Comarch Loan Origination for BRD Société Générale Romania

With the advent of digital technologies and changing customer expectations, traditional banks face unprecedented challenges in modernizing their operations and services. The imperative to innovate and adapt has never been more pressing.

Amidst Romania's dynamic economic environment, characterized by a burgeoning fintech sector and evolving regulatory landscapes, BRD Groupe Société Générale (BRD) recognized the urgent need to overhaul its approach to lending. Faced with the dual mandate of enhancing customer experiences and maintaining competitiveness, the bank embarked on a strategic journey of digital transformation. This case study explores the bank’s initiative to revolutionize its loan solutions and banking ecosystem.

Project objectives

Building comprehensive ecosystems and integrating various financial services seamlessly through digitalization encounters challenges due to the proliferation of distributed systems. This leads to the lack of a cohesive framework for scalability and interoperability, which is why the push for unified systems emerges. BRD aims to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and improve efficiency and effectiveness through robust digitization strategies, ensuring banking services are agile, accessible, and responsive to evolving consumer needs.

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The bank embarked on transforming the loan process for non-retail clients, with a specific focus on large and corporate clients. This strategic shift highlights the importance of progressive platformization, intending to consolidate various financial services into a unified, collaborative platform. As this transformation unfolds, prioritizing tailored business development initiatives to meet the evolving client needs becomes crucial. Automation plays a pivotal role in enhancing operational efficiency by streamlining processes. The ultimate goal is to achieve seamless integration within a unified platform, promoting collaboration and driving innovation throughout the banking ecosystem.

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Project challenges

The strategic partnership with Comarch aimed to revolutionize the loan origination experience: drive efficiency, reduce manual efforts, and enhance the overall operational agility of the bank's non-retail lending processes.

To facilitate reaching these goals, specific measures have been established in the project:

Unified digital credit file

A unified digital credit file is a digital record of a borrower's documentation and credit history stored in the bank’s central repository. Information in the repository can be shared with the customer through one of many access channels and used by the bank when assessing new product requests. The goal is to create a more efficient and transparent credit system that benefits both borrowers and lenders.

End-to-end process automation

Deploying the Comarch solution to automate the entire loan origination process spectrum, from initiating product requests to final credit disbursement.

Centralized rules and decision-making

Establishing a centralized framework for rules and decision-making guidelines to ensure consistency and adherence to regulatory standards throughout the loan origination lifecycle.

Integration capabilities

Enabling seamless integration with the bank's core banking system and various internal or external data sources via REST/SOAP APIs or Kafka events, fostering a connected and interoperable technology ecosystem.

Reporting and data warehouse

Reporting and business intelligence are as crucial for banks as they are for all modern financial institutions. They allow them to track performance, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions. Information is used for decision-making about everything, from pricing and risk management to product development and marketing.

Training and support

This initiative ensures that users are well-equipped to navigate and utilize the system effectively, promoting a smooth transition to the automated loan origination workflow.

Project results and benefits

Comarch's cutting-edge solution has streamlined product requests by combining automation, digitization, and customer-centric design. Application processes have been simplified, multiple products are now managed within a single credit file, eligibility checks are automated, digital document submission is enabled, real-time status updates are offered, and the user experience is personalized with data analytics.

Loan approval and decision-making flows have been enhanced through automated data collection, risk-management algorithms, clear decision-making criteria, and appropriate authority levels. Loan processes have been sped up with automated contract generation based on defined templates. Document signatures are managed seamlessly across traditional and digital channels, with comprehensive support for generating and managing all necessary credit documents.

project results

Credit administration and setup are handled efficiently, reducing errors with consistent data management. New proposals, renewals, and reviews are managed effectively and precisely with strategic loan modification processes. Structured reporting and data storage feed comprehensive data into the bank’s warehouse for detailed analysis.

Comprehensive training and support are provided, with manuals, system help menus, and dedicated sessions. Robust support and maintenance are in place, with flexible change management handled by internal teams or the vendor. With Comarch, a seamless, efficient, and customer-focused banking solution has been achieved.

project benefits

Final effect

The final result is a high-technology platform with implemented loan origination process, based on which further transformation can be carried out, including building a full ecosystem of banking services and products with integrations of external suppliers. Thanks to generic tools and modules, BRD can achieve goals consistent with the strategic vision of Société Générale group, such as unlimited partnership opportunities and gradual digitization of processes while achieving high-cost optimization and focusing on the customer’s journey. By this, the BRD bank and the Société Générale group as a whole achieve broader digitization to meet the requirements of current times – platformization.

Increased accuracy, thanks to the approach based on real-time data from multiple sources.
Reduced risk of fraud and loan defaults.
Improved efficiency to make more informed lending decisions and reduce processing times.
Reduced paperwork of digital files by eliminating the need for borrowers to provide redundant customer information.

Dossier