Oracle is stepping up efforts to market a new core banking system developed in collaboration with National Australia Bank.NAB's UBank brand is the first to use Oracle's Banking Platform. UBank transferred to the system last month.Suncorp is also preparing to replace its Hogan core with the Oracle software.NAB group executive Gain Slater confirmed that the system will be the foundation for NAB's "strategic banking transformation initiative".The Oracle Banking Platform will, initially, handle deposits and loans, and origination and collection for personal banking, with more functions planned for future releases. It is intended to be complementary to the Flexcube banking system which has been installed at 400 banks worldwide, that Oracle inherited when it bought Indian company iFlex in 2005.Initially sold for banks' in-house use, the Oracle Banking Platform has been designed with cloud computing in mind. Although Oracle has not announced core banking as a service yet, Ashwin Goyal, group vice-president for Oracle Financial Services, said that such was the interest in cloud computing that he expected a cloud version would be available "sooner rather than later".The software has been developed using Oracle's Fusion software and Oracle databases, which allow different components to be assembled as required. It's a Lego-style approach that provides banks with the flexibility to change applications without forcing them to customise software which can swiftly become a hard-to-manage legacy system.Flexcube - now localised for 125 countries - is more of a traditionally built system, and is widely used by international banks such as Citibank.  "Oracle Banking Platform is more for large banks undergoing a transformation in their home banking market," said Goyal.Initially, Oracle will concentrate on selling the software to banks in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.