First Independent Bank Automates Consumer and Small Business Lending with Cypress...

First Independent Bank Automates Consumer and Small Business Lending with Cypress Software Systems' Mark IV and BizMark Software

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas--(Business Wire)--
First Independent Bank of Vancouver, Wash. has chosen Cypress
Software Systems LP's Mark IV and BizMark software to automate the
bank's consumer and small business loan application and underwriting
processes.

The bank also has deployed Cypress's new Bureau Interpretation
Scoring Engine (BISE) for BizMark, as well as small business
scorecards from Cypress partner Asch Advisory Services. The software
solutions create a centralized processing system that electronically
routes loan applications between First Independent's 20 Vancouver-area
branches and its central lending office.

"After searching several industry vendors, Cypress offered what we
were seeking - a one-stop loan automation software provider that
easily worked with us and could support customized, third-party
scorecards," said John Grogan, Senior Vice President and Chief Credit
Officer at First Independent Bank. "Mark IV and BizMark have
significantly simplified our consumer and small business loan
application processes. The system provides the speed, flexibility and
efficiency that we desired, and has brought greater consistency to our
underwriting."

First Independent Bank was founded in 1910 and has been owned and
operated by the Firstenburg family since 1936. The institution's
primary mission is customer service excellence and improving the
quality of life in the communities it serves.

"First Independent is one of the first banks to deploy our BISE
option for BizMark, and we're excited to meet their lending needs,"
said Stephen G. Sargent, President and CEO of Cypress Software
Systems. "With Mark IV and BizMark, First Independent will experience
an automated lending solution that cuts loan origination costs and
increases customer service through fast loan decisioning."

Cypress' Mark IV is a software platform that automates the
consumer loan application and decisioning process. With Mark IV,
service associates electronically input application information while
interviewing customers. The software then quickly retrieves credit
reports, efficiently reviews sources of repayment, and deploys the
institution's loan policies. The result is a fast, quality loan
decision.

Similarly, the company's BizMark software processes small business
loan applications, enabling lenders to efficiently handle small
business commercial credit requests for lines of credit, term loans,
corporate leases and corporate credit cards. The software gathers
principal and financial statement data; retrieves and interprets
consumer and business credit reports; performs ratio analysis; and
scores the results.

BISE is a Cypress-developed credit scoring engine that integrates
with BizMark, and helps financial institutions automate existing
judgmental underwriting environments or enable a solution that works
with embedded third party-derived scorecards. With BISE, institutions
can automatically retrieve data from consumer and business credit
bureaus; interpret that data into actionable information based on the
institution's credit policy rules; and deploy third-party scorecards
to drive automated credit decisioning.

About Cypress Software Systems

Headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, USA, Cypress
Software Systems, LP is a leading developer of automated credit
application decision support technology. Cypress provides community
and regional banks, finance companies and credit unions with loan
application decision and tracking tools equivalent to those used by
the largest national lending institutions. Clients, nationwide and in
16 countries, use the company's flagship products, Mark IV and
BizMark, to quickly and consistently process consumer and small
commercial loan applications. Cypress Mark IV offers a flexible,
risk-based processing approach that includes tracking consumer loan
applications from point of entry to point of decision. Cypress'
BizMark loan automation software processes commercial loan requests
within a customer relationship management environment. Both products
may be licensed in the bundled Cypress Suite and are offered in either
an application service provider (ASP) or traditional business model.
The company's product line also includes AppMark, an ASP-only consumer
lending solution for community banks with assets of $250 million or
less. Web Site: www.go-cypress.com.

Michael A. Burns & Associates Inc.
Jeff Green, 214-521-8596
greenj@mbapr.com
or
Neil McGlone, 214-521-8596
nmcglone@mbapr.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008