The Cooperative Bank in Lubaczów is one of the larg- est cooperative banks in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, having 10 subsidiaries and branches. The bank employs about 100 people and its balance sheet total in 2020 was over PLN 550 million. It has built its position on credibility and trust, thanks to which it has been providing financial services to the local community for over a hundred years. It combines tradition with modernity, while ensuring an individual approach to the customer.
The Cooperative Bank in Płońsk belongs to the group of banks which in 2020 had equity of about PLN 60 million. It operates through 9 branches and 7 service points and employs almost 150 people. The effectiveness of the implemented activities and systematic development of the bank are reflected not only in the growth of deposits and loans, but also in the balance sheet total, which in 2020 amounted to over PLN 846 million.
Both institutions are part of the Bank of Polish Cooperative Society Group (BPS), which is the largest association of cooperative banks in Poland. They provide comprehensive services to individual customers, small and midsized enterprises, corporate customers, including local government units and farmers.
The Cooperative Banks in Płońsk and Lubaczów, like other institutions in this sector, have been facing many challenges. High dynamics of regulatory changes, growing expectations of customers, the need to increase efficiency while reducing costs, as well as constant competition from commercial banks have made them look for a new IT system. It was supposed not only to introduce a high level of automation, but also to improve the implementation of individual processes. To this end, they turned to Asseco Poland, which proposed the implementation of the Common IT Platform (CIS) - a pioneering solution that provides secure access to a complete set of IT tools. In addition, it allows institutions from the cooperative sector to focus on the customer and reduce expenses related to licensing, infrastructure or maintenance of the IT environment. The contract for the project was signed in 2019.
The key element of the implementation was the devel- opment of common processes, because despite using similar tools, each bank had a different approach to product sales and customer service. Therefore, in the first stage of the project Asseco focused on creating uniform standards, including the chart of accounts, accounting schemes, product tree, internal processes and distribution channels. The development of synergies in the area of services was necessary so that institutions could increase the efficiency of the platform use and reduce customer service costs.
Despite the definition of common accounting, sales and management information processes, Asseco made sure that the cooperative banks would retain full business autonomy in the following areas:
- shaping the value of commercial parameters in contracts with customers
- the interest rate on deposit and credit products
- fees and commissions charged
- exchange rates
The institutions also kept their balance sheet, tax and reporting separate. In addition, they gained the opportunity to use common principles in the following fields: accounting, risk management, anti-money laundering and support of terrorism and reporting. Finally, WPI provided them with coherence in organizational dimension and distribution of services.
The uniqueness of the implementation consisted in developing a single, common solution for many clients that at the same time would be a personalized tool for each of the banks ensuring uniform and coherent service processes. Throughout the project, both banks and Asseco were determined to fulfil the mission of creating a solution that would be successfully used by other cooperative banks of the BPS Group.
Over 200 Asseco specialists took part in the project. The production launch of WPI took place in September 2020, which allowed to reduce the paper circulation by about 80%. The system’s efficiency has also been significantly increased, enabling the handling of 2 million active contracts and the timely establishment of 90,000 contracts per day. Additionally, the time of closing a day, month or year for these parameters was shortened to only 1 hour.
Key benefits
The implementation of the project has allowed the cooperative banks to reduce the costs associated with having separate infrastructure and maintaining its resources, while maintaining the highest level of security.
Thanks to WPI, the institutions no longer have to worry about hardware, the maintenance of the server room, licenses, software upgrades or closing the day for which Asseco has taken responsibility.
The use of modern IT solutions, available on the WPI platform, has allowed to significantly shorten customer service processes. Thanks to the automation of deposit and credit products, the time needed to open a current account has been limited to just a few minutes.
The implementation of the project has enabled the banks not only to develop cost synergies, but has also increased their competitiveness and development prospects. Through WPI they have received the best IT tools on the market, which they can choose according to their needs, paying only for what they use. They have also gained support in strategic planning and access to innovative solutions thanks to cooperation with the Asseco Innovation Hub.
