Torsten Hagen Jørgensen, Nordea
Nordea has set up a new “Group Digital” unit to drive its digital banking agenda forward.
The unit will start to operate on 1 September and will be co-headed by Poul Raaholt, previously head of group IT at Nordea, and Ewan MacLeod, previously responsible for the retail digital transformation programme at Royal Bank of Scotland. Alvaro Garrido, previously group head of technology at Standard Chartered Bank, is appointed new head of group IT and group CIO.
Torsten Hagen Jørgensen, group COO, Nordea, says: “Digital development is key to Nordea’s future success.”
Nordea adds: “Rapidly changing customer behaviour, new financial services, development of new technologies together with increasing regulatory demands create business opportunities and require that Nordea has a clear strategic digital vision with strong execution capabilities.”
The unit follows its core banking and “simplification” programmes, as it looks to become a “truly digital” bank.
The bank says Group Digital will “keep an overview” of the entire digital project portfolio in all parts of the bank, including core banking systems replacement and simplification initiatives.
First in Finland
Recently, Nordea announced it will be the “first” bank in Finland to offer its customers an equity-based crowdfunding service.
It has developed an online crowdfunding platform that will match entrepreneurs seeking financing with investors; and will be linked to a book-entry system. The service will be launched in the next few months.
The bank says the funding can be in the form of a loan, donation or a subscription for shares. Because the service is equity-based, investors can subscribe for a company’s shares in a share issue.
All change
Nordea is undergoing the largest tech modernisation project in post-crisis Europe. The bank is investing €1 billion in its banking and payments software overhaul.
On the way out is a host of legacy platforms, including Misys’ Midas and Tieto’s Core Banking Suite.
The project is part of the aforementioned simplification programme at Nordea. The bank is looking to automate its largely manual processing, which at present requires input from 5,000 staff.
Temenos’ T24 will be Nordea’s new core banking system and FIS/Clear2Pay’s Open Banking Framework (OPF) will underpin the new payments hub.
The project kicked off last year, with Accenture as the delivery partner. It is expected to last four to five years.