BBVA Compass recently went live
with its completely new core technology infrastructure, with a key attribute
focusing on real-time transactions, as opposed to the batch processing
environment it had been using.
"We started from scratch to bring
our bank into the 21st century by installing this customer-centric
architecture," Manolo Sanchez, CEO, tells ABABJ
Tech Topics. "Customers today, in everything but banking, are used to and
expect real-time interactions. There's nobody out there who doesn't do
real-time processing. For us, it's a unique, differentiating factor."
For example, the new system cuts
the time it takes to open a new deposit account to as little as five minutes
from more than 40, the company says. It speeds the time to market for new
products by up to 75%.
The $362 million project is
installed in all of the bank's 716 branches across seven states in the Sunbelt
footprint. The core replacement process started in April and was finished in
September, says Sergio Fidalgo, BBVA Compass CIO.
Fidalgo explains how real-time
processing works and benefits customers:
"Most banks capture transactions
through a channel-a branch, ATM, mobile, online-and they go through a
second-day process. The transactions are called pending transactions and are
waiting for the day to close and for the night to start. That night most of
those transactions are posted and there is a time later when the customers can
see those transactions affecting their credit or debit in their accounts.
"What we are doing with real-time
posting is, that two-step process is happening in one step. That step just
takes a few seconds to be completed. What that means is the customer is not having
to wait until the next day to see the transaction effectively posted into their
accounts.
"We are getting positive feedback
on that from customers who notice as they leave their branch after doing the
transaction and they check the transaction on the mobile or online and they
realize the transaction is posted and finished."
Fidalgo also points out that such
speeded-up posting lowers back-office processing costs.
BBVA Compass worked with Accenture
and its Alnova Financial Solutions software to implement the new system. The
system powers BBVA Compass' checking and savings deposit platform now and will
soon provide the engine for its consumer and business lending, including
mortgage capabilities.
Sanchez particularly looks forward
to adapting this to mortgage lending, because such lending provides a
"long-time anchor for the banking relationship."
Accenture has done such core
replacements in more than 200 institutions in more than 20 countries. Says
Bruce Voelker, senior managing director for financial services at Accenture,
"The industry as we see it going forward will need to consider this...The costs
may seem hard to swallow but there clearly are benefits to doing this."
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About the Author
John Ginovsky is contributing editor of ABA Banking Journal and editor of the publication's TechTopics e-newsletter.
For more than two decades he has written about the commercial
banking industry. In particular, he's specialized in the
technological side of banking and how it relates to the
actual business of banking. He previously was senior editor
for Community Banker magazine (which merged with ABA Banking Journal) and was a staff writer for ABA's Bankers News. You can email him at
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[This article was posted on December 4, 2012, on the website of ABA Banking Journal, www.ababj.com.]
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