RBI received a record number of nominations for the 2013 Awards, sponsored by Fiserv – over 300 banks in total. Cutting down the nominations to just a few for each category was no easy task and resulted in a shortlist of 50 banks across the 21 awards categories. Billy Bambrough summarises the best of the best
European Retail Bank of the Year – Raiffeisen
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Raiffeisen Bank’s main objective for 2012 was to focus on responding to the customers’ increasing need for efficient personal finance management, by continuously developing integrated products and services. In the same time, the bank concentrated on strengthening its financial advisory competencies which would lead the customers towards a smart, healthy and successful banking style.
- Raiffeisen Bank continued to be present within the most vibrant students’ communities, combining state of the art new media reach through social media and dedicated platform with brick and mortar presence.
- Employees remain the core segment for Raiffeisen Bank and it attracted new customers through integrated value proposition, covering all aspects of banking needs (transactional accounts, saving path and lending), while offering customisable solutions.
- For the premium customers, the bank added suitable value proposition to the dedicated service – Premium Banking, launched in 2010. More than 80 dedicated relationship managers were offering advice, using financial consultancy service, Raiffeisen PlanPersonal. The bank has also successfully launched "Life Premium", a unique endowment product for Premium Customers, which completes the value proposition for the segment.
- During 2012, Raiffeisen Bank’s strategy continued in the direction of developing and consolidating ‘home bank’ relationships with SME customers. Raiffeisen Bank enhanced its product offer in order to foster SMEs business development and to increase their capacity to access financing, benefitting also of a long and proven track record as partner of some of the most important intra-EU financial institutions (EBRD, EIF, KfW, CEB and EIB). Several other solutions were developed and launched in 2012 covering a broader range of SMEs banking needs, mainly aimed at optimizing the cash management offer: cash deposit in sealed bags, cross account drawing, and mass payments.
Best Online Banking Strategy – Alior
Alior Bank was the first bank in Poland and one of the first banks in the world, which provided clients with a completely virtual bank – Alior Sync.
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By GlobalDataAlior Sync replaced physical branches with the virtual one that can be accessed through its website 24/7 and ensures contact with the banker via video, audio and chat. A fully automated online loan process enables customers to obtain a credit pay out even within 90 seconds. Users do not need to deliver any documents and can sign the agreement electronically not only for all Sync products.
In addition to free account, Sync provides a range of services:
- Personal Finance Manager: allows customers to view and visualize all transactions in one place including imported transaction history from other banks;
- Integration with Facebook: transfers to friends directly from Facebook, adding friend’s photos to the list of recipients of transfers, sharing savings progress;
- "Entertainment Zone": free access to online movies, music and games;
- "Good Deal Zone": purchases in instalments at no extra cost;
- Check the status of savings by "shaking" your phone, and
- Pay invoices using the handsets cameras
Alior customers can benefit from comprehensive banking services, online at any time, from anywhere in the world.
Latin America Retail Bank of the Year – Santander
Against a backdrop of falling interest rates and rising NPLs in its biggest market, Brazil, the challenge for the group in 2012 was to achieve solid growth in its Latin American business without a parallel increase in costs. The main objectives for the year for the region as a whole were:
- Revenue generation based on dynamic retail banking and management of spreads;
- Balance sheet growth based on retail deposits;
- Efficient use of capital and comfortable ratios (i.e. above regulatory requirements);
- Prudent focus on risks, with intense management of early NPLs and their recovery, and
- Optimise existing capacity and improve efficiency.
In Brazil, goals included leveraging the strength of its IT platform to boost service quality and to expand key segments such as cards or SME lending.
Santander Mexico, aside from the IPO, faced the challenge of consolidating its franchise and its market share with new and better products.
Santander’s business continued to grow at an impressive pace in Latin America in 2012. The Group registered profit of 4.3bn, down 5.6% due mainly to the sale of its Colombian business for three times book value, but up 3.7% on a like-for-like basis.
Investing in its core markets, the group gained 2.3m new customers across the region, reaching 44m. Net interest income rose 13.9% and pre-provision profit 15.7%. Loans grew 8% and deposits 9%.
Despite the costs inevitably associated with expansion, the group managed to keep a tight rein on costs. Santander’s efficiency ratio in the region improved to 37.9% from 39.8%.
Brazil
- Quality of service improved, with 81% of customers saying they were satisfied, up from 77.5% a year earlier;
- Net operating income rose 8.4%;
- The cost-income ratio dropped 2.3 points to 35.3%;
- Santander announced in April, 2013, the launch of private banking model, Select, in Brazil this year;
- Santander has been a pioneer among private banks in adopting a maximum 35-year term for mortgage loans, one of the fastest growing credit sectors in the country, and
- Santander Brazil has developed innovative products such as Conta Light, a package of services including the only overdraft in the country with regressive rates – that is, the less the use in relation to the credit limit, the lower the rate.
Mexico
- Mexico posted 6.2% growth in net attributable profit (12.2% excluding the impact of the sale of the minority stake);
- It opened 45 new branches as part of a plan for 200 more branches over three years. It intends to double, to 70, the number of Select branches for wealthier customers. Retail lending rose 16%, consumer credit 21% and cards business by 30%;
- Basic revenues increased by 19.1% and, although operating expenses rose 10.8%, the cost-income ratio improved 2.2 percentage points to 39.7%;
- Customer satisfaction remained high at around 90%, and
- In the wake of the IPO; Santander Mexico issued a USD 1 billion senior bond in the international markets, achieving the longest term (10 years) and lowest cost of any Mexican bank so far.
Chile
- Net loans grew 8.6% and deposits (ex repos) 6.5% in 2012;
- Net interest income climbed 13.8% to EUR 1.73 billion;
- Chile is investing heavily in upgrading its technology and CRM systems;
- Customer satisfaction rose to 79.7% from 77.4%, and
- Almost 25% market share in customers with current accounts.
Best Payments Innovation – PNC
According to PNC, today’s consumers are living in the digital age, readily connecting with others through smart phones, tablets, laptops and social networks. However, when it comes to paying one another, the methods consumers use are antiquated.
PNC indentified that U.S. consumers make 16bn personal payments every year, and the vast majority are made the old-fashioned way – with cash and checks.
PNC Bank is attempting to bring personal payments into the 21st century.
In 2009, the bank became the first major U.S. bank to enable secure person-to-person money transfers using just the recipient’s name and an email address or mobile phone number.
PNC found that consumers embraced the service as a way to send money from their online bank accounts.
The Popmoney service from PNC, which is offered through a partnership with technology provider Fiserv, enables the myriad of social payments consumers make today — whether it is sending a gift or splitting the rent — and eliminates the hassle of dealing with cash or checks.
Additionally, Popmoney allows users to request money, perfect for requesting reimbursement from co-workers, friends or family.
In 2012, in response to growing demand for the Popmoney service among an increasingly mobile customer base, PNC expanded accessibility across various channels and customer products.
Customers can now access Popmoney not only from their online bank account, but also from the bank’s groundbreaking Virtual Wallet accounts. The bank also started rolling out Popmoney in their mobile banking solutions.
IT Innovation of the Year – The Palmetto Bank
The bank examined nearly every customer touch point for ways to make it easier and faster than ever to bank with The Palmetto Bank. The ongoing IT initiative began in 2011, and includes mobile banking, image content management, online banking, payments, wire transfer services, remote deposit capture and a host of additional products and services.
"It’s rewarding to provide our clients a faster and more efficient way to bank with us," said Samuel L. Erwin, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Palmetto Bank, in a news release announcing updated services. "Going forward, we will continue our commitment to technology enhancements as a critical part of our overall strategy to enhance the client experience."
All customer-facing technology was included in The Palmetto Bank’s update of its decades-old technology, with each interconnected implementation affecting several solutions. Equally impressive, the bulk of the project was completed in nine months. To pay for the technology initiative, the bank sold two branches and consolidated another two.
Enhancements for consumers include upgraded online banking and automatic telephone voice response service, mobile banking, paperless deposits at ATMs, and opt-in functionality for e-statements. Mobile banking is particularly impacting the way The Palmetto Bank’s customers interface with their bank and manage their money.
Using the bank’s enhanced remote deposit capture capabilities, businesses and consumers can now deposit checks remotely. The Palmetto Bank is taking advantage of similar check capture technology to streamline deposits at the back counter. In addition, enhancements to electronic content management solutions and reporting functions are increasing efficiencies and reducing costs for the bank.
As a result of the initiative, The Palmetto Bank moved from batch mode to real-time, while providing a consistent user experience across every self-service channel. The bank also moved away from internal processing to address its personnel, business continuity, security and redundancy concerns.
In January 2013, the bank reported two consecutive quarters of net income. The Palmetto Bank attributes this momentum to significant reduction of problem assets, improvements to operating efficiency, and enhanced delivery of products and services to clients.
In the organization’s fourth quarter 2012 earnings announcement, Erwin cited The Palmetto Bank’s focus on increasing revenues through additional commercial banking products and services such as Small Business Administration lending, Corporate Banking and e-Treasury services, as well as improved electronic banking and deposit-accepting ATMs, as integral to the bank’s profitable momentum.
The Palmetto Bank’s technology project, especially its focus on enhancing the client experience, continues in 2013. The bank will undertake several automation projects focused on document imaging and document tracking, personal finance systems, fraud monitoring systems for mobile banking and person-to-person payments.
IT Strategy of the Year – FNBC
RBI spoke to FNBC on their 2012 IT strategy after the Canadian bank picked up the award for Best IT Strategy of the Year.
RBI: Why the move to DNA from Fiserv? Were any other vendors considered? What sold you on DNA and Fiserv?
Greig Cooper, VP Operations (GC): We actually transitioned from The Toronto-Dominion Bank ("TD") proprietary banking platform to DNA and not from an existing FISERV platform. As part of our original agreement with TD, it was agreed that First Nations Bank would become completely independent from TD by 2014 and the banking platform transition was the last step in that process.
We reached out to a total of four vendors through an RFP process and each of the vendors provided a proposal followed by an onsite presentation. All vendors were ranked in number of areas including functionality and technical requirements, conversion and implementation approach and support and problem management by a number of First Nations Bank and TD Project team members. The main selling features were DNA’s flexibility and its ease of use.
RBI: What were some of the biggest challenges in migrating to the system and how were they overcome?
Greig Cooper, VP Operations (GC): First Nations Bank of Canada was not only changing it’s banking platform but was undergoing a complete business transformation. Banking functions previously performed by TD such as switching, clearing, and retail and commercial loan origination services, were all being transitioned to new vendors. As a result, there were a number of challenges that were related to the integration of services with other new vendors that may or may not have been working with an Open Solutions platform prior to our relationship.
In order to overcome these challenges we required a number of joint meetings with our respective vendors to insure that the operation of the DNA banking platform would be compatible with the options provided by the other vendors. Although Open Solutions had a great deal of experience with Credit Unions in Canada, First Nations Bank was the first bank to be launching the DNA platform in Canada.
Another challenge that was experienced centered around the transfer of data due to the complex proprietary banking platform that we were transitioning from at TD. A project team was established on the TD side to work closely with First Nations Bank and Open Solutions teams to insure a clear understanding of the data that was going to be migrated from the TD platform. In order to make sure that the new environment was operating in the manner that we would expect we exchanged four separate cuts of data and a mock cut of data and analyzed the results.
RBI: How long did the project take from start to finish?
Greig Cooper, VP Operations (GC): Our RFP process started in the Spring of 2010 with the selection of the Open Solutions platform being communicated in the fall of 2010 with an anticipated conversion date of November 2011. Once we started through the testing phase with all of our new vendors it became evident that we would require more training and testing than we had originally planned and as a result we postponed the transition until September 2012.
RBI: What has the customer reaction been to the change?
Greig Cooper, VP Operations (GC): There was a great deal of change for our customers to become accustomed to in our new environment as we changed not only the banking platform, but also their telephone and internet banking solutions. Generally they seem satisfied with the changes we have made.
RBI: After a great year what’s next for FNBC in regards to your IT strategy?
Greig Cooper, VP Operations (GC): We plan to settle into our new environment and continue to work on our growth strategy including the opening of new locations and the development of products and services that meet the needs of our customers.
