Lending transformation: Future-proofing Savings Banks Group

Savings Banks Group's lending transformation is underpinned by two prevailing trends.

“A sizable portion of our customers are relocating from smaller towns to cities and the capital area. To be competitive in the new areas, we need to provide digital services in parallel to personal servicing. This means automating lending processes, which are pre-dominantly manual,” says Pekka Suomalainen, CIO, Savings Banks Group.

Suomalainen points out another trend; the rise of new digital service-oriented competitors challenging current banks and financial institutions. Apple, Meta and other servitization companies have taught consumers what digital servicing at its best can be. The ethos has spread to banking and other industries in Northern Europe.

"Established companies are experiencing new competition from players like Revolut, Klarna and other niche banks, who can quickly provide a full spectrum of easy-to-use, well-designed services. This means that all banks need to consider transformation in one way or another". highlights Marit Engh, Tieto Banktech’s Head of Credit & Wealth.

The Savings Banks Group is modernizing its lending operations with Tieto Banktech’s advanced software, enabling faster, more digital services while maintaining a personal customer approach.

The lending Suite - covering loan origination, life-cycle management and collateral management - is integrated with CRM renewal for both consumer and corporate products over a 3-year project.

Overall, Savings Banks Group is investing more than €100M in digitalization, which is the largest investment in the bank’s 200-year history.

The change is an investment to ensure the future competitiveness of the bank group.

“High automation delivered through cloud will also speed up the time to market for new lending products, giving Savings Banks Group the first mover advantage," Engh highlights.