily. Dorival Bianchi believes those numbers will increase, as the recent privatization of Brazil's telecommunications system leads to a complete re-structuring of that sector. As of now, Internet access is still very slow due to precarious telephone connections. However, Bradesco is betting on the strong growth and improvement of Brazilian communications in the next few years. Bradesco has ranked home/office banking, Internet, and e-commerce at the top of its investment priorities, together with the expansion of its self-service network, Year 2000 transition, and branch automation.

According to Alcino Assunção, Adjunct-Director of Data Processing, the Year 2000 transition is under control. So far, 83% of the bank's 120,000 software programs have been changed, and compliance of dumb terminals should be completed by October. In addition, Bradesco is contacting home banking users and 30,000 digitally connected corporate clients to ensure they too are taking the necessary steps in becoming Year 2000 compliant. Once the changes have been made, the bank will conduct extensive testing in 1999.

In response to the growing pressure for increased efficiency, higher speed, and better services, the bank is also in the process of replacing the old system (which first linked the branches on-line in 1981) with an open system running on a Windows NT platform. Not only will the change reduce maintenance costs, but it will also decrease software incompatibility, while speeding up and facilitating future program changes.

Hitachi Data System plays a key-role in Bradesco's constant pursuit of technological excellence. The bank's processors and disks, which used to be exclusively IBM, have been gradually replaced by HDS' solutions. "Ninety percent of our disks are now HDS'," acknowledges Bianchi. Moreover, out of the seven existing mainframes, six are HDS': one EX-42, one GX 8824, two Skyline 525s, and two Skyline 827s. The latter, with 975 MIPs each, were acquired this year in order to improve the performance of the headquarters' data center.

Easy upgradeability is vital for a bank that grows at a pace of one new branch per week. Both at home and globally, Bradesco's management realizes the importance of implementing reliable and efficient technologies, not only to meet its tremendous data processing demands, but also to remain competitive. " Hitachi's disks and mainframes have met our needs by providing high-level performance, product reliability, and excellent response time", says Bianchi. Currently, the response time, as far as front office transactions are concerned, is around one second, and approximately three seconds for back office transactions. He adds that CPM Comunicações, HDS' distributor in Brazil, provides top quality services and technical assistance.

Not surprisingly, CPM's know-how and competent performance in Brazil's IT market set the grounds for a joint venture between the company and Bradesco, thus consolidating CPM's participation in the market in the past decade. Last year, Exame, one of Brazil's most reputable business magazines, and trade publication Informática Hoje (IT Today) both nominated CPM 1997's best IT enterprise.

Asked about future challenges and goals, Bianchi says: "Our goal is to remain primarily a Brazilian bank by continuing to make local acquisitions whenever possible, and by keeping on growing nationally." IT investments are also a top priority, but the focus will be on implementing new channels of distribution which are cheaper than the traditional physical branch banks. Now that Brazilian inflation is at a record low, the need for fast fund transfers is giving way to the convenience, such as self-service and on-line home banking.

Bradesco is also opening a new branch in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which will become its third overseas branch. The other two are located in New York and Grand Cayman, and they all help to support Bradesco's international trade, with significant volumes of export and import transactions. Most of the bank's investments, though, will continue to focus on the domestic market.

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