Progress at BBVA


However, there was progress with BBVA. For one thing, the plan to roll out Infosys’ Finacle as a replacement for Alnova, among other systems, did not get off the ground. Moreover, there was a major extension within the group, resulting in the first implementation of Alnova in the US. This came at the BBVA Compass subsidiary of the bank. The project started in late 2009 and the planning and analysis stages had been completed by April 2011, said Sergio Fidalgo, CIO of BBVA Compass. There would be a phased implementation, starting with the integrated customer file. The core system conversion at BBVA Compass was a multi-year undertaking, he said. ‘Core banking renewal is like open-heart surgery,’ so care and planning would be required. Accenture’s MD for North America banking, Bruce Voelker, added that this approach would ‘minimise the risk for the customers and maximise the areas of focus for the bank’. BBVA Compass was acquired by BBVA in 2007 for $9.6 billion and the group’s other US affiliates - Texas Regional Bancshares, State National Bancshares and Laredo National Bancshares - were merged into it. A year later, BBVA sold Compass’ Texas-based outsourcing subsidiary, The Data Centre (TDC), a licensee and reseller of Fiserv’s Premier core banking system, to Fiserv.


The deposits and accounts integration was intended to start in early 2012 with a pilot phase, followed by a ‘co- existence period’ of the legacy system and Alnova at BBVA Compass that was expected to take most of the first half of 2012. The new solution would be centralised at the head office and the roll-out to the bank’s entire network of 716 branches would be done in groups. The first pilot batch would be quite small, about 20-30 branches, said Fidalgo, followed by a state- by-state roll-out. The bank operates across the southern part of the US, in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico and Texas, plus Colorado. The main driver behind this project had been the alignment of the American subsidiary with the group’s strategy by moving the operations from a product-centric to customer- centric model, stated Fidalgo. Alnova was by now in use at BBVA Portugal and the group’s Latin American operations across six countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela) and Puerto Rico (although the latter was sold in June 2012 to Oriental Financial Group for $500 million). Fidalgo confirmed that the Finacle implementation was ‘no longer taking place’. Prior to settling for Alnova, BBVA Compass did a ‘full


analysis of the vendor landscape in and outside the US’. The venture involved the bank’s parent and external consultants (not Accenture). Fidalgo declined to name other contenders but described them as ‘top names in the industry’. The bank was looking for a single integrated platform that could enable a customer-centric approach, he said. Thus, an integrated customer information file was a vital requirement for the system. The vendor’s reputation was also key: ‘We wanted to partner with a company we could trust’. Accenture, he believed, ‘is the right company to help us in our endeavour’. Its long-standing collaboration with BBVA was deemed an advantage and its offering met the business and functionality


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requirements of the bank, he explained. Alnova would cover core banking operations at BBVA


Compass, comprising deposits, current and savings accounts, consumer and business loans and mortgages. Branch automation (all origination tools in the branches) would also be covered by the new system. However, other banking channels such as internet, telephone, mobile and ATM, would continue to be supported by the incumbent applications which would be interfaced to Alnova for back-end processing. Regulatory reporting would also remain with the bank’s current solution. There was a mix of in-house and third party software applications at BBVA Compass, a number of which might be reviewed at a later stage as part of the long-term strategy.


By early 2013, the project at BBVA Compass had come


a long way. This transformation, with a price tag of $362 million, had taken the bank’s head office and all 716 branches from domestic batch processing systems to a centralised real-time processing solution. The project, dubbed internally as Centric, had been done on a phased basis, as planned. In mid-2011 there had been the migration of the integrated customer file at the bank’s head office in Alabama, where Alnova functionalities are centralised. This stage consisted in setting up the necessary information sources and technology tools for the full roll-out.


Once the customer data was migrated and stabilised in April 2012, the bank started its state-by-state roll-out and full integration of deposits and accounts. The Colorado-based operation was the first on the list. This choice was based on the relatively small size of the operation (38 branches and offices). ‘When designing the roadmap of a conversion project like this one, you need to maintain the balance between broad functionality and a relatively low-risk environment,’ said Fidalgo. The implementation in Colorado took six weeks, in which ‘we cleaned the pipes and analysed any potential risks we could come across in future phases’. Fidalgo explained that this initial phase was a ‘test’ to see how Alnova would support the heavier centres of activities later on. The implementation continued for BBVA Compass in Arizona, California and New Mexico. The new system was deployed in each of these operations in about four to six weeks. The process then moved to the Alabama and Florida operations, before the final cutover in Texas in September 2012. The bank operates in Texas through more than 370 branches, servicing over one million customers. Fidalgo felt that choosing a phased implementation, starting with smaller units, was a wise decision because each deployment served as preparation to embrace the cumbersome cutover at the Texas-based operation. With Alnova in place, the bank was benefitting from an integrated platform that coordinated all transactions. ‘That accelerates the process incredibly,’ he said, ‘and has allowed us to work on innovative financial products that we will soon unveil.’ The new system had cut the time it took to open a new deposit account to five minutes from more than 40, and reduced time-to-market for new products by up to 75 per cent.


Universal Banking Systems Market Report | www.ibsintelligence.com


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