RBC and OAO Kazkommertsbank have signed an agreement on strategic partnership in information technologies and IT project expertise, whose objective is to promote the integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the global information and economic community.

Moscow, December 24, 2003. - RBC SOFT, the IT subsidiary of OAO RBC Information Systems (RTS, MICEX: RBCI), and OAO Kazkommertsbank have signed an agreement on strategic partnership in information technologies and IT project expertise, whose objective is to jointly promote world-class solutions on the Kazakhstan market and facilitate the integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the global information and economic community through launching high-tech projects and solutions.

The mutually beneficial collaboration between the two partners started three years ago. The history of their partnership began in October 2001 with a small pilot project on the introduction of the Client Relationship Management System (CRM) at Kazkommertsbank's headquarters. Today, newly established bank branches are organized in a form of Personal Service Centers (PSC) and equipped with CRM-modules on the basis of the software of Siebel Systems, the world's leading software producer. The CRM solution was implemented by RBC SOFT in close cooperation with the bank's IT specialists.

At present, the bank has a call center integrated with a CRM system. The call center operates 24 hours a day seven days a week and processes more than 15,000 calls from the bank's clients a month. The bank also launched a new Internet Communication System on the basis of internet-chats. It gives clients an opportunity to ask questions and receive immediate answers online.

The introduction of modern information technologies resulted in a significant rise in the bank's client base. Thus, in 2002, the number of individual clients increased by 215% while the average annual growth for the last five years was only 45%.

This success in implementing joint information projects by Kazkommertsbank and RBC SOFT has led to the idea of signing a partnership agreement. Among other factors were the need for promoting high-tech projects in Kazakhstan and the need for speeding up the integration of Kazakhstan in the global information and economic community.

"I am positive that the agreement we signed will raise the efficiency of our joint efforts for promoting high-tech solutions in Kazakhstan to a totally new level," RBC SOFT General Director Alexey Kuzovkin said. "I would like to stress that we offer our solutions not only to large corporations - we also cooperate with customers from government agencies. The Internet, due to its global character, helps bring people together and provides for better understanding among them. Understanding is one of prerequisites for success in business, understanding is what strengthens business ties between Russia and Kazakhstan "

In addition to CRM systems, on the Kazakhstan market RBC SOFT offers business management systems based on ERP solutions (MBS Navision and Axapta), corporate portals for various enterprises, document workflow systems and Saba Software and IBM's distance learning systems, etc.

About RBC SOFT. RBC SOFT (www.rbcsoft.ru) specializes in the implementation of large IT and Internet projects. It is a successful and rapidly growing company, whose IT revenues reached about USD14m in 2002. RBC SOFT provides solutions for government agencies, large banks, industrial enterprises and other companies. Among its clients are the Russian Railroad Ministry, the crisis center of the Atomic Energy Ministry, the Telecommunications Ministry, ROSNO insurance company, Gazprom, Tetra Pak, Philips, Finnair, Metro Cash & Carry, GUM and the Bolshoi Theater. RBC SOFT employs more 350 IT specialists, of which many have scientific degrees. The high quality of services provided by RBC SOFT is guaranteed by ISO 9001:2000-certified quality management system implemented in the company.
RBC SOFT also acts as a system integrator and supplier of solutions developed by such leading software vendors as Microsoft, Oracle, Siebel, Thawte, Verisign, Hewlett Packard, Intel, IBM Dell, Documentum, AltaVista and others.

About OAO Kazkommertsbank. Kazkommertsbank (www.kkb.kz) is the largest commercial bank in the Republic of Kazakhstan in terms of assets and market capitalization. The bank's credit rating is one of the highest in the CIS (Ba1/BB-/BB). The Bank is the dominant provider of corporate banking services to large and medium-sized corporations in such rapidly growing sectors of the Kazakhstan economy as oil and gas, metallurgy, processing industries, infrastructure, the food industry and trade. Its commercial banking business primarily consists of corporate banking, trade and project finance, personal banking and foreign currency trading. The Bank is also a major participant in the securities market and the foreign currency market in Kazakhstan. Kazkommertsbank issues VISA and Mastercard bank cards, Cirrus/Maestro debit and credit cards and acts as an authorized agent for American Express and Diners Club. Kazkommertsbank operates in all the principal cities of Kazakhstan. Its network consists of 23 branches, 66 clearing offices and 9 personal service centers. Kazkommertsbank is included on the list of Top 1000 World Banks, and it has an office in London, a subsidiary in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) and a partner bank in Moscow.

RBC media contact: Olga Zhuravskaya
Tel.: +7 (095)363-1111, Fax: +7 (095)363-1114,
E-mail: olg@rbc.ru Web: www.rbcsoft.ru

Investor contact: Natalia Makeeva
Tel: +7 (095) 363-1111 (ext. 1369), e-mail: ir@rbc.ru, Web: www.rbcinfosystems.com