The funds from E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co would be used to expand product marketing and the distribution network, System Access managing director Leslie Loh said.

"In order to sustain a higher growth capability into the future, we need more than just generating profit and using the profit to grow the company," he told a news conference.

With its flagship software product SYMBOLS, used mostly by medium-sized banks in some 20 countries, it aims to become a leading global banking software product and service provider.

Asked if System Access had hoped to raise more funds, Loh said, "that is pretty much the amount we looked at, what we need to grow the company in the next two to three years".

Loh said that he would consider a listing on Nasdaq in the United States in two to threeyears.

System Access reported turnover of S$17 million and a net profit exceeding S$3 million in the year ended June 30, 1998.

"The percentage that we look at, in terms of (revenue) growth we hope to achieve hopefully in the region of about 50 per cent or so in the next couple of years," he said.

Loh said the firm grew in turnover by 80 per cent last year.

Calling it was time to broaden the company's distribution and marketing after long being "development-centric".

It set up an office in New York last month to meet demand in North and South America. Plans to open in Shanghai, Bangkok and Slovakia to expand its global reach were also underway, he said.

Singapore's Overseas Union Bank was cited as one customer using SYMBOLS in some of its foreign branches.

Loh said System Access aimed to double its workforce to 400 from 200 within two years.

Warburg, Pincus, a New York-based private equity investment firm, manages about $7 billion of investments and has so far invested about $200 million in theAsia-Pacific region.

Company executives said they were encouraged by Singapore's efforts to establish itself as an information technology hub and expected opportunities for further investments here.