Enabling real-time banking for Allianz Bank Bulgaria

In 2023, Allianz Bank Bulgaria aimed to launch a reliable incoming instant payment service within just three months. The service was strongly requested by customers and supported a European Commission requirement introduced in October 2022.

As Allianz Bank’s trusted technology partner, we had to deliver quickly. The solution needed to process inbound payments 24/7 in real time and enable payment and information exchange across all Bulgarian banks in under 10 seconds.

In close cooperation with Allianz Bank, we developed and deployed a custom incoming instant payment service for near-immediate request processing. Built on microservices, the solution includes a unique mapping system that reuses Oracle FLEXCUBE standard services to parse incoming requests within seconds.

Main features:

• 24/7 end-to-end processing of incoming instant payments
• Retry mechanism for declined payments, with reattempts at set intervals
• Manual approval or rejection when initial validation fails
• Custom Oracle FLEXCUBE-based jobs to automate processing
• Full request, response, and process logging with 24/7/365 access

Our team helped Allianz Bank accelerate time to market by deploying the solution in just one month instead of the expected three, making delivery three times faster than planned. As one of the first banks in Europe to successfully offer an incoming instant payment service, Allianz Bank strengthened its market position, improved customer satisfaction, and gained new opportunities to engage customers. The service also supports compliance with the European Commission’s banking regulation on immediate fund availability, as well as the corresponding requirements of the Bulgarian National Bank.

The solution can process large volumes of data almost instantly, responding to requests and completing payment processing within seconds. Its retry mechanism and manual re-validation option are expected to increase the number of successful payments, while the overall implementation supports the continued digital transformation of core banking processes.