And retail customers will have access to the system by March next year, Mr. Hill said. He was addressing a press conference at the NCB New Kingston headquarters on Wednesday.

"About 12 months ago we began a journey of identifying a supplier who could provide us with a state-of-the-art computer system," Mr. Hill said. The new US$30 million system provided by Infosys Technologies of India is the basis of a new banking system.

The new system is the basis on which NCB will begin offering Internet banking. But it will also provide the basis for other services.

The new Finacle system will allow NCB to "leapfrog" over other banks in the island, said director Herb Phillips Jnr. Already deployed in major banks in India, he said, "you won't find it anywhere else," in Jamaica.

Routine transactions should continue to be shifted from the branches to the Automated Banking Machines (ABMs). But new channels will open through Internet, a new call centre or with a cell phone.

The new call centre will become operational in March.

Implementation of the system will necessitate the one-day closure of all NCB branches on Friday, December 27, Mr. Hill said. When the bank reopens on December 30, the new system will be available to customers.

The renovation of banking halls will also begin after the introduction of the new banking system, Mr. Hill said. This is because it will allow for a transformation in the structure of the bank's operations.

'Back office' administrative work will be shifted from branches to a central location, said assistant general manager Wynette Anderson. The physical structure of the branches will change to allow more space for customers.

Asked whether the bank's branch network will expand or contract over the next few years as the new system comes into full effect, Mr. Hill said "My guess is that we will have more branches but smaller ones."

The high profile NCB head office on Trafalgar Road will specialise as a service centre for corporate customers, Mr. Hill said. The bank's back office operations will centralised in a new location.

"The countdown to NCB's transformation has begun," Mr. Hill said.

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