New England community bank employs new technology
to change its approach to scheduling

ATLANTA, July 1, 2002 – Financial Management Solutions, Inc. (FMSI) announced today that Middletown, R.I.-based Bank of Newport has signed with the company to use The Teller Management System (TMS) to benchmark teller performance, improve staffing effectiveness and reduce transaction costs, TMS-Explorer for online training of personnel, and The Resource Management System (RMS) to match bank tellers with forecasted schedules created by TMS. Bank of Newport is a $760 million, FDIC-insured mutual savings bank serving Rhode Island. Founded in 1819, it is the oldest mutual savings bank in the United States. TMS and RMS were developed by FMSI to help financial institutions manage the most labor-intensive area of any branch – the teller line.

Bank of Newport starts this benchmarking program with some goals already established and identified from in-house productivity measurement. The bank focuses on its sales culture, and has taken a proactive approach to coaching employees, providing employee training and offering performance-based incentives. TMS takes the bank’s in-house program further by providing monthly comparative data so the bank can see how it is performing in comparison to other TMS users.

"One of the most attractive features of The Teller Management System for us is that management can now make staffing decisions based on hard evidence instead of more subjective means, for example the ‘squeaky wheel’ approach," said Robert Maddock, Executive Vice President of Bank of Newport. "By adding RMS, we can make schedule changes in real-time, and we can see immediately how staffing changes affect the branch and the bank as a whole."

President and CEO of FMSI, W. Michael Scott said, "There is a fine line between being over-staffed and staffed properly to meet your customers’ service needs. Bank of Newport is a progressive bank that is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest level of service. Through use of FMSI’s services, the Bank of Newport can continue to achieve that goal, while at the same time improving performance and achieving labor cost optimization through better scheduling and staffing."

Financial Management Solutions, Inc., founded in 1990, is a privately held company in Atlanta, Ga. The firm provides banks and credit unions with performance management information through its products The Teller Management System (TMS) and The Resource Management System (RMS). TMS provides institutions with productivity and labor cost analysis, as well as recommended teller schedules to help the branches and institution as a whole achieve maximum cost effectiveness. RMS gives managers an Internet-based software tool to easily match available personnel with recommended schedules, which not only simplifies the scheduling process, but also creates schedules that follow recommendations set forth by TMS.

FMSI works with financial institutions of all sizes throughout the United States, including Denali Alaskan FCU, Redstone FCU, Citrus & Chemical Bank, Fidelity Federal Bank and Union Planters Corporation.