IBS Journal March 2015
diary 2015
gave the vendor the go ahead to carry out the implementation of the system in Swit- zerland. The project lasted four months, and included integration with Investec’s core banking system, TCS’s Bancs. ‘The test- ing phase picked up a lot of the issues that might occur, so we focussed a lot on the integration and the end-to-end testing,’ recalls Brooks. ‘The Appway tool writes a lot of the data that it captures in there into the core system, and then uses that to open up the actual accounts in Bancs.’ The software has been running for a
couple of years now, and Investec is con- tinuing its investment in the platform by working to further integrate it with Bancs as well as its archiving system. ‘We are hoping over time that the web service will improve, so that we can write everything we need from Appway into the Bancs sys- tem, so there is no need for any manual intervention in the core banking system,’ says Brooks. There is also integration with the bank’s AML and fraud monitoring sys- tems, which allows users to view a client in Appway and access reports in the AML sys- tem on politically exposed persons (PEPs), for instance. Investec Bank Switzerland has a small
headcount, with 30 staff on its books. The bank’s relationship managers have been the main beneficiaries of the software so far, remarks Brooks, freeing them up to focus on more revenue generating activ- ities, but the tool has also given greater transparency and operational efficiency across the whole business. ‘Appway pre- fers not to term it as a CRM system, but in the absence of any other CRM system we are using it like that. We capture all of our clients’ data, it could be any partner- ship the client may have, they could have a lawyer, an accountant, an asset manag- er, all of that information is logged on the system.’ Brooks adds that one of Appway’s strengths is that it guides users through the onboarding process, prompts them to ask the right questions and makes sure that they get the right documentation. There is also an approval tool within Appway, which allows users to get approvals from senior management via the workflows built into the platform. The international implementation is
now firmly on the agenda, with the Lon- don and Channel Islands offices of Investec the first to pilot the software before a roll- out to other locations such as South Africa
© IBS Intelligence 2015
(where the bank’s head office is located). Investec has multiple core systems across its multiple geographies, but the Appway tool claims to be easily integrated with a number of different offerings, such as Avaloq (at VP Bank), Temenos’ T24 and ERI’s Olympic (at ABN Amro Switzerland) in its home market. Appway is hoping to break out of Switzerland, with the UK one of the geographies in its sights, so Investec will be its first customer here. With the London roll-out, Brooks
explains that ‘the idea is that relationship managers will be able to open Appway there, load up a client account, get guided through the onboarding process and open an account in Switzerland’. The system is being designed so that it checks off both Swiss and UK compliance rules, and if this is successful the model will be replicated in the other jurisdictions. Cross-jurisdic- tional account opening brings additional complexity, so this is where Appway ‘will be really beneficial’, remarks Brooks. Elsewhere, Investec has overhauled
its digital offerings in Switzerland. It has introduced e-banking, e-payments and e-trading, and has also moved towards electronic archiving and automatic mail- ing of portfolio statements to clients as opposed to the relationship managers having to manually email them out. Also in the pipeline is a new client portal, a pro- prietary development from the South Afri- can head office, which will allow clients to log in and view their portfolios across jurisdictions, with integration with other bank accounts the client may have. Brooks suggests that after lagging
behind, the wealth management sector is gradually shifting to a more digitalised environment. ‘The likes of Credit Suisse are really focusing on top of the range digi- talisation. It’s harder for the smaller banks to keep up with that,’ says Brooks. ‘Maybe from a cost perspective versus a revenue perspective it doesn’t make sense to move into that realm quite yet.’ Regulators and auditors are also starting to adjust to a move away from paper, and gaining more understanding of tools such as Appway, he feels. ‘From the experience we’ve had with auditors, they are a bit unsure about the lack of physical sign off and no paper, but once you explain that you have these controls in the system, and that the sys- tem is being properly audited, then they seem to be quite receptive to it.’
www.ibsintelligence.com 49 MARCH
31-1 April: World Data Summit, Abu Dhabi
www.worlddatasummit.com
APRIL
8-10: Card Forum & Expo, Chicago
www.paymentssource.com
14: Swift Business Forum, Toronto
www.swift.com
20-21: Mobile Commerce and Banking, London
www.openmobilemedia.com
22-23: Future Bank Asia, Singapore
www.terrapinn.com
MAY
12-13: FinovateSpring, San Jose
www.finovate.com
19-21: Temenos Community Forum, Istanbul
www.temenos.com
JUNE
2-4: Infosecurity Europe, London
www.infosec.co.uk
8-10: Digital Banking Summit, Austin
www.americanbanker.com
9-10: ABTEC, Abu Dhabi
www.abteclive.com
SEPTEMBER
15-16: Cards and Payments East Africa, Nairobi
www.terrapinn.com
23-25: International Cash & Treasury Management, Copenhagen
www.eurofinance.com
For further information and a comprehensive listing of industry events, visit our website:
www.ibsintelligence.com
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