Revolutionizing Retail Banking in the Dutch Caribbean

The Customer

A retail bank serving the Dutch Caribbean islands.

The Project

Revolutionizing Retail Banking

Overview

With a focus on providing various financial services, including car loans, mortgages, and retail banking, the Customer recognized the need to modernize its existing applications and digital footprint while maintaining its legacy core banking system.

The Challenge

The main challenge faced by the Customer was the outdated nature of its core banking system, which ran on an AS400 platform. This system did not align with the way the bank wanted to interact with its modern customers. For instance, the core system did not have a concept of a single person having multiple accounts or assets. Instead, a person was duplicated for each ownership relationship they had. The Customer needed to address this issue and modernize its application footprint to meet the evolving needs of its customers.

The Solution

Improving took a three-pronged approach to solve the Customers’ challenges. First, we worked closely with the bank to define how they wanted to view customers, accounts, and assets, while also understanding the intricacies of their legacy core banking system. This allowed us to create an interaction layer that bridged the gap between the bank’s modern banking vision and its legacy system.

Next, we built various systems around the core banking system to modernize it. This included customer management, a new back-end system for security and authentication, and a services layer to serve the bank’s different applications.

By creating APIs that matched the bank’s requirements, we enabled the Customer to develop new applications on top of the modernized platform.

The Technologies & Methodologies

• Top server and host integration server for AS2 integration

• .NET Core for application development

• Restful API architecture with token-based user security and authentication

• Identity Server for token storage and management

• SQL Server for data storage

The Business Benefits

• Increased customer acquisition and account openings

• Significant growth in transaction volume

• Improved retail onboarding and activity

• Majority of banking activities now conducted online

• Closure of physical branches due to the adoption of self-service kiosks

• Enhanced customer experience and satisfaction

• Improved decision-making through Power BI reports

• Greater visibility into client behavior and marketing effectiveness

Lessons Learned

One key lesson from this engagement was the importance of defining business domains and processes alongside the creation of modernization layers. By partnering closely with the business, Improving ensured that the platform’s design aligned with the bank’s long-term goals, leading to a system that continues to grow and evolve without the need for constant rewrites.

Why Improving?

Through the application modernization project, the Customer successfully transformed its outdated banking system into a modern, customer-centric platform. By leveraging Improving’s expertise and adopting cutting-edge technologies, the bank achieved significant business benefits, including increased efficiency, improved customer experience, and enhanced decision-making capabilities. The Customer now stands as a leading financial institution in the Dutch Caribbean, offering a seamless and convenient banking experience to its customers.