Implementation of a centralised Finance & Risk database

SUMMARY

To ease the migration to a new Core Banking System (CBS), Avantage Reply supported a major European-based bank in the implementation of a common Finance & Risk database.

The aim was to set up a unique database containing all Finance and Risk data used for regulatory calculations and reporting.

Avantage Reply also helped the customer in the replacement of outdated tools, provided experts from the field as well as monitored the progress of the project.

CUSTOMER GOALS

The customer requested Avantage Reply to set up a “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) that would allow them to meet their regulatory requirements and that could help in the preparation of the migration to the new CBS.

It was also requested to successfully implement the Finance and Risk database and its calculation satellites while ensuring the outcomes could match the expectations or could be explained.

CHALLENGES

Even if the deliverable was considered as a MVP, it has to make the computation of Finance and Risk indicators more efficient while ensuring that the mapping, processes and methodologies used were properly documented by respecting the BCBS 239 principles.

Moreover, similar or the same data used by several businesses had to fit the needs of all involved stakeholders (i.e., Credit Risk, ALM, IRRBB, Accounting & Liquidity). A coordination was therefore necessary to synchronise the users and validate the data mapping and IT requirements.

Finally, one of the main difficulties of the project was to respect the tight deadlines for the implementation in order to move on to the migration to the new CBS. It was therefore necessary to assess the progress accurately and on a regular basis to manage the project in the most appropriate way to meet the defined deadlines.

SOLUTIONS

In order to meet the requirements, Avantage Reply has brought expertise in several areas that were split accordingly:

• The business stream - their role was to set up and define the mapping enabling proper computations and production of the reports. They were also responsible for testing the data, analysing the results and explaining the differences.
• The business readiness stream - they organised the deployment and ensured that the requirements are documented, which helped in the transition to the new CBS. The stream was responsible for the following activities: data quality controls, data documentation, data reporting and process design.
• The project management stream - they ensured the appropriate methodology and the coordination of the testing phases. To do so, they used a defect management tool and organised regular meetings involving business and IT teams. In addition, the project management team guaranteed information-sharing, actions follow-up, planning and resource management and the coordination of all the stakeholders at every stage of the implementation from mapping to the go-live decision.