GarantiBank International NV in the Netherlands has gone live with Five Degrees’ Matrix to improve customer experience and reduce operational costs. This is for its retail banking business, mainly centred on savings and deposits. The bank, part of the Spanish BBVA Group, is now considering adopting the solution for its German operation.
Matrix was taken to automate the bank’s mid-office, combined with a front-end portal from another Dutch company, Iquality.
The proven nature of Matrix was one reason for the original selection, says Marco Witteveen, Chief Operating Officer at GarantiBank NV, so too the fact that it is based on new technology. It effectively acts as the “control centre for all workflows”, he explains, linking at the back-end to the core banking system, which holds all balances. “It fits well within the digital transformation programme of the bank.”
Matrix “orchestrates” all flows between the customer front-end and the back office. It handles all customer on-boarding processes such as approvals and compliance. It also acts as the single retail customer database, supporting relationship and document management.
This part of the operation was previously fairly manual, says Ozgen Simons, Member of the Managing Board at GarantiBank NV. The resultant “digitisation of all processes” has improved customer experience, from many aspects, including making it mobile friendly and adding responsive web interaction and easier account opening. Mrs Simons adds: “Operational cost reduction through efficiency gains from straight-through paperless processes will be significant.”
The project started in the first half of 2016 and cutover was in March 2017. Mr Witteveen observes: “The relationship is a good one. We worked well together and, when issues arose, we discussed them openly and transparently. Five Degrees were always open for comments and suggested improvements.” There was a slight delay but the conversion went smoothly, with no major issues.
Martijn Hohmann, co-founder and CEO at Five Degrees, says: “This maintains our track-record of 100 per cent successful projects, which is something we are very proud of. We are delighted to support GarantiBank NV’s digital transformation and are very pleased to have them on our customer list. We look forward to building on the relationship.”
The bank will add new functionality within a second phase in the Netherlands and, before the end of the year, will decide whether to also adopt Matrix for its savings and deposits business in Germany.
In conclusion, Mrs Simons says: “With this future proof infrastructure developed by Five Degrees, GarantiBank NV intends to continue delivering innovative solutions and quality services to its customers in the Dutch savings market.”
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