South Shore Co-operative Bank Selects COCC for Technology Partnership

AVON, Conn., April 19, 2007 – COCC, the region’s leading provider of next generation technology services for financial institutions, today announced that South Shore Co-operative Bank has selected the company for a long term technology partnership. The $200M community bank, headquartered in Weymouth, Mass., will use COCC’s advanced technology to continue its double digit growth over the past six years and to expand its business services.

“We wanted to have the technology in place to offer the right products and services to our market,” said Donald P. Gill, Chief Executive Officer at South Shore Co-operative Bank. “COCC has all the tools to support us going forward, plus they understand what we need to serve our customers. The efficiencies and economies of scale that we will gain from COCC will enable our current staff to serve a much larger customer base.”

Over the last several years, South Shore Co-operative Bank has focused on business services, increasing its commercial lending portfolio to nearly 17% of the bank’s overall assets. At the same time, security and the Internet have become major forces in the bank’s operations, prompting plans to increase efficiency and to expand commercial products.

The bank found that installing open architecture at the heart of its technology infrastructure was key to both goals. Once an open platform is in place, systems such as cash management and anti-money laundering can be easily integrated. This eliminates the need for additional ‘bolt on’ middleware solutions to accommodate the new functions, increasing the bank’s cost-effectiveness and reducing the time needed deploy new solutions.

“COCC’s open platform will improve ease-of-use throughout the bank,” said Kurt Bischoff, Vice President —  IT and Operations. “Windows, English product names, and online access to driver’s license photos and signatures are only a few of the system features that will simplify operations and training. Increased product flexibility resulting from COCC’s open platform will help the bank respond quickly to market needs.”

Kevin Joyce, Senior Vice President and Senior Lending Officer, said the bank spent a lot of time evaluating the commercial capabilities of the competing technology vendors. “COCC had the  depth and breadth of product to compete with anyone in our market,” said Joyce. “We are looking forward to enhancing our business services through our conversion to COCC.”

Beyond the technology and new product capabilities, South Shore is looking forward to COCC’s training and support to keep the bank abreast of industry best practices. “It’s critical for us to ensure that we’re doing the best things in the best way for us to keep our costs down and our service level high,” said Mr. Bischoff. “We know that COCC will provide top notch training and support for our staff.”

Mr. Bischoff added that the company’s strong New England presence translates to an active client community that communicates regularly with COCC. “That community and COCC’s stable staff were definitely factors in our technology partnership decision,” he said.

“South Shore Co-operative Bank will certainly experience a difference in COCC’s technology, product breath, and overall responsiveness,” said COCC’s President and CEO, Richard A. Leone. “Our business is supporting client strategies with the best open technology choices available on the market today. That is the essence of COCC’s technology partnership and the reason why we are one of the fastest growing data processing companies in the nation.”

The COCC difference was visible throughout the bank’s selection process where COCC competed against three nationally-known service providers. Mr. Gill said that COCC’s access to advanced technology and breadth of products and services represented provides good value to the bank. “We’re going to hit the ground running in 2008,” Gill said.