Sweden’s Ikano Bank outsources core banking to TCS

Ikano Bank has outsourced its core banking system to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as it attempts to move to a single core banking system for all the countries it is present in.

The Swedish bank has about 1,200 staff in eight countries, including the UK, Sweden’s neighbouring Nordic countries, Germany and Austria, but it uses a separate core banking system in each country.

Owned by the family that founded Ikea, Ikano Bank offers credit cards, savings accounts and loans to consumers, and credit services to businesses, including retailers.

The use of different core banking software in each country has resulted in “siloed operations, inconsistency in customer experience and risk management pressures”, according to the bank.

Ikano is transforming and wants to build multi-country capabilities on a single core banking platform. It will consolidate all European accounts, deposits and unsecured retail lending business on the TCS platform.

Roll-out of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) core banking platform from TCS, known as BaNCS, will begin in Sweden.

Mikael Andersson, head of digital delivery at Ikano Bank, said: “Our strategy is to build a bank of the future, one that is fully digital and focused on superior customer experience. Our bank has always dared to be different, while also endeavouring to simplify the way we work.

“This core banking transformation, focusing on simplifying our technological landscape with the help of a best-of-breed solution provider, is reflective of this philosophy.”

“Our strategy is to build a bank of the future, one that is fully digital and focused on superior customer experience. Our bank has always dared to be different, while also endeavouring to simplify the way we work”

Venkateshwaran Srinivasan, global head of financial solutions at TCS, said the BaNCS SaaS platform provides a cloud-native digital foundation.

Existing customers of the software include Société Générale Securities Services, which has adopted it in Germany, the UK, France, Ireland and Luxembourg.

Legacy core banking systems are increasingly being replaced by cloud-based alternatives, with huge cost savings when compared with maintaining in-house core banking systems.

The retirement of legacy core banking systems was discussed for years before cloud computing technology came along and finally started the process.