The growth springboard for your bank

Sponsored by Coforge
23rd November 2020

A lot has changed. And no, we are not referring to just the pandemic. This roots back to much before that, way back in 2008-2009, when the subprime crisis first hit banks. The recovery, more than a decade later, is still a work in progress. What has ensued is a slow recovery for banks with reduced fee incomes and lower net interest margins. And if this were not enough, enter the current pandemic, resulting in a double blow.

Profinch and Coforge execs share their views on Oracle Flexcube

Amidst all that is changing with banks, over the years there’s been a sea change in consumer behaviour and their interaction with banks. Technology has played a key role in ensuring banking isn’t as tedious as it was earlier. The inception, and the algorithmic rise of internet banking, mobile banking, and the way the focus has moved from what banks can do to what customers want has helped banks somewhat create a competitive edge. However, it hasn’t been easy for banks, as the mushrooming of fintechs is threatening banks with innovative products that take less than half the time to process, making the lives of consumers a breeze.

Today, banks are finding it hard to manage customer loyalties as the commoditisation of banking products is making it difficult to drive differentiation, and thus making it all the more difficult to create a niche for themselves. Banks are yet to do a lot of catching up with fintechs in the innovation game.

So, is technology the only saviour? A digital overdrive, of which enough has been spoken, isn’t always successful. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), only 1% of digital transformation initiatives have met their goals. And as highlighted in a recent Celent report, the problem’s got to do with the narrow focus banks have on technologies that are only focusing on the front-end.

Banks today, carry a huge baggage of legacy systems, some of them being 10-15 years old, that are just adding to costs. Celent IT spending data shows, as much as 67% of IT spending is on maintenance alone. What is even more telling is that 16-30% of overall spending, and up to half of maintenance spend, is dedicated to the core platform.

Core platforms need to undergo a fundamental change – to one that is agile, connected, and offers flexibility to adapt and innovate depending on the changing business landscape. And for banks, the game’s over on being uptight and using traditional technology approaches. Accepting and embracing innovative technologies that speed up time to market will create the definitive edge, going forward.

Oracle Flexcube universal banking

10% of the world’s banked population possess an account powered by Oracle Flexcube. In Europe alone, more than 150 banks spread across 42 countries run on Flexcube. Oracle Flexcube offers banks a digital, shrink-wrapped, preconfigured, interoperable, scalable, and connected experience, helping them stay competitive, drive innovation, and ensure customer service is taken notches up. With Oracle Flexcube, banks have a forward-looking system that helps them with:

DIGITAL ENABLEMENT

Banks can transform the way they understand customers, improve onboarding experience for a customer or a product, and service customers more effectively. Oracle Flexcube equips bankers with the insights and features to deepen customer relationships and drive higher revenue.

- Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP): Oracle Flexcube’s embedded Machine Learning Framework enables a bank to unlock the true potential of data and drive competitive advantages. The framework’s capabilities enable better predictability and enhanced insights. Oracle Flexcube’s embedded Natural Language Processing (NLP) Framework enables a bank to drive intelligent automation.

MULTIDIMENSIONAL AGILITY

Oracle Flexcube is architected to support multiple deployment options and transformation strategies in a heterogeneous environment, according to the specific requirements of a bank. Banks can now jump-start digital initiatives with a pre-baked and shrink-wrapped solution designed to work off-the-shelf with comprehensive capabilities across all banking functions.

ENHANCED CONNECTIVITY

Oracle Flexcube offers banks a full range of capabilities to participate and profit from open banking. The solution enables banks to collaborate with third party service providers seamlessly and securely, while defining and remaining in control of the ecosystem a bank chooses to operate in. Built for the heterogeneous enterprise, Oracle Flexcube’s connected architecture enables seamless and secure integration and information exchange with other banks, industry platforms, marketplaces, and ecosystems using the industrialised standards of ISO 20022, SAML 2.0 and common integration frameworks to drive better collaboration and participation in connected ecosystems. The solution also enables simplified, pervasive, and secure assimilation of information across Oracle and non-Oracle applications in the bank.

Oracle Flexcube’s in-built library of 2000+ RESTful services provide a platform that promotes an industrialisation of API consumption and fuels the co-creation of applications and services around the bank. Additionally, the solution helps banks innovate much faster, provide service ubiquity and better compliance with regulations such as Second European Union Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the UK’s open banking standards.

Blockchain: The system is embedded with a patented blockchain adapter that enables Oracle Flexcube to interface with any blockchain system.

Oracle Flexcube on Oracle Cloud infrastructure

Oracle Flexcube on Oracle Cloud infrastructure is a true game changer. Oracle Flexcube customers benefit not only from rapid deployment (few weeks), but they can also employ exclusive Oracle Cloud products such as Exadata Cloud, Database RAC, and Autonomous Database, designed for unmatched performance, reliability, and autonomous operations. Banks can use Oracle Cloud’s global footprint and validated reference architectures to ensure data sovereignty, disaster recovery, and enhanced availability, improving the user experience tremendously.

Banks will realise an immediate positive impact on their EBITDA by transitioning to a lower-cost, consumption-based operating model. Customers can save money, even while scaling up infrastructure further than on-premises to handle greater business demand and scaling down infrastructure during quieter periods.

Oracle understands the importance of quality support and business continuity for enterprises. Having Oracle applications on Oracle Cloud infrastructure ensures engineering alignment that’s crucial for quick diagnosis and resolution of all issues – hardware, application, and network – mitigating the risk of business interruptions.

Banks across regions have been benefitting using Oracle Flexcube on Oracle Cloud infrastructure. A case in point being a leading banking customer of Profinch Solutions in Libya that went live recently where the bank is benefitting by having greater flexibility, efficiency, and a faster time to market.

Coforge and Profinch solutions partnership in Europe

The joining of hands by technology giant Coforge and banking technology specialist Profinch Solutions means banks now can rely on a strategic partner with cumulative experience of working on more than 100 Oracle Flexcube projects. With proven methodologies, scripts, and varied experience across banking functions and technology areas, we have the right mix to make banks successful and support in their long-term technology objectives.

By Vijay Kasturi, BU head, Europe at Profinch Solutions, and Sanjiv Roy, vice president, solutions head at Coforge

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For more visit www.coforgetech.com