IBS Journal July – August 2015
Four in one
When Crèdit Andorrà selected a new private banking platform in 2007, it was a single entity. Today, the group is made up of four banks and these all run from a central platform, the Avaloq Banking Suite.
When Crèdit Andorrà went live last year in Luxembourg with Avaloq’s core platform, Avaloq Banking Suite, it marked the end of a multi-year roll-out for the group, which had started in head office in 2008. At this point, not only was it live with its Luxembourg subsidiary, Banque de Patrimoines Privé, but also in Panama (Banco Credit Andorra) and Spain (Banco Alcalá), all running off a single version of the system in Andorra. What have been the challenges and what has been achieved? To put the benefits into context, the
group’s financial investment in systems is smaller today, even though there are four banks in the group, than was the
At the outset, the bank’s needs for
Andorra were pulled together over three months and this resulted in an RFP, which was sent to eight suppliers. Three were shortlisted and the selection included demos and workshops, plus reference visits. The whole selection process took eight months. Ramón Lladós, director of the corpo-
rate services division at Crèdit Andorrà, says Avaloq was chosen in part because it was felt to have the most modern technology and a 100 per cent success- ful delivery track-record. The bank was also able to see references that had used the platform for their own geographical expansion, along the lines planned by Crèdit Andorrà. That initial project was particular-
‘One huge challenge was to parameterise the
characteristics of our retail banking business in Andorra, which has some very specific local features both with
regards to the business and the country itself.’ Ramón Lladós, Crèdit Andorrà
ly complex because of the retail banking activities of the bank in its home country. ‘Avaloq is basically designed for the private banking business,’ says Lladós. ‘We went through a learning curve and Avaloq’s support was vital in the first few weeks of implementation.’ He explains, ‘one huge challenge was to parameterise the char- acteristics of our retail banking business in Andorra, which has some very specif- ic local features both with regards to the business and the country itself.’ Other aspects were simpler. For data
case in 2007 when there was only one bank. Crèdit Andorrà was previously using an in-house developed system that had become obsolete and was deemed unable to support its planned international expan- sion. A strategic plan, drawn up in 2007, included the decision that the expansion should be based on a single, standard tool which constituted ‘state-of-the-art’ for private banking.
32 © IBS Intelligence 2015
www.ibsintelligence.com
migration, the fact that the bank knew well the data structure of its in-house system eased this part of the project, with Avaloq able to provide the new data structures for mapping. A significant amount of resourc- es was invested in training and internal communications from the outset, says Lla- dós. ‘It is vital to involve the whole organ- isation to ensure the implementation is a success.’ He adds, ‘in this respect, the pro- ject was a success because the whole bank accepted it.’
case study: crèdit andorrà
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
