WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Winner: EMC Document SciencesProject: xPression Implementation at Santander

The consolidated financial statement is the central service offering in the private bank-client relationship. In recent years, however, Santander Private Banking (SPB), the international wealth management division of Santander Grupo, had became concerned that the financial statements it supplied to its clients were lacking in detail and failing to adequately convey their account status. EMC Document Sciences (EMC DS) was able to bring dramatic improvements to the bank’s ­statement consolidation process through the implementation of its xPression document management suite.

Working closely with the SPB, EMC DS helped to integrate and customise the suite. Using xPression’s XML and data-­mapping capabilities, extensive data sets can now be easily extracted from SPB’s database – including asset and account evolution details, calculated changes from previous statements, liquid investment details, categorisation of fixed income investments by instrument type and credit rating, as well as bond analysis – and shown in clients’ statements. The judges were pleased to see a wealth management project focused on servicing the immediate needs of the client.

CORE BANKING

Winner: State Bank of IndiaProject: Core Banking Project

In conjunction with its technology provider and partner, Tata Consultancy Services, the State Bank of India undertook the single largest core banking implementation in the world, networking more than 10,000 branches and building a centralised database platform to enable centralised operations and monitoring. (For more on this project see Retail Technology Project of the Year, page 28.)

Highly rated: BLOM Bank SALProject: BLOM Workflow Engine

Mapping and successfully auto­mating business processes is a necessary if unglamorous task that frequently defeats major organisations. Having spent some time establishing and defining its business processes, leading Lebanon-based bank BLOM Bank SAL determined to strive for higher levels of automation and ­efficiency.

In order to achieve this, the bank developed a highly customisable enterprise application integration (EAI) system that allowed the bank to integrate and exchange data between a range of disparate core banking applications and databases. The bank made major efficiency gains in several areas, in particular the loan application process.

Antoine Lawandos, CIO at BLOM Bank SAL, said: “We believe it is of the utmost importance for banks to enhance their business agility and cost efficiency by putting in place an architectural framework that integrates data and orchestrates services across their core applications. We are proud and honoured to receive this very prestigious high rating.”

INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY

Winner: Lloyds TSBProject: Lloyds TSB Voice and Data Initiative

Network capacity is becoming a growing concern for the global business community, for whom high-speed, international communication and information sharing is vital. Limitations in a bank’s network capacity, as Lloyds TSB discovered, can inhibit business agility and change.

Rather than turning to a traditional telecoms operator to solve its networking problems, Lloyds TSB partnered with IBM, who subsequently played the role of systems integrator, bringing together the most cost-efficient technologies from a number of suppliers, in order to build a network specifically for Lloyds TSB. During the project, a fibre optic core was designed and built which – due to the bank’s exclusive use of the fibres – is able to provide almost limitless bandwidth to critical Lloyds TSB sites.

For Lloyds TSB, the new network serves as a crucial platform by which the bank is now able to fully exploit modern applications. Now, the network is no longer the inhibitor, but an enabler for business change, representing an impressive, cost-effective infrastructural triumph for the bank.

Highly rated: Lloyds TSBProject: Thin-client Provisioning

Faced with growing demand on its onshore and offshore application development resources, Lloyds TSB determined to improve the flexibility and resilience of its technical delivery team’s development and testing infrastructure environment. Lloyds TSB Project Delivery implemented a virtual desktop infrastructure together with secure connectivity for multiple offshore partners.

Currently hosting 1100 users, the virtual desktop has enabled the bank’s offshore partners flexible, scalable access to all Lloyds TSB development and test environments. Due to its flexibility, the virtual desktop is suitable for almost all development and testing within the bank, regardless of technology or infrastructure platform. The bank is now able to bring new users online from offshore locations within days, where previously it would have taken weeks.

CARD INNOVATION

Winner: BarclaycardProject: Barclaycard OnePulse

Barclaycard’s development and savvy distribution of a three-in-one, multi-functional card, OnePulse, achieved a series of groundbreaking firsts in the UK credit card industry, including being the first contactless credit card with EMV Chip and PIN capability, and the first integrated financial and travel proposition. (For more on this project see Innovative Retail Technology Project of the Year, page 29.)

Highly rated: Serverside GroupProject: Picture Perfect with America First Credit Union

In the realm of consumer technology, products and services, personalisation is king. Nowhere is this trend more prevalent than in the emergence of Web 2.0 services, which are strongly characterised by consumer interaction and content-creation. Recognising the importance of this trend for its customer retention rates and its brand, Utah-based America First Credit Union rolled out an online debit and credit card customisation tool, developed and delivered by Serverside Group.

By allowing consumers to design the appearance of their own PicturePerfect Visa Cards, America First Credit Union has seen dramatic increase in the stickiness and usage of its payment card products, with the Picture Perfect products averaging 84% more transactions per month than standard cards.

ONLINE INNOVATION

Winner: FiservProject: MyMoney Application for Facebook

Total lifetime earnings of future generations of banking customers are set to far outstrip those of their baby-boomer parents. In order to capture this lucrative market, it is more important than ever that financial institutions deploy technologies that are engaging, personalised and relevant to the new, younger generation of banking customers.

Fiserv’s Credit Union Division has taken inventive steps to address this issue, with the development of MyMoney, an application built and delivered on the online social networking platform Facebook, a social utility which boasts more than 67 million active users, the majority of whom are in their mid 20s. MyMoney is the first financial services application built on Facebook that allows users to transact with their financial services provider through the Facebook interface, including viewing account balances, making money transfers and searching for and signing up to new financial institutions online.

With more than 50 financial institutions signed up to interoperate with the application, Fiserv has effectively created a highly valuable and innovative online network through the imaginative exploitation of emerging online social utilities. Joe Barry, president of Fiserv Credit Union Division, said: “At a time when financial institutions are competing to gain the wallet share of Generation Y consumers, Fiserv’s MyMoney can serve as a strong differentiator, making it easy to reach this ­growing market through the increasingly popular vehicle of Facebook.”

Highly rated: Bank of AmericaProject: Easy Online Payroll

In the US, payroll processing is a time-consuming procedure due, in large part, to a lack of integration with ancillary systems and cumbersome validation processes. Bank of America (BoA) set out to alleviate the payroll problem for its small business online banking customers through the creation of Easy Online Payroll, its fully integrated online payroll service. Under the project, BoA integrated a third-party piece of payroll software provided by PayCycle with more than 15 internal bank systems and dozens of internal operational, service and sales processes and procedures, across all servicing areas and banking centres.

Using the new service, BoA small business online banking customers can access their payroll application through their existing bank accounts without additional sign-on. Since the system was fully launched in August 2007, the bank has signed up approximately 30,000 additional small-business customers.

MOBILE PAYMENTS

Winner: MonitiseProject: MONILINK Platform

For the second year running, Monitise impressed the judges with its MONILINK mobile payments service, first launched in partnership with VocaLink in October 2006. During the past year, Monitise has built out the service into a fully fledged platform via integration with seven leading UK banks, meaning the service will be available to 53% of all current accounts in the UK, positioning MONILINK to become the de facto industry standard for mobile payments.

Integration with the company’s newly launched MoniTrust platform for Near Field Commun­ication payments and ticketing – which provides a delivery framework for contactless ‘touch and go’ payments – has further extended the scope and functionality of the MONILINK proposition. “We are delighted that the European banking industry has recognised our work, in partnership with banks and operators, in mobilising bank and card account products,” said Alastair Lukies, CEO at Monitise.

MOBILE BANKING

Winner: Bank of AmericaProject: Bank of America Mobile Banking

In Western markets, mobile banking remains an emerging and exciting new channel for banking services. But the functionality of the majority of mobile banking offerings is still unable to match that of the online bank, a service channel with which the vast majority of banking customers are now highly familiar. Leveraging the familiarity, infrastructure, and security controls, of its online banking platform, Bank of America (BoA) has managed to harness the success and functionality of the online banking channel through the mobile phone web browser.

Concerned not to limit the availability of its mobile banking service to specific carriers or handsets, BoA devoted its efforts to developing a wireless application protocol solution that would reach the maximum possible number of customers through the web browser capability. Now found on about 80% of handsets, the browser can be used in a similar fashion to that used on a PC. The bank now leads in the mobile banking market, with more than 85,000 active mobile banking customers.

NEW CHANNEL DELIVERY

Winner: BankinterProject: VideoCall

Creating new channels by which to integrate and deliver financial services is a relentless quest for the retail banking industry. But such channels must be appropriate, intuitive and relevant if they are to be successful. Bankinter, a multi-channel Spanish bank with a strong internet offering, exceeded these criteria in the creation of VideoCall, a face-to-face human advice service and online support tool, based on Voice over IP (VoIP). (For more on this project see Effective Technology Project of the Year, page 30.)

Highly rated: Akbank TASProject: Credit Machine

High margin credit products represent a growing source of revenue among the banked and unbanked population in Turkey.

In order to quickly reach this burgeoning market, Akbank has created a non-branch physical contact channel, dubbed Credit Machine, by which to solicit, receive and process credit applications. Based on an ATM, Credit Machine collects personal application information (including identification information and taking a photo of the applicant) in order to process a credit application in under an hour.

ONLINE BANKING SECURITY

Winner: Chinatrust Commercial BankProject: Enhanced Internet Bank Security Program – OTP

Phishing remains by far and away the most enduring and successful means by which cyber-criminals continue to defraud online banking customers and undermine their trust in the highly cost-­effective channel. Increasingly, banks are turning to two-factor authentication in order to combat this problem, frequently deploying the one-time-password (OTP) model. At many banks, this is ­produced by tokens or card readers which operate independently from the online channel – an inconvenient model that requires customers to carry an additional piece of hardware on their ­person.

Instead, Taiwan-based China­trust Commerical Bank, which has more than one million online users, has developed and rolled out a patented OTP verification system that leverages the consumer’s mobile phone. The system consists of a specific online e-Code generation system operated by CTCB and an SMS gateway plug-in, which mitigates both phishing and ‘man in the middle’ attacks by using two separate channels – online and offline – for data transaction. Because the in-house-built system optimises hardware already carried by the user, it dramatically reduces the inconvenience caused by traditional two-factor authentication models.

Peter Wei, Senior vice-president at Chinatrust Commercial Bank, said: “Chinatrust Com­mercial Bank devotes itself to high standard on-line security with a user-friendly manner. We are delighted to receive this award.”

DELIVERY CHANNEL SECURITY

Winner: Diebold IncorporatedProject: Advanced Skimming Protection

In the physical realm, ATM fraud continues to abound on a global scale. Almost all fraud targeted at this ATM network is the result of skimming, in which a small device is inserted into the machine’s card reader, in order to steal the user’s card details and PIN. Diebold Incorporated, provider of secure self-service transaction systems, has developed an advanced skimming detection system, which is able not only to detect the presence of a skimming device of any material, shape or dimension, but also to detect devices that are not in contact with the card reader.

Through a proprietary detection algorithm, the sensor is also able to discriminate between skimmers and environmental factors and cardholder activity, thereby increasing the reliability of the system and reducing false alarm rates. When a device is detected, an alert is issued which can be directed into the ATM network monitoring system or to the branch alarm system. Importantly, the system – which is being rolled out to Diebold’s network of banking customers – has not been modelled on established skimming devices, but designed in order to detect new innovations in skimming fraud.

CUSTOMER SERVICE & MARKETING

Winner: Caja MadridProject: Caja Madrid Speech Analytics Solution

Technologies surrounding the identity, mood and honesty of speakers have grown increasingly popular in recent years, but more often than not they are envisaged and deployed as a security mechanism. Spanish bank Caja Madrid, however, has put the technology to an altogether newer purpose: to better understand its customers’ needs, deliver an improved and more personal service, and optimise new business opportunities.

Using a range of integrated speech technologies that are able to analyse, mine and retrieve information from free-flowing human speech, the bank automatically monitors every inbound call to the bank’s call centre – including calls relating to personal banking, telephone banking and its general telephone attention service. The system is then able to transform unstructured phone calls into tangible reports that are delivered directly to the bank’s managers through their desktop.

Using the system, the bank has been able to improve call-centre efficiency, customer satisfaction and detect opportunities for selling new services. “This project dem­onstrates that there is a very productive source of innovation based in identifying and exploiting internal (and not always obvious) assets,” said Caja Madrid channels director Indalecio Gil.

Highly rated: Industrial and Commercial Bank of ChinaProject: Customer-centered Personal Financial Business System

Emerging markets present a wealth of opportunity, as vast swathes of unbanked populations with rising incomes begin to require basic banking services. In order to keep step with the rapid development of personal banking business in China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest of China’s state-owned commercial banks, has developed a customer-­centered personal finance system with a view to building the biggest retail bank in China. The system realised the unification of customer information, customer bank accounts, the bank’s marketing platform, customer reconciliation and the performance evaluation function.

BRANCH TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES

Winner: Bank of CyprusProject: One Bank Service

For the purposes of business, education and leisure, the populations of both Greece and Cyprus frequently travel in and out of each respective country. In recognition of this strong demographic trend, the Bank of Cyprus decided that its customers should be able to bank in exactly the same way in each country, with exactly the same capability in every branch, regardless of the branch at which the customer holds his accounts – a vision it has achieved through its One Bank programme.

Bank of Cyprus is the first bank in the region of Greece and Cyprus able to offer this service, which means customers no longer incur charges for what were previously cross-border transactions.

Highly rated: Banco Real, ABN AMROProject: Call Back at Branches

In Brazil, the bank manager-­customer relationship remains a central feature of the overall banking service. Traditionally, customers unable to reach their manager by phone will quit the call and try again later, but do not trust in leaving messages – a scenario that has become a considerable source of frustration for many banks’ customer bases.

Leveraging the bank’s recently implemented Voice over IP (VoIP) infrastructure at its branches, Banco Real, ABN AMRO has designed and developed a solution to improve the phone call answering service and in turn to increase customer satisfaction. Unique in Brazil, Call Back, based on the integration between the data and telephony networks through VoIP communication, provides customers with an option to electronically register requests for call back to their particular managers, through an automated phone call assistance service.

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