Indian IT company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) revealed that Ikano Bank in Sweden has chosen the TCS BaNCS Global Banking SaaS Platform for its extensive core banking transformation across Europe.

The move comes as Ikano Bank seeks to streamline its operations, enhance risk management, and deliver a consistent customer experience.

Ikano Bank operates across multiple European countries, offering a diverse range of financial services and banking products, including loans, savings, mortgages, credit cards, leasing, and factoring for small and medium-sized businesses. However, the bank’s reliance on different core banking solutions and multiple broker and agency banking arrangements in each country has resulted in silos within the organization, hindering unified risk management and customer experience.

In its pursuit of becoming a future-ready institution, Ikano Bank has embarked on a transformative journey to establish a flexible, digital core that supports rapid product launches and expansion into new markets. To achieve this objective, the bank selected the TCS BaNCS platform for its future-proof event-based streaming architecture and best-of-breed functionality.

The initial phase of the transformation will focus on consolidating Ikano Bank’s pan-European accounts, deposits, and unsecured retail lending business onto the TCS BaNCS platform, starting with Sweden.

By adopting TCS BaNCS’ component-by-design approach, the bank can gradually evolve its offerings and mitigate transformation risks while continuing to provide value to its customers. The centralized core banking platform is expected to foster innovation, expedite product launches, enable market entry, standardize processes, ensure regulatory compliance, and enhance resilience.

Mikael Andersson — Ikano Bank Head of Digital Delivery said: “Our strategy is to build a bank of the future, one that is fully digital and focused on superior customer experience. Our bank has always dared to be different while also endeavoring to simplify the way we work.

“This core banking transformation focusing on simplifying our technological landscape with the help of a best-of-breed solution provider is reflective of this philosophy. The TCS BaNCS Global Banking Platform is a proven solution with an established track record of delivery excellence in the Nordics and will help us accelerate innovation, while our customers will benefit from contextual experiences and faster response times.”

Tata Consultancy Services is said to have been a transformation partner for leading institutions in the Nordics for over three decades. The Indian IT company has supported banks in their digital core transformation journeys, facilitated real-time payments for prominent Swedish banks, and improved settlement platforms for key central securities depositories in the region.

The TCS BaNCS solution is built upon a Digital First, Cloud First philosophy, designed to deliver a modern banking platform that caters to the demands of the digital era. It encompasses innovative and adaptive digital applications and a robust digital core, enabling a wide range of products and services across various asset types, including assets and liabilities, cash, securities, and crypto assets.

The solution accelerates the digital transformation of traditional businesses by freeing them from the constraints of legacy technology, empowering them to participate in the broader ecosystem with the aid of an extensive catalogue of APIs.

Venkateshwaran Srinivasan — Tata Consultancy Services Global Head of Financial Solutions said: “We are pleased to partner with Ikano Bank in their transformational journey. The TCS BaNCS Global Banking SaaS platform provides a strong, future-ready, cloud-native digital foundation which will support the bank’s innovation and growth strategy.

“Our track record at executing such transformations, our extensive experience in working with Nordic banks and our product suite’s in-built market and regulatory readiness make us the preferred partner to progressive banks in their growth and transformation aspirations.”

  Banking industry news, customer experience, digital transformation, Ikano Bank, Mikael Andersson, risk management, Sweden, Tata Consultancy Services, Venkateshwaran Srinivasan