Lending transformation, part 2: The culture behind Savings Banks Group’s progress

Savings Banks Group is modernizing lending with Tieto Banktech. In this second story, Pekka Suomalainen and Marit Engh reveal the success factors behind the transformation: open culture, careful preparation and a phased Model Bank approach.

Proven lending delivery

Months to first deployment

Phased product areas

Summary

Savings Banks Group is modernizing its most important business area, lending. The business-led transformation is built around an open, proactive culture with all partners involved. The bank group selected Tieto Banktech’s Lending Suite and a Model Bank delivery approach to support early learning, limit risks and keep the project focused on customer and employee experience.

Success factors

What made the transformation work

Suomalainen and Engh point to the way of working around the transformation: open communication, careful preparation and a delivery model that helps teams learn early.

1

Open and transparent communication

Issues are raised early, discussed openly and resolved quickly.
2

Careful preparation

The project team’s planning before and after kickoff helps keep the transformation moving against targets.
3

Early learning with delivery model

The phased delivery model helps teams understand the software early, limit scope creep and implement lending products one at a time.

Challenge

From broad core renewal to business-led modernization

Savings Banks Group had already kicked off a core transformation some years ago, but the effort turned into a learning experience.

The earlier idea was to renew the core software at once, from customer information to accounts, payments and lending software together with two other banks. According to Pekka Suomalainen, CIO at Savings Banks Group, it became too big of an attempt and too IT driven.

This time, the focus is on the bank’s own business transformation and on modernizing lending.

“Our Cobol-coded lending software with a 40-year history has served us well but is not on par with our business strategy. Additionally, it poses challenges in complex integrations and complying with regulatory requirements in Finland leading to slow time-to-market when developing new features. Our mission was to find a proven product and a way to implement it which enables us to focus on developing customer and employee experiences,” says Suomalainen.

Solution and results

A proven lending platform and a phased way to implement it

After thorough evaluation, Savings Banks Group selected Tieto Banktech as its partner. The bank group chose the Lending Suite, which includes loan origination, life-cycle management and collateral management for consumer and corporate financial products.

The Model Bank delivery model is Tieto Banktech’s phased approach. It includes the implementation of a production-ready version of the lending software with credit products, workflows, standard functions, standard integrations, supporting services and lending core capabilities.

The approach helps the customer learn how the software works early, making it easier to stay close to the standard edition and avoid unnecessary scope creep.

The first Model Bank deployment with Savings Banks Group took only 3 months.

Savings Banks Group’s lending products are implemented one at a time in a prioritized order: mortgages, student loans and corporate loans.

“It is a big advantage that our employees get to know the software and our way of building experiences right away rather than waiting for 2,5 years,” says Suomalainen.

From us

We have developed the Model Bank to limit risks. By establishing it in just a couple of months, we enable Savings Banks Group to quickly learn and understand how the software works, making it easier to stay close to the standard edition.

Marit Engh, Head of Credit, Tieto Banktech

Culture

Open culture keeps the project moving

Since its kick-off in September 2023, the lending modernization has made tangible progress. Suomalainen and Engh both refer to the preparations made before and after the project kickoff.

Suomalainen attributes the progress to the project team’s careful planning and open and proactive culture with all partners involved.“Our open culture started to evolve already during the negotiation process with significant involvement from Tieto Banktech’s senior management,” says Suomalainen.

Engh continues by saying that “as with all marriages, interaction and openness count.”

From the customer