Mortgage loan ready for signature in eight minutes

The banking sector is entering a digital and automated world. Customers must be more self-reliant, the case processing must be quick and easy, and the processes must be streamlined so that loan offers are prepared equally across departments across the country.

“The digitization train has been running for years, but the financial sector has remained on the platform in several areas. In our sector, there are still papers around. However, in connection with increasing interest in loan conversion, we experienced that our delivery time was long and went the wrong way. It could take up to two weeks to settle loan papers, which is a long time to wait as a customer. The course could change in the meantime, and it gave a lot of backlash because we had to check if the customer still wanted the loan with the changed conditions. This was not always the case.” – says Ole Søholm Jensen, Director of Business Development, Spar Nord Bank

“Another challenge was the risk of low data quality when loan papers were to change hands. When a lot of information is to be passed on in manual processes, everything needs to be checked out on everything, which is time consuming. In addition, there is a risk that something goes wrong, e.g. that the customer does not get the correct loan. In order to optimize the data quality, we wanted to streamline the entire loan process.” – Ole Søholm Jensen says

First automation of the residential area in Denmark

Spar Nord Bank is currently starting to realize its digitization strategy, which partly includes a shift of the IT platform to BEC, and the preparation of the further strategy towards 2020.

“The banking sector is in the middle of its biggest transformation ever, and at Spar Nord Bank we want to digitize as much as possible to give our customers the best possible experience. We will increase security and data quality and significantly reduce waiting time. That’s why we chose IBM Case Manager. The first process we chose to automate was ‘Convert loan’, which represents more than 50% of our business in the residential area.” – says Søren Mikkelsen, Business Architect, Spar Nord Bank

The residential area is the most complex one, and therefore Spar Nord Bank started with it. After two years of preparation, the solution was implemented and has been in operation since August 2014.

Spar Nord Bank is the first Danish bank to have automated its residential area with this solution. All processes are integrated – from the customer to the back end – and all sequential processes are automatically controlled so that the workflow is not slowed down if a case manager is not on his stick or is busy with other tasks.

Everything is ready in eight minutes

The solution is so simple that the employee simply enter basic customer information, after which IBM Case Manager takes over the process, and in eight minutes the papers are ready for signature. Loan papers are ordered, data is validated, the loan is approved and the money can be paid. All communication with Totalkredit, RKI, BBR and internal databases is 100% automated, and in principle there are no restrictions as to which external data sources you can reach out to.

“I have been around a number of other banks and data centers to tell them about our experiences, and it’s surprising for everyone that you can be that much more efficient when using an IT solution. It is high-level innovation.” – Søren Mikkelsen says

Where Spar Nord Bank previously managed to handle a maximum of 32 residential loans a day, they now have the potential of handling up to 280 a day. This is a significant increase in efficiency. In addition, the treatment time has been significantly reduced, as there are no longer cases and are waiting to be processed or clarified. The return time is thus also completely eliminated.

Apendo strengthens cooperation between business and IT

Apendo is IBM’s largest Business Partner in Business Process Management and Enterprise Content Management in the Nordic countries and specializes in banks and insurance companies. Apendo has sold and implemented the solution at Spar Nord Bank and was chosen because of their experience and competences.

“Apendo’s competence level is high, and we have been able to use their capacity when we have needed it along the way in the project. They are our extended arm, they have delivered everything at the agreed time, and we are very happy with our cooperation.”  – Ole Søholm Jensen says

And he also says that Apendo will upgrade IBM Case Manager and assist the bank when the next business area – pension – is to be automated.

“The use of Case Manager has changed our working methods, and it has strengthened the collaboration between business and IT. It has required part of the organization to get used to new procedures, because habits are deeply rooted in all of us. But business and it has been collaborating well together in this project, and it is necessary to succeed.” – Søren Mikkelsen says

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