{"id":41199,"date":"2019-09-09T12:23:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T11:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/?p=41199"},"modified":"2019-09-09T12:55:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T11:55:26","slug":"bbac-upgrades-core-banking-services-to-grow-market-share","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/2019\/09\/09\/bbac-upgrades-core-banking-services-to-grow-market-share\/","title":{"rendered":"BBAC upgrades core banking services to grow market share"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With today\u2019s customers demanding ultra-fast and convenient banking services via mobile devices, the Bank of Beirut and the Arab Countries (BBAC) has transformed its core banking infrastructure with Fusion Equation. This has paved the way for more convenient digital banking services and enhanced the core banking system that underpins the bank\u2019s customer-facing services and strengthened its regulatory compliance. BBAC now benefits from cutting-edge functionalities enabling new digital banking services that customers can access anytime, anywhere from the device of their choice and has freed resources so it can focus on business-critical operations.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge banking is facing is changing rapidly in the\ndigital age, with people increasingly choosing to open accounts and manage\ntheir money online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To deliver innovative, compliant banking services both\nin-store and online, BBAC set out to upgrade its core banking solution – paving\nthe way for digital innovation while ensuring full compliance with regulatory\nstandards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution to satisfy recent changes to SWIFT regulations\nand build modern, digitally-enabled services, BBAC modernised its core banking\ninfrastructure with a smooth upgrade to the latest version of Fusion Equation.\nTo compliment the upgrade, BBAC is integrating its core banking system with\nFusion Teller to drive more efficient in-branch operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result following its upgrade is that BBAC can meet customer\nexpectations for fast, convenient, and secure online and in-branch banking\nservices. The upgrade also opens the door to cutting-edge product development –\nhelping the bank to stay ahead in a rapidly changing sector without\ncompromising regulatory compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBAC has evolved its core banking infrastructure with Fusion Equation, paving the way for the development of more convenient, digital banking services.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeting evolving expectations\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s customers increasingly expect ultra-fast, convenient, omnichannel banking services. To stay ahead of competitors and market disruptors, banks must develop attractive products and services that meet these evolving expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With over 60 years\u2019 experience as a regional leader in the Middle Eastern banking sector, BBAC is no stranger to innovation. Recently, the bank set out to expand both its physical and digital presence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Toufic Abi Farraj, Head of IT Departmentat BBAC <\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Toufic Abi Farraj, Head of IT Department <\/a>at BBAC, said: \u201cThe world of banking is changing fast. Now, many of our customers expect to be able to access their accounts online and via mobile devices, quickly and conveniently. To ensure that we can deliver reliable and secure digital touchpoints for our customers, we set out to enhance the core banking system that underpins our customer-facing services.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While BBAC was keen to extend its digital offerings, the\nbank aimed to do so without threatening the quality of its in-branch services.\nToufic Abi Farraj continues: \u201cMany of our customers still like to visit us in\nperson, so we are determined to continue to develop our in-branch services in\nline with our expanding digital portfolio. We also\nlooked to enhance the operational efficiency of each of our branches by\nimproving the teller system that our staff use to serve customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s more, with major regulatory bodies such as SWIFT introducing new changes, we viewed the upgrade of our core system as an ideal opportunity to strengthen our regulatory compliance and fully prepare for future changes in our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Superior customer experience\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since upgrading Fusion Equation, the bank is taking advantage of cutting-edge functionalities to enable new digital banking services that customers can access anytime, anywhere from the device of their choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith a feature-rich, reliable and ultra-secure core banking\nsystem, we can offer customers more convenient ways to\nmanage their finances,\u201d said Toufic Abi Farraj.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFusion Equation is helping us to expand our existing\ncustomer base and appeal to younger generation customers who prefer to service\ntheir bank accounts online and\/or via mobile devices. Reaching out to this\ngrowing demographic with new digital services will help us to increase our\nmarket share in the years ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also expect to see a significant improvement in the\noperational efficiency of in-branch activities. With Fusion Teller at their\nfingertips, our branch staff can offer relevant, personalised support for every\ncustomer without having to spend lots of time searching through customer\nrecords. Lifting customer service in-branch in this way will help us cater for\ncustomers who prefer a more traditional, hands-on banking experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next-generation banking                       <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To develop the capabilities that will help it bring modern, convenient and compliant banking services to customers both online and in-store, BBAC upgraded its core banking system to the latest version of Fusion Equation. The bank is also integrating Fusion Teller across all branches. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe appreciate our strong relationship with Finastra, and\ntruly value their expert assistance and professionalism. With Finastra’s help,\nwe have established an open, future-ready core banking platform,\u201d said Toufic\nAbi Farraj.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the latest version of Fusion Equation in place, BBAC\naims to simplify and standardise core processes, helping to optimise\noperations, increase efficiency, and keep up with the rate of change in the\nmarket. What\u2019s more, harmonised and standardised systems will make it easier\nfor BBAC to adapt to any future changes and mitigate business risk generated by\ncompliance issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toufic Abi Farraj explains: \u201cFusion Equation 4.3 delivers a much more modern, and intuitive user interface, which empowers our staff to complete the work more efficiently – boosting overall productivity. From a product development perspective, the open APIs built into the platform will enable us to integrate our core system with other third-party services, enabling us to develop a host of new offerings for our customers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBAC is also a long-standing user of Fusion Trade\nInnovation, which it uses to drive more reliable and efficient trade and supply\nchain finance operations for business customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful upgrade journey            <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBAC utilised the Fusion Advance service, a proven upgrade\nmethodology which has allowed Finastra to successfully complete many complex\nand diverse upgrade projects over the last two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank finalised a two-phase process, with the major\nupgrade finished by mid-year and the final phase successfully implemented in\njust over six weeks. Finastra worked with BBAC through on-site local support,\nunderpinned by a flexible and scalable remote team, who were available 24\/7\nduring the upgrade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team followed industry best practice and used innovative automated tools to ensure an effective and streamlined upgrade, which freed bank resources to focus on business-critical operations. <\/a>Through the Fusion Advance approach, BBAC worked with the Finastra Global Services team to ensure that the upgrade was delivered to a high quality, and also slightly ahead of schedule, giving the bank time to mitigate the risks and complete testing before the regulatory deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toufic Abi Farraj said: \u201cWe completed the upgrade of our\ncore banking system on time and on budget- enabling us to fast-track product\ninnovation. The expertise and the comprehensive support of Finastra Global\nServices enabled us to upgrade our system seamlessly without causing any downtime.”\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBAC\u2019s partnership with Finastra goes back over 35 years: it\nwas the first bank in Lebanon to implement Finastra solutions. Banks across the\nMiddle East soon followed suit once they recognised that Finastra offerings\ncould transform their banking services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFinastra provided excellent guidance throughout our upgrade\njourney,” said Toufic Abi Farraj. “We are really excited to embark on\nthe next chapter of our partnership with Finastra and continue enhancing our\nsystems and services to deliver more value to our business and our customers\nand take our Digital Transformation journey to the next stage.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toufic Abi Farraj concludes: \u201cWith Finastra supporting us\nevery step of the way, we are able to keep up with the rapid pace of change in\nthe banking industry and develop the innovative digital solutions that our\ncustomers love.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With today\u2019s customers demanding ultra-fast and convenient banking services via mobile devices, the Bank of Beirut and the Arab Countries (BBAC) has transformed its core banking infrastructure with Fusion Equation. This has paved the way for more convenient digital banking services and enhanced the core banking system that underpins the bank\u2019s customer-facing services and strengthened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":41201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1741,34,13],"tags":[10145,534,10144,10146,10149,10143,10147,562,285,10148],"class_list":["post-41199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking-finance","category-case-studies","category-top-stories","tag-bank-of-beirut-and-the-arab-countries","tag-banking","tag-bbac","tag-fusion","tag-fusion-advance","tag-fusion-equation","tag-fusion-teller","tag-middle-east","tag-mobile","tag-toufic-abi-farraj"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41199"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41210,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41199\/revisions\/41210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}