Suncorp core banking revamp stumbles
Project Ignite goes damp
Suncorp’s multi-year venture to modernise its core banking system, known as Project Ignite, has stumbled at the final hurdle.
As Banking Technology reported in August 2016, the revamp was in its final stages. However, in questions over its half-year FY17 results, Suncorp told iTnews that the configuration of the platform and product migration has “taken longer than expected”, causing a setback in the project’s timeline.
The bank told iTnews additional enhancements to the lending and deposits functionality were needed to deliver a “scalable solution that will meet customer and business needs”.
“Suncorp is the first to deploy the system in Australia and we are working with Oracle on delivering a product that meets all our prerequisites including regulatory requirements, the capacity to scale, and the ability to process numerous transactions efficiently,” a Suncorp spokesperson says.
The bank intends to deliver the additional functionality by the end of the year, and complete its decommissioning and other “finalisation activities” by June 2018, according to iTnews.
Project Ignite was initiated in 2011, with the bank signing for a range of solutions from Oracle FSS, including Oracle Banking Platform (OBP, the vendor’s new high-end core banking offering), Flexcube for trade finance and Oracle CRM.
The initiative was set to rationalise the bank’s product set by half, the decommissioning of 12 legacy systems and re-engineering of 580 processes.
On the way out is the Hogan legacy platform from US-based CSC. Back in 2010, Suncorp voiced its concern that Hogan lagged behind more modern offerings and that the talent-pool for maintaining the system was shrinking as the majority of the developers were nearing retirement.
The total cost of Project Ignite in its full financial year 2016 results was listed at AU$330 million ($253 million), but in its latest results Suncorp does not offer an update.
Bravo Bravura
In terms of Suncorp’s wealth management business, it says it’s on track to complete its “super simplification” project in H2 of its current financial year.
Suncorp went live on UK-based Bravura Solutions’ Sonata platform last year, and the project’s aim is for 42 legacy pension and superannuation products to be cut down to nine; and the introduction of a new admin system.
Since going live, Suncorp says it has rationalised 21 products and migrated the first bundle of customers – i.e. 78,000 users – and $3.9 billion in assets across to the new system.
