comarch technology review 2014

// comarch // technology review ̀ 14 1

FLAT DESIGN –A FAD OR A TREND?

MILLIONAIRES WITH TABLETS

NEW FACE OF CORPORATE BANKING

FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED

www.comarch.com

F inance Edit ion

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The world of applications is ‘like a box of chocolate – we never know what we gonna get’. All IT providers

want to surprise us, make us happy and satisfied, meeting all our expectations and requirements. The list

of “wants” is long and can hardly be fulfilled…

We all differ as far as our behavior, habits and preferences are concerned. We have different tastes and

lifestyles. Our companies vary, so do our business processes and objectives. Hence, there is no single

ideal path or approach to be followed when designing and building applications. That is why we have

such a great choice of solutions available for both individual and business purposes. Thanks to such di-

versity we can discover and explore the apps that suit us best, i.e. the ones we find useful, beneficial,

innovative and user-friendly.

In this issue of Technology Review we bring you the overview of latest trends concerning apps and solu-

tions for banking, insurance and capital markets. We show different approaches in designing, developing

and servicing applications. We talk mobile, social, smart and cloud. The world of applications is enor-

mously attractive, overwhelming and fascinating – every day new, enhancing, time-saving, informative

and entertaining tools are entering our lives. The only thing we should do is to learn more about them and

make our choice – then we gonna get what we really want.

Technology Review Team

Finances in numbers

Business case – Allianz

BYOD can be secure

Bank 3.0 – a relationship without secrets

Bank as a technological boutique Factoring in the cloud

Millionaires with tablets Human psyche – the weakest link

Comarch on the financial market

Voices from abroad

Telecoms and banks – married for better or worse?

Between cloud and regulations

Bank account right before your eyes

Investment portfolio of paintings, stamps and violins

Finger instead of PIN

New challenges for brokerages

Flat design – a fad or a trend?

Video craze

Personal data in the world of finance

New face of corporate banking

Comarch Wealth Manager – app for the richest

Forewarned is forearmed

Personal devices, professional duties

Innovative solutions supporting mobile sales

News

In focus

Trends

Solutions

Trends Solutions

In focus

IT services

News

News

Trends

Solutions

Trends

In focus

In focus

IT services

In focus

Design

Marketing

Regulations

Solutions

In focus

IT services

Trends

Solutions

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Finance Edition

Nr 1/2014

ISSN 1743-4212

Circulation: 500

Editor-in-Chief:

Anna M. Lik

Assistant:

Antoni Sikora

Translations & Proofreading:

Anna M. Lik, Aploq S.A.

Layout & DTP:

Wojciech Mikroobrys Marzec

Publisher:

Comarch s.a.

Al. Jana Pawła II 39 a

31-864 Kraków

Phone: 12 64 61 000

[email protected]

Technology Review is a free publication available by subscription. The articles published

here can be copied and reproduced only with the knowledge and consent of editors.

The names of products and companies mentioned are trademarks and trade names

of their manufacturers.

To subscribe to the electronic version

or download the previous issues, please visit

technologyreview.comarch.com

Technology Review is a publication created by Comarch’s experts and specialists.

It is published to assist our customers and partners in obtaining in-depth information

about recent market trends and innovation, as well as technical possibilities of addressing

the most important issues and challenges.

2

2011 2014

15million

Poland is the European leader in adapting contactless

technologies

popularity of mobile bankinghas tripled

2011 2014

2,7million people

11,2%

of all terminals are equipped with a contactless reader

the value of savings accumulated by Polish households according to data from Analizy Online

III 2014r

1,04tr pln

12 months

4,6b pln

4,4%

the savings accumulatedby Polishhouseholds fell

of Polish households experienced financial difficulties in the previous 12 months – to save money the Poles under survey limited their expenditures on the activities and products they felt were not essential, such as eating outs, luxury food products and holidays

Source: The Genworth Index

603pln/month

loan installments

739pln/month

mortgage loan installments

perceive their level of knowledge about the bank loan market as low or average

50% <35 years of age

have taken advantage of a credit or loan at least once

of Poles are repaying some form of a bank loan

Source: a survey commissioned by the Credit Information Bureaux2

Source: Rzeczpospolita

the market for e-loansin Poland is gathering momentum – in the spaceof a year the value of transactions mighteven double

financial and personal data records were

compromised globally

561million

lost financial service providers

2b usd

Source: The Global Data Leakage Report by InfoWatch Analytical Center

1 143cases of serious data leaks

22%

the awareness of what mobile banking is has also increased

Source: First Data

financial securityamong the people

SPAINPOLAND

FRANCE ITALY

were not able to afford something they needed –the wish list usually included furniture, clothing, electronics, home appliances, food, a car or a motorbike<35 years

of age

Source: a survey commissioned by the Credit Information Bureau

III 2011

18k

III 2012

900 k

III 2013

3 m

the transaction figures are rising quickly

Source: First Data

1

2

3

54

Finance in numbers

NE

WS


2011 2014

15million

Poland is the European leader in adapting contactless

technologies

popularity of mobile bankinghas tripled

2011 2014

2,7million people

11,2%

of all terminals are equipped with a contactless reader

the value of savings accumulated by Polish households according to data from Analizy Online

III 2014r

1,04tr pln

12 months

4,6b pln

4,4%

the savings accumulatedby Polishhouseholds fell

of Polish households experienced financial difficulties in the previous 12 months – to save money the Poles under survey limited their expenditures on the activities and products they felt were not essential, such as eating outs, luxury food products and holidays

Source: The Genworth Index

603pln/month

loan installments

739pln/month

mortgage loan installments

perceive their level of knowledge about the bank loan market as low or average

50% <35 years of age

have taken advantage of a credit or loan at least once

of Poles are repaying some form of a bank loan

Source: a survey commissioned by the Credit Information Bureaux2

Source: Rzeczpospolita

the market for e-loansin Poland is gathering momentum – in the spaceof a year the value of transactions mighteven double

financial and personal data records were

compromised globally

561million

lost financial service providers

2b usd

Source: The Global Data Leakage Report by InfoWatch Analytical Center

1 143cases of serious data leaks

22%

the awareness of what mobile banking is has also increased

Source: First Data

financial securityamong the people

SPAINPOLAND

FRANCE ITALY

were not able to afford something they needed –the wish list usually included furniture, clothing, electronics, home appliances, food, a car or a motorbike<35 years

of age

Source: a survey commissioned by the Credit Information Bureau

III 2011

18k

III 2012

900 k

III 2013

3 m

the transaction figures are rising quickly

Source: First Data

6

8

7

4

Comarch has implemented a financial-

-accounting module of the Comarch NonLife

Insurance system in Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń

i Reasekuracji Allianz Polska S.A (Allianz Group).

Due to the development of its business Allianz

needed some tools to accelerate settlements

with reinsurers and brokers, i.e. to automate the

growing number of transactions.

Comarch Supports Allianz in

Settlement Processes with Reinsurers

The financial-accounting module is an integral

part of Comarch NonLife Insurance – a platform

that comprehensively handles key business

processes in an insurance company. The highly

flexible and configurable financial-accounting

module acts as a sub-ledger – it contains an-

alytical records as well as additions to General

Ledger accounts. It is responsible for support-

ing the accounting of insurance events, gener-

ating accounting documents and performing

insurance settlements with contractors.

‘Owing to the implementation of this module,

Allianz has optimized and automated the pro-

cess of accounting settlements with contrac-

tors. The process of data processing necessary

for the closing of the accounting period has

been accelerated – these operations currently

take only 2 working days. In addition, abandon-

ing the process of determining the settlement

balance with reinsurers on the basis of the

records in General Ledger allows direct access

to balances from the system layer with a full

preview of the selected reinsurer data. This

enables verification of the data correctness

needed for the closing of the reporting period’,

emphasizes Kamil Kwarciak, Project Manager at

Comarch.

‘After several months of work with the new sys-

tem, we have noted that the transfer of reinsur-

ance accounting data proceeds more efficient-

ly than ever before. The solution implemented

in cooperation with Comarch has helped us

reduce the time of closing reporting periods’,

underlines Sylwia Kołowacik, Chief Accountant

at TUiR Allianz Polska S.A.

For more than fifteen years Comarch has been

providing solutions for the insurance industry in

Poland and abroad. Comarch solutions support

customer relationship as well as optimization

of operations and business processes. The co-

operation between Comarch and Allianz Group

started in 2006 when TUiR Allianz Polska S.A.

and TU Allianz Życie Polska S.A. implemented

Comarch Debt Management – a solution sup-

porting the debt recovery process has been

used and developed in both companies until

now. Allianz and Comarch have been also work-

ing together on the development of the insur-

er’s main claim & policy administration system.

Comarch implemented Comarch Asset

Management – the solution that automates

the process of fund valuation, at Warta S.A.

Insurance and Reinsurance Company and

Warta S.A. Life Insurance Company (Talanx

Group). Along with business growth, the insurer

needed a centralized system for handling funds

in both companies.

Comarch Asset Management

at Warta Group

‘In the face of an increasing number of funds

handled and new investment opportunities

emerging on the financial market, the need

to have a modern, consolidated system for

asset accounting, valuation and manage-

ment has become the key issue’, says Tomasz

Miedziński, Director of Asset Management

Department at Warta S.A. Insurance and

Reinsurance Company and Warta S.A. Life

Insurance Company.

Comarch Asset Management allows handling

funds and own portfolios, covering asset man-

agement, transaction and settlement verifica-

tion, other necessary operations, and all asset

valuation. The system monitors and controls

defined investment limits – official and own

ones, offline and online, on a current basis. It

also supports cash account management and

cash flow forecasts. The system provides si-

multaneous asset valuation according to Polish

and international accounting standards, as well

as generates reports required by regulators.

‘The implementation of Comarch Asset

Management was driven by the need to adapt

the technology to our business processes

which were modified and optimized due to

the takeover of own portfolio management

from third parties and integration of our com-

panies. Thanks to the efficient management

of IT resources and collaborative work, we

have achieved our goals’, underlines Piotr

Markiewicz, Managing Director of Property

Information System Development Department

at Warta S.A. Insurance and Reinsurance

Company.

‘It should be emphasized that Comarch Asset

Management supports activities of the major-

ity of leading insurance companies in Poland.

The successful implementation at Warta S.A.

Insurance and Reinsurance Company and

Warta S.A. Life Insurance Company is a very im-

portant and valuable experience for Comarch.

It is a good base for acquiring important cus-

tomers also from the international insurance

market’, comments Krzysztof Mendelowski,

Business Unit Director responsible for the

Comarch Asset Management product line at

Comarch.

Comarch Underwriting is profiled in Celent re-

port 2014 EMEA New Business and Underwriting

Systems: A Vendor Spectrum. The report re-

views new business and automated under-

writing systems available to insurers in Europe,

the Middle East, and Africa. The report profiles

15 automated new business and underwriting

systems for life and annuities products.

NE

WS

Comarch on the financial market


Comarch Underwriting Featured in

Celent Report

Nowadays, business and underwriting systems

not only collect data, classify risk and identify

underwriting requirements, but also support

back office processes and analyze the result-

ing data. They allow the insurers to cut costs

by moving some of its back office processes

into the front office, improving their efficiency

and profits. Risk assessment, i.e. underwriting

is a key process in the insurance business. Due

to the complexity of products, this key insur-

ance process requires the IT support. Comarch

Underwriting provides the underwriter with

a comprehensive tool, supporting each stage

of the underwriting process. In 2012 a Belgian

insurer Delta Lloyd Life selected Comarch

Underwriting to streamline their underwriting

processes.

‘Comarch Underwriting ensures the process

automation which allows the insurer to save

time and reduce the risk of errors thanks to

automated limit control and complex decision

rules. The solution is easily configurable – the

insurer can create and modify medical ques-

tionnaires, manage required document lists,

and above all, create and change rules for auto-

mated underwriting. Moreover, the insurer can

gather, aggregate, analyze and process data

in one place, as well as create comprehen-

sive reports’, underlines Mariusz Janczewski,

Business Development Manager at Comarch.

Comarch solutions for insurance have been

featured in numerous Celent reports in recent

years. This year Comarch Insurance Claims was

mentioned in Life Claims 2014: A Global Vendor

Spectrum among main European insurance

claims tools providers.

Global software & IT specialist Comarch has

unveiled exclusive new research Banking on

Tech City, showing that while banks are getting

the basics right for SMEs they are still failing to

deliver the specialist services these companies

need to thrive. The research surveyed compa-

nies in Tech City, the hub of mostly SME digital

enterprises and start-ups in East London that

has become the poster child of government

efforts to drive economic growth.

Comarch New Research: Banks Failing

to Deliver for SMEs

Comarch gained access to over 50 Tech City

companies to ask them about the service they

received from their banks. While there are areas

where banks are getting it right, especially in

making credit available, there are still areas of

concern where banks could do more to support

SMEs.

‘SMEs make up 99.9% of all UK private enterpris-

es and yet they are still getting a poor service

from their banks. Services such as cash flow

forecasting and payment automations are vital

for SMEs to control their finances and stream-

line internal processes. Despite the dedicated

services not being offered, many of the compa-

nies we spoke to said they would be willing to

pay for them. Only 7% of micro-enterprises had

been offered cash-flow forecasting, for exam-

ple, but more than one-in-four would be willing

to pay for them’, said Eva Jasiecka, Managing

Director at Comarch UK.

For micro-enterprises, it’s crucial that banking

should be quick and easy, allowing them the

maximum amount of time to get on with run-

ning their business and driving growth. If these

services are not being offered, it’s little wonder

that more than half are dissatisfied with their

bank. The demand for the services is there and,

crucially, so is technology required to deliver

them.

‘2011 report by Accenture said that SMEs were

‘Fiercely loyal’ to their banks. New regulations

for account switching have made it easier for

SMEs to move banks. This presents a major

challenge to customer loyalty. The banks that

start to invest in the IT to offer these services

will be the ones who win and retain SME busi-

ness’, concluded Jasiecka.

To download a copy of the report, including

more detailed findings and analysis and key

recommendations to help banks deliver for high

growth and SME business, please go to

www.corporatebanking.comarch.com.

Innovative features tailored specifically for

business will help banks attract new customers

and drive greater loyalty from existing

customers

Comarch Launches Mobile Business

Banking Solution in the UK

Global software & IT specialist Comarch launch-

es its Mobile Business Banking solution which

allows banks to offer their corporate, SME and

microbusiness customers dedicated business

banking services on the go. The service is

already being used by major financial institu-

tions, such as ING Bank.

The popularity of mobile banking is increasing

among business customers. Two thirds of UK

treasury executives would use mobile banking

to run their corporate accounts according to

research from Anite. However the market re-

mains underserved with 3.5m microbusiness-

es lacking access to mobile banking services

(Finextra, 2013). Mobile business banking will

allow banks and other financial institutions to

reduce churn, and improve loyalty. By migrating

customers to the lower-cost mobile channel,

there is an opportunity to not only reduce costs

but also to unlock new revenues for the bank.

The Comarch Mobile Business Banking solution

is designed and built specifically for corpora-

tions, SME’s and micro customers, with tailored

features, functionality and state-of-the-art se-

curity for each business segment not common-

ly found in rival alternatives, including:

• approval workflows aligned with internet

banking procedures

• monitoring of credit card expenditure, lim-

its and payoff days

• processing of packaged transactions,

mass approvals and other non-transac-

tional orders

• invoice support – notifying payment dead-

lines or outstanding invoices

• integration with loyalty schemes and ex-

ternal value-added services

• cash flow risk detection, with push notifi-

cations.

The system also offers several unique features

targeted at corporate banking customers such

as hierarchical access to account data, a full

6

approval system aligned with internal proce-

dures and underpinned by state-of-the art se-

curity.

Standard features include allowing customers

to view account information, list and search

transactions, view exchange rates, make trans-

fers and payments, get push notifications of

payments and balances, and location-relevant

information on nearby branches, report lost or

stolen credit cards.

‘Companies large and small are demanding

secure digital services in an increasingly glob-

al, mobile and data-driven marketplace’, said

Jonathan Withers, Director of Banking, Comarch

UK. ‘UK banks that seek to meet these demands

have the opportunity to be a leader in custom-

er servicing, beating their rivals to the punch.

Business banking is entering a period of flux,

with new entrants looking to meet the needs of

a neglected market sector – a sector that de-

mands more than the rebadged retail banking

solutions that are currently being offered’.

Ergo Insurance has chosen Comarch Mobile

Insurance Advisor to support its pre-sales ac-

tivities in Belgium and Luxembourg. The insurer

has decided to start cooperation with Comarch

mostly due to the solution multiplatform archi-

tecture and extensive Comarch’s experience in

development of mobile solutions for the finance

industry.

Ergo Insurance Selects Comarch

Mobile Insurance Advisor

‘Cooperation with Comarch will allow us to

equip our sales network with a tool that can be

used anywhere and anytime, in order to facili-

tate face-to-face advisory and sales at agen-

cies, business centers or customer locations.

The main goal of the project is to stimulate

advice-based sales and create unique offer-

ings with the aim of making the customer-fac-

ing process from the needs-analysis to the

underwriting forms efficient and easy to use’,

says Luuk Lodewijks, Commercial director at

Ergo Partners.

‘The objectives of implementing the Comarch

Mobile Insurance Advisor are: to use it as a na-

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tive application on both desktops and laptops

(Windows, Mac OS), as well as tablets with iOS,

Android and Windows Phone operating sys-

tems. Also, to enable us to apply a compliant

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) strategy based

on a defined technological framework towards

sales forces. Moreover, to make an easy inte-

gration with our existing back-end systems’,

underlines Philip Müller, IT & Process director at

Ergo Insurance.

‘Comarch sees this project as an opportunity

to develop a long-term partnership with Ergo

Group and to continue its dynamic growth in

the Benelux region. Our company is here per-

ceived as an IT challenger for the insurance

sector and offers the whole value chain of in-

novative solutions. Our pre-sales solution is

a multiplatform and multilingual mobile appli-

cation that can be accessed both in online and

offline modes whenever and wherever needed.

Moreover, it handles a wide range of insur-

ance products’, adds Wojciech Pawlus, Sales

Director for Benelux Region at Comarch.

Comarch Mobile Insurance Advisor offers rich

functionality in terms of pre-sales processes.

‘Our solution allows to gather information about

customers – personal, contact or family data

and use them to recommend most suitable

insurance or investment products, perform

simulations and create illustrations to make

customers better understand all the benefits

and costs connected with the purchase of a

chosen product, file an application and fill in

the underwriting questionnaire. Our solution

also supports customer electronic signatures,

sending them along with all gathered informa-

tion to the policy administration system in order

to issue the policy,’ explains Maciej Ślósarczyk,

Insurance Consulting Director at Comarch SA.

Comarch launched the Comarch Commission

& Incentive solution at the life & pension in-

surance company Skandia Życie Towarzystwo

Ubezpieczeń S.A. (part of Old Mutual Group).

A deployed platform aims at managing the

company sales network, commission settle-

ments and sharing information on the current

sales results and remuneration with the agents

& company personnel.

Comarch Commission & Incentive at

Skandia Life & Pensions

‘The priority of Skandia is to build and maintain

long-lasting relationships with our customers.

That is why we decided to implement an inte-

grated distribution model, the element of which

is a new Comarch system that facilitates sa-

les network management. We were interested

in a solution proven on the market that would

ensure a wide scope of cooperation and com-

munication with our sales forces, as well as

efficient development and modifications of our

commission and incentive policies. Market dy-

namics enforces a flexible approach to these

issues. It was also important for us to provide

our employees and partners with transparency

through reporting sales results, and meet the

requirements of market regulators, in particu-

lar, ensure the accurate and error free two-way

communication with Financial Supervision

Authority. Therefore, we have chosen Comarch

Commission & Incentive and Comarch as an IT

partner with appropriate experience and indu-

stry skills’, says Konrad Jędrzejewski, Director

of Operations, Skandia Życie Towarzystwo

Ubezpieczeń S.A.

’We have just completed the first stage of the

Comarch Commission & Incentive implemen-

tation at Skandia, launching the complete

functionality of the internal distribution chan-

nel. During the second stage we are going to

launch external distribution channels. This

is yet another implementation project where

we simultaneously support settlements of in-

surance and banking products. By working with

Skandia as well as with other customers we are

continuously developing the functionality of our

solution, at the same time optimizing its stan-

dard functions’, underlines Maciej Ślósarczyk,

Insurance Consulting Director, Comarch SA.


Bank as a technological boutique

Development of Internet and mobile banking forces banks to change sales and oper-

ating models. Some banks are heading towards self-service outlets, whereas others

towards exclusive centers full of gadgets.

Łukasz Rozlach

CRM Consulting Director

[email protected]

After several decades of the dynamic growth

of bank branches the time has come for the

change. The development of Internet and mo-

bile banking, as well as increased service qual-

ity, customer awareness and skills have result-

ed in 80% of banking transactions carried out

via self-service channels without bank employ-

ee support. Offshoot? Only in the third quar-

ter of 2013 U.S. banks closed about 390 offices

throughout the country. Changes in customer

behavior also apply to the Polish market. A sur-

vey conducted in 2013 by ARC Rynek i Opinia on

behalf of Citi Handlowy shows that for 81% of

respondents online banking is the main contact

channel with the bank. 6% of customers did not

visit their bank after they had opened the ac-

count, 7% did not visit their bank in 2013 at all,

whereas 13% visited it in 2013 but no more than

3 times. The study shows as well that in Citi

Handlowy five times more transactions are per-

formed via Internet banking than in the branch-

es, where only 5% of all transactions are car-

ried out.

Evolution, not revolution

‘The changing regulatory, economic, social

and technological environment has created

an imperative for branch channel evolution’,

says Bob Meara, Senior Analyst with Celent’s

Banking group and the author of the report:

‘Branch Transformation at RHB Bank: Making It

Look Easy’ which gives RHB Bank as an exam-

ple of the sales and operating model transfor-

mation. The bank was awarded Celent’s Model

Bank of the Year. Bob Meara underlines that

it is not sufficient just to reduce the number

of bank branches. Banks need to make fun-

damental changes in their activity, applying

a multi-channel approach and make sure that

they really know their customers and their pref-

erences. The market does not seek revolution

i.e. the disappearance of a traditional sales and

service channel, but its expects evolution. The

same conclusions were presented by Celent’s

experts, summarizing the Finovate winter con-

ference. They noted that bank branches are

changing, but in the near future they will not

disappear as the market has some ideas how

to improve the efficiency of branch operations.

The recent studies show that bank branches

are still very important for customers. They are

their first choice place to make the most impor-

tant financial decisions.

How are the branches changing?

A new trend that has been present for some

years in Asia and the United States is slowly

coming to Europe – self-service and hybrid

bank outlets. ‘2020 Foresight Report: Self-

Service Branch Banking’ shows that self-bank

branches (full and hybrid) will be intensively

developing. The report also points out that

although traditional bank branches continue

to play a key role in the customer service, the

changing preferences of customers and banks’

attempts to reduce running costs, make them

look for new sales and service models. The re-

port also underlines that self-service branches

are more economical than traditional ones, and

that is why they are used in rural and unbanked

areas, where banks want to attract new cus-

tomers. Launching costs of traditional branches

are in fact extremely high – in Poland it is a cost

of 100 000-250 000 €. Bankers estimate that

new types of branches reduce total costs by

20-40%. It is related, among others, with redun-

dancies.

Customer service like fast food

Changes in bank branches are taking place

gradually. In Poland, in early 2012, Alior Bank

started to launch a McBank branch type named

Alior Bank Express. It is a small bank outlet usu-

ally located in a shopping mall or a supermar-

ket, open daily long hours, including weekends.

Customers can make fast invoice payments

without commission, take cash loans, open

term deposits or a free personal account, as

well as try savings programs. Alior McBanks

fit well into a relaxing shopping atmosphere

with their colorful interior design, open space,

visually attractive offers displayed on moni-

tors, and two or three customer service desks.

8

branches, combining a traditional banking fa-

cility with a self-service point. The first Citi hy-

brid bank outlet opened in a shopping mall in

Katowice. It was designed according to the idea

of smart banking with all devices that custom-

ers use every day – tablets, touch screens,

and computers. Moreover, the zone restricted

for bank’s employees was reduced to the min-

imum. New outlets are very modern in design,

reminding bank boutiques more than traditional

bank facilities. However, it is fast service that

stands out in smart branches. All issues are

handled by one bank’s employee, who can also

explains the customers how they can process

everything on the tablet. Research carried out

by Citi Handlowy in Poland shows that custom-

ers that often visit the branches perform rather

simplest tasks, such as transfers, payments,

balance checks, or opening standing orders.

Citi Handlowy Bank plans to open 25 smart out-

lets in Poland, and until the end of 2016 all the

bank’s branches should already work in

a new model. Citi Handlowy representatives

hope that the change will contribute to the in-

crease of their productivity by 50%. At the same

time they believe the banking services will nev-

er be based on the man-machine relationship.

The bank emphasizes the importance of and

the need for human contact in the bank.

Alior says that the decision to launch express

branches came from the fact that they require

much smaller investment than the traditional

facilities, generate lower on-going costs, and

attract mass customers including people,

who do not use online banking and find per-

sonal contact with a bank’s employee very

important.

Citi Bank boutiques

2013 and 2014 brought further changes on

the Polish banking market – two banks im-

plemented new sales & service models

based on American and Asian know-how.

Citi Handlowy Bank decided to hybrid their

TR

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Serve yourself at Getin Point

Meanwhile, at the beginning of 2014 Getin Bank

opened Getin Point – the first in Poland fully

self-service banking outlet located in a shop-

ping center in Warsaw. During its presentation

Getin Bank representatives asserted that Getin

Point is a revolution similar to the launching

of mBank a decade ago. Getin Points are full

of self-service machines with touch screens

which enable contact with bank’s employees,

equipped with document scanners, keyboards,

desks with tracers, QR scanners, cash dis-

pensers, and the Finger Vein biometric reader.

Self-service outlets allow customers to pay off

credit cards, transfer money into the account or

deposit, perform transfers, and order payment

cards. The bank representatives predict that

the number of Getin Points will grow, but they

will not replace traditional branches. They are

just an alternative channel of customer service.

The bank, however, is honest and underlines

that such outlets are much cheaper than tradi-

tional ones. Therefore, it can be assumed that

self-service and hybrid facilities do not replace

traditional outlets instantly, but in the coming

years they will play a significant role in the evo-

lution of banking services.

ATMs as McDrive

Fashion for fastfood banking also affected

ATMs. It came from the U.S., where there are

several thousands of drive-thru ATMs. In Pol-

and such ATMs are rare, but they define a new

direction in which self-service devices are

heading. The first drive-thru ATM in Poland was

launched in mid-2013 at Łącki Bank Spółdzielczy

(the cooperative bank). Innovative devices give

customers not only the ability to take money

and check their account balance without the

card (e.g., via smartphone), but also enable pay-

outs in foreign currencies, payments of media

invoices, opening deposits and loans or video-

conferences with bank’s employees. Drive thru

ATMs do not serve only to driving customers

– there are also very handy for people with disa-

bilities e.g., on wheelchairs.

10

The Internet of Things became very popular in

the world of new technologies in 2013. As de-

scribed in Hatalska’s ‘Trend Book 2014’, it was

one of the main themes of this year’s Consumer

Electronics Show; and Consumer Electronics

Association mentioned it in its report ‘5

Technology Trends to Watch 2014’. Gartner pre-

dicts that by 2020 the Internet of Things will be

far more developed than all other connected

objects. ‘Communication

between devices, which is

a natural consequence of

the Internet of Things, is not

a vision of the future any

more, but something avail-

able in everyday situations’,

we read in Trend Book 2014.

Similarly, the prospects are

good for wearable devices.

Enormous publicity in this

category has recently been

generated by smartwatches

which are not perceived as

a geek gimmick any more –

they have a real chance of

becoming the hit of 2014.

Finances in the future world

Financial institutions which for many years

were considered inflexible, traditional and con-

servative with regard to new technologies, are

now starting to utilize the technologies of the

future. Once they were places where secret

transactions were conducted behind closed

doors. Today banks, insurers and other finan-

cial institutions have already conquered cell

phones and tablets, as well as social media,

and they are not going to miss such novel

technologies as smart watches and smart-

glasses. This can be illustrated by a number

of very interesting examples from the world

of finance. In early 2014 PayPal announced it

would be the first supplier of mobile payments

performed with Samsung’s Gear 2 smart watch.

Bank accountright before your eyes

A fridge that orders food, a car that reaches its destination with nobody in

the driver’s seat and clothes that measure body temperature, the number

of steps you take and the amount of calories eaten – this is not science

fiction any more but increasingly popular technologies, i.e. the Internet

of Things and wearable devices. These technologies are also being intro-

duced into the world of finance. Accessing your bank account through

a watch or glasses is becoming reality.

The Internet of Things is a concept in which devices can directly

or indirectly collect, process and exchange data via web.

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The PayPal app will allow Gear 2 users to pay

in local stores, send money to friends, and re-

ceive payment notifications straight to their

watch. In turn, the Australian St. George Bank

announced near the end of last year that it had

created a prototype smart watch app which

would enable customers to check their account

status and perform cash transfers on these

devices. The bank has plans to integrate this

app with customers’ accounts, so that they can

keep track of their finances using their smart

watches, and it is also working on contactless

payments via Bluetooth. Another Australian

bank, Westpac, and its New Zealand based

division, are also developing their own smart-

watch apps. The Turkish bank TEB is working on

an app for Google Glass that will help users to

find ATMs and branches and monitor the bank’s

Monika Tomkiewicz

Marketing Specialist


latest special offers and promotions. Towards

the end of 2013 the Spanish Banco Sabadell

invited programmers to join its innovative pro-

gram called Open Apps, seeking new interest-

ing ideas to take advantage of Google Glass in

banking.

Stock exchange data on your smart-

watch

Banks are not the only businesses interest-

ed in smart watches and smartglasses. In

late 2013 the US financial market giant Fidelity

Investments, whose services include profes-

sional investor consulting, began the devel-

opment of an app for Google Glass. The app,

which is under development at the company’s

R&D division, Fidelity Labs, will provide real time

access to stock exchange and market data, as

well as articles and news from the world of fi-

nance on smart glasses. It will be controlled by

voice commands. One interesting functionality

will be the ability to check the stock exchange

quotations of a company by scanning its logo

via smartglasses. The company runs a number

of projects involving smart gadgets. In early

2014 it developed an app for the Pebble smart-

watch which enables users to check market

information with a single wrist movement. The

Fidelity Labs blog reports that smartphone

users check their screens about 150 times

a day, but wearable devices which allow quick

and easy access to information without using

hands, provide a more comfortable experience.

A Google Glass app was also created in early

2014 by the American startup Wallaby Financial

which specializes in optimizing the use of cred-

it cards for customers with several bank ac-

counts. The system utilizes financial data, card

information and user preferences to pick the

best card for a given situation. This is particu-

larly useful for users of multiple credit cards,

and the average American citizen has about six

of these. The Google Glass app takes advan-

tage of geolocation to choose the best card for

the place it is going to be used in.

A bank on your sleeve

The Australian Heritage Bank went a step fur-

ther – it is working jointly with the MJ Bale

tailoring company, the Whybin\TBWA agency

and Visa to create a line of men’s suits allow-

ing contactless payment by waving the sleeve

near a Visa payWave terminal. The company

plans to use top quality Australian wool for

its handmade suits and make reference to

such powerful figures as George Clooney, Bill

Gates and Barack Obama, who, as some of

the world’s most influential men, do not carry

a wallet, needing no cash or card to pay. Every

man will be given the chance to join this ad-

mirable club thanks to a suit equipped with

a chip and an antenna which facilitates ‘invisi-

ble transactions’.

Such devices as Google Glass offer a variety of applications in many

different sectors of industry, services and medicine. Gartner’s Report

says that in 2017 smartglasses can help businesses save up to USD

1 billion a year. This will be possible as they facilitate faster diagnosis

and problem identification without the need for expert help. They can

also provide access to telemedicine and medical consultations.

Source: Gartner, Innovation Insight: Smart Glasses Bring Innovation

to Workplace Efficiency, October 2013

12

Companies cannot avoid the situation in which employees use their own

devices at work. Neither can banks or financial institutions. Therefore, in-

stead of focusing on problems caused by BYOD (Bring Your Own Device),

organizations should learn how to take advantage of it.

Although BYOD has been around for several

years now, many companies still find this phe-

nomenon problematic. Listed by Gartner in late

2013 as one of the top 10 IT predictions for 2014,

BYOD is not a matter to be ignored. Gartner’s

analysts say that businesses must prepare for

an ‘epidemic’ of employees bringing their own

devices to the workplace, because, according to

forecasts, the number of devices will continue

to increase until 2018. Gartner draws the conclu-

sion that businesses, although they first heard

about BYOD a long time ago, are still unprepared.

Also, in Gartner’s ‘Top 10 IT Predictions for 2014’

we read that the development of BYOD will in

a few years result in a doubling or even tripling

of the size of the mobile workforce. This will

present a huge challenge for businesses whose

regulations and policies are currently limited to

accessing the company network via mobile de-

vices owned or managed by the business itself.

The banks are changing their attitudes

TThe finance industry is also not immune to

the BYOD trend. Finance sector employees are

increasingly often using their own mobile de-

vices at work. This is especially true of those

who work from home or travel a lot, e.g., bank

managers, brokers and insurance agents.

Experts have commented that the recent

years have seen a significant change in the

finance industry’s attitude to BYOD. There is a

Personal devices,professional duties

noticeable shift from such questions as ‘how

many problems will it cause us?’ to ‘how can

we take advantage of the situation without

exposing ourselves to risks?’ The US Needham

Bank and America First Credit Union are the

leaders of the innovative use of BYOD within

the finance industry. Both companies began

to use Apple tablets in certain job positions

and then allowed its employees who were

not provided with corporate owned devices

to use their own tablets for professional

purposes. Bank of America’s representatives

declare that they prefer to follow the trends

rather than fight them, which is why they have

nothing against BYOD. Catherine Bessant, CIO,

Bank of America, said

in an interview that

the only situation

when the bank

was in doubt about

whether to allow an

employee to use his

or her own device

for professional

purposes was when

the device presented a potential threat to data

security. ‘We have to be very circumspect,

and monitor very closely, the pace of change

in the devices that our teammates bring in

and use, but we’re going to ride that wave’,

said Catherine Bessant.

12

Monika Tomkiewicz


This brings benefits

Company executives are increasingly allowing

employees to use their own devices at work.

They see it as an opportunity not only to in-

crease their effectiveness and satisfaction,

but also to boost customer satisfaction and

quicken the pace of adapting innovation, while

achieving actual savings. In an effort to de-

fine the measurable benefits to a business of

allowing employees to work on their own de-

vices, Cisco organized a survey that spanned

several countries. The results show that BYOD

helps businesses to save money, although

they can achieve more if they take a more

strategic approach. Companies in all the sur-

veyed countries have implemented BYOD rules

on an ad-hoc basis, submitting to demands

to allow more devices and apps, rather than

consciously aiming at achieving greater flexi-

bility and cost reductions. The survey revealed

that even when introducing BYOD in its basic

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BYOD is a trend in which employees use their own devices such

as smartphones, tablets and laptops at work.


pending on the device, from 23% to 29% of BYOD

users use their own devices at work because

they are essential for them and not provided by

the employer. Such employees show initiative to

increase productivity, investing their own funds

to achieve this goal. Employers should not dis-

courage their efforts.

devices. BYOD users greatly value the ability

to use their favorite apps and services, while

not being limited to their company’s software.

They also appreciate that they can flexibly

and seamlessly switch between their private

and professional lives. For most BYOD users,

combining personal and professional activities

brings an increase in productivity. Thanks to

using the same device to pursue both person-

al and professional matters, users can quickly

return to their professional tasks while staying

in touch with their friends and family or per-

forming banking operations. In addition, de-

form, enterprises save money – the average

savings amount to USD 350 a year per mobile

user (counting both BYOD and corporate owned

device users). By implementing BYOD fully, busi-

nesses can save up to USD 1300 more a year.

Millennials want BYOD

Employers are trending towards BYOD, not only

because of higher effectiveness and profits,

but also due to employee expectations. The

Millennial Generation currently entering the job

market are people who see the use of their

own equipment and applications at work as

their natural right. What is more, this signifi-

cantly affects their choice of employers. This

means that financial institutions should not

avoid BYOD if they want to hire the best tech-

nological talents of the new generation. Cisco’s

BYOD survey shows that employees want to

use their own devices at work for the same

three reasons, consistent across countries

and devices – poductivity, flexibility, and initi-

ative. The survey revealed that BYOD users are

more capable at work thanks to their personal

The BYOD trend is evolving towards BYOA (i.e. Bring Your Own

Application). Employees not only use at work their personal de-

vices but also the apps they know and use with ease. Personal

smartphones, tablets and laptops used by employees at work

have consumer applications installed on them. Employees are

more willing to use such widely available applications and pro-

grams in the cloud than specialist corporate tools.

Source: Cisco, The Financial Impact of BYOD. A model of BYOD’s Benefits to Global Companies, 2013

of IT executives see BYOD as a positive aspect of organization development

69%

average spendings of a BYOD user to purchase their own devices for work

number of personal devices used for work in companies will rise dramatically

965usd

of companies allow their employees to bring their own devices to work,

especially mobile devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets

89%

saves an average employee who brings his or her device to work

37mins/week

annual benefits generated by the deployment of BYOD in its basic form

350usd

105% 405mln

2013 2016

14

Allowing employees to access the corporate network on personal devices

improves productivity and satisfaction, while reducing costs. Still, employ-

ers face challenges with BYOD. One such challenge is related to security

which is particularly important in financial institutions processing their

customers’ sensitive data.

How can you ensure security in a mobile en-

vironment in which employees use their own

devices for professional purposes? How can

you approach this issue from the strategic

perspective? It is worth answering these ques-

tions right now to prepare for the deployment of

BYOD in you organization. This issue has been

discussed by numerous consulting companies,

including Gartner.

Define your security policy

When protecting the company from the un-

wanted effects of BYOD, you should begin with

creating a security policy for the mobile envi-

ronment. While defining this policy it might be

useful to follow the seven point analysis sug-

gested by Gartner which consists of defining

the ways of application (use cases) for mobile

devices and their business requirements, and

specifying the requirements regarding the

method of data management, the method of

managing the devices themselves, identity

checks, the application architecture, wireless

technologies and end-device control. Even

though all seven points are essential to create

a proper security policy, the key is to define

the application (use cases) of mobile devices

within the company. Defining a strategy based

on the actual application of a given technology

allows its faster and more effective deployment.

In addition, the strategy should reflect the

needs and the actual image of the organization.

Risk mitigation ≠ elimination

The way in which mobile devices are used

in the corporate environment and the kind of

data they process determine the technology

and security measures that should be used.

We present two example approaches to the

issue of data security on mobile devices. The

first assumes that no business data is stored

and no data storage solutions are used on

employees’ mobile phones. Such solutions are

based on remote access to applications and

user infrastructure, i.e. on a Virtual Desktop

Infrastructure, web applications (without local

data storage) and native mobile applications

where information is stored remotely in a data

center. Storing no business data on mobile de-

vices and using remote access to applications

reduces risk and boosts security. We must

not forget, however, that this approach has its

drawbacks – it reduces employees’ produc-

tivity. Where access to an application or data

requires permanent network connection, down-

time, such as e.g., the one occurring on a plane,

BYODcan be secure

prevents employees from performing their

work. We should also remember that to reduce

does not mean to completely eradicate. Risk is

always there and you need to manage it prop-

erly. Mobile phone theft is an example of such

a risk factor. Although it is easier to restrict

access to a web application from a stolen de-

vice than to prevent access to the data stored

on the device, you still need to remember to

implement the procedure to be followed in the

event of mobile device theft.

Risk under control

Experience shows that companies are more

inclined to take the approach in which busi-

ness data are stored on employees’ mobile

devices. When discussing data we consider

information stored not just in a business app,

but also in an email client, calendar, contacts

and document collection. The company should

start by classifying data according to three risk

categories: high risk (critical data), medium

risk (semi-critical data) and low risk (non-crit-

ical data). If data are classified as high risk,

you should check if they can be controlled and

managed on a mobile device. If managing ca-

pabilities are limited, it is advisable to follow

the first approach in which critical business

Adam Tymofiejewicz

EMEA Global IT Services Consulting Director

[email protected]

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Mobile revolution and evolution of business models pushed a growing

number of telecom operators to sign agreements with banks to create

integrated services for mobile users. It is possible that in the near future

telecoms will become individual banks or even completely replace banks

in the long term.

Strategic alliances between telecoms and

banks are said to play a key role in building a

new order on the telecommunications market.

They can change the traditional world in which

telecom operators and banks had nothing in

common. How did these two apparently dif-

ferent worlds come to meet each other and

cooperate?

Everyone wins

This cooperation has strategic underpinnings.

Telecoms and banks have been merging in or-

der to create integrated services involving mo-

bile banking and mobile payments and use the

synergies of common services. For telecoms, it

is an obvious way to find new sources of in-

come. In recent years, we have observed tele-

coms trying to sell IT services and cloud servic-

es. They continue to look for diversification of

income in different markets and new methods

Telecoms and banks – married for better or worse?

for strengthening customer loyalty. Now is the

time for financial services and telecom oper-

ators to cooperate. As telecoms do not have

banking licenses, they need the agreements

with banks to sell their products under the new

logo. Even if in the beginning operators do not

make big money from selling financial services,

they can connect with new clients for many

years.

The cooperation of telecoms and banks is also

a part of the struggle for dominating the mar-

data are not stored on a mobile device but rath-

er in a secure data center. For medium risk data

it is worth introducing a division of data and

business applications by using containers, i.e.

a technology that allows the safe separation of

an application from other apps installed on the

device. If data have a low risk status, it is cru-

cial to define and implement a mobile-device

policy, i.e. to specify what users are allowed to

do on their personal mobile devices when us-

ing corporate business applications.

We recommend a hybrid approach

It might be beneficial to consider mobile tech-

nologies, particularly a BYOD policy, not only

in terms of productivity, but also security. You

should remember that security is more than

an issue to be tackled after an application is

deployed – it is also part of the organization’s

architecture. When deploying BYOD or another

mobile device policy, security should be treated

as an integral part. You should not forget that

the approach in which

no data are stored

on a mobile device

reduces not only risk,

but also employees’

effectiveness. For

this reason, to en-

sure data security on

mobile devices, it is

recommended to follow the hybrid approach

in which the critical data that cannot be man-

aged are stored outside the mobile device,

semi-critical data are separated from all other

data and the mobile-device policy is effective

for non-critical data.

Łukasz Luzar

Mobile Banking Solution Manager

[email protected]

We should remember that in financial institutions BYOD means

more than simply transferring the ownership of devices

to employees. For financial sector companies BYOD is bringing

comprehensive changes that require a shift in the security

strategy and policy.

16

ket of mobile payments. Mobile payments are

presently a small part of the market. However,

numerous companies in the banking, telecom-

munications, and retail sectors are fighting for

the main position with own solutions. In Poland,

one in four people have smartphones. Telecoms

know this is a great opportunity for the devel-

opment of mobile payments. They have millions

of clients and access to their mobile devices,

so it is their natural field of interest. They have

numerous sales points, technological compe-

tences, and access to digitally unbanked peo-

ple. This gives telecoms huge opportunities in

the financial market.

Banks deciding to merge with telecoms also

reap benefits. The banking market is not easy –

there is strong competition, and the struggle for

clients has become very difficult. That is why

banks are determined to expand the distribu-

tion of their services to increase sales, and to

gain new clients. For banks, cooperation with

telecoms is a new way to achieve these goals.

Telecoms and banks together can offer a wide

range of services and promotions. These can

be services connected with mobile payments,

loyalty programs based on geolocation, includ-

ing offers like ‘the more you talk, the better loan

conditions you will get’ or ‘get a loan and get

1 GB free Internet.

Telecoms and banks team up

in Poland

Last year we observed three spectacular deals

on the Polish market between telecom oper-

ators and banks. Thus far, telecom operators

who have been cooperating with banks have

offered a so-called wallet, that is, a set of ap-

plications for mobile banking and payments via

smartphone instead of a plastic payment card.

Now the model of cooperation is different.

However, the first marriage has one father

only – Zygmunt Solorz. He owns Plus, one of

the biggest telecoms in Poland. He also owns

Invest Bank. He renamed his bank and created

a new brand – Plus Bank – to offer Plus clients

financial services such as bank accounts,

loans, and investment services. Solorz said that

his decision was shaped by his strong belief

in the future of mobile payments. He initially

considered the cooperation of Plus with other

banks. Instead, he decided to take advantage

of having in his hand both a telecom with 14

million clients and a banking license. To build

the mobile bank – Plus Bank – he neither has

to cooperate with other companies nor has to

share the profits.

Other Polish telecoms are not in such a good

position. They need to find good partners on

the financial market. Orange Poland signed

an agreement with mBank. Telecom, which has

more than 15 million clients and one of the big-

gest banks in Poland, created a mobile retail

bank for mobile device users. They are going to

sell financial services under the Orange logo.

The offer will include accounts, credit cards,

and mobile payments. The partners’ respon-

sibilities are clear – the telecom will take care

of marketing and sales, while the bank will

cover all activities that need a banking license.

mBank ensures that the main advantage of the

Orange Bank offer will be mobile banking similar

to the new mBank mobile application.

At the end of 2013, the last of the three biggest

telecoms in Poland announced the cooperation

with a bank. Deutsche Telekom, the owner of

the T-Mobile brand, signed an agreement with

Alior Bank to create the new brand – T-Mobile

Usługi Bankowe (T-Mobile Financial Services).

As Orange Bank, T-Mobile Usługi Bankowe

wants to offer banking services to smartphone

users including bank accounts, deposits, loans,

and payments cards. The details of the offer will

be made known later this year. Partners said

that the offer would be dedicated to individuals

and SMEs. Alior Bank is aiming for 2 million new

clients by 2018 thanks to its cooperation with

T-Mobile.

… and worldwide

Alliances between telecoms and banks are

not only a hot topic on the Polish market, but

there are also many examples of this type of

cooperation in very different regions. The strug-

gle both for dominating the mobile payment

market and finding new sources of income is

similar around the world. To give some exam-

ples, we should mention that in Turkey in 2010

Garanti Bank and Avea signed an agreement to

launch commercial NFC services in Turkey. The

bank and the mobile operator planned to equip

100,000 customers with a smart device that will

allow them to make mobile payments at more

than 15,000 retailers in Turkey.

One year later, the State Bank of India, India’s

largest commercial bank, and Bharti Airtel,

India’s largest telecommunications compa-

ny, signed a joint venture agreement to make

banking services available to India’s unbanked

millions. The partners announced that they

would offer banking products and services to

the citizens in unbanked areas at affordable

prices. In Latin America there were also exam-

ples of such cooperation.

In October 2011 Citigroup and América Móvil

have teamed up for a $50 million mobile bank-

ing joint venture, named Transfer, for servic-

es across Latin America. In other parts of the

world, Alfa-Bank – a major private bank in

Russia, Beeline (VimpelCom Ltd.) – a commu-

nications service provider, and MasterCard

International Payment System announced in

June 2013 the launch of a payment service

based on the NFC technology using Beeline

SIM cards and the Mobile MasterCard PayPass

technology.

In May 2013 Spanish CaixaBank, Santander,

and Telefonica signed an agreement to create

a joint venture and develop a new digital busi-

ness based on the latest mobile and communi-

cation technologies. The new company planned

to start its activities with the development of an

online community to manage offers, discounts,

and promotions between business and clients.

They also said that the joint venture would de-

velop a Digital Wallet in which the client can

keep all their cards.

Three months later, China Everbright Bank

signed a strategic cooperation agreement with

the telecom giant China Unicom to develop

business in mobile finance. The partners said

that they would first focus on a mobile pay-

ment service to facilitate near field and online

payments. Their cooperation will also target

financial smart card research and development

in order to enable cross-sector services such

as paying social insurance, utility bills or buying

tickets for bullet trains.

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tion that covers integrated Personal Finance

Management functionalities. It provides gen-

eral banking operations, guides customers to

financial fitness, and helps customers make

sound financial decisions – anytime and an-

ywhere. Comarch Smart Finance includes

a number of innovative extensions and person-

al assistant functionalities e.g., alarms, remind-

ers, messages, recommendations based on fi-

nancial conditions, geolocation, cash-flow, etc.

It is integrated with click-to-action forms and

cloud-based notifications. The system module

has a built-in PFM functionality that provides

a graphical overview of expenses, assistance

with budget planning, and automated savings

plans (possible scenarios), and analyzes past

expenses. Future planning is available based

on a ‘Free to Spend’ indicator or P2P payments.

With Comarch Smart Finance, telecoms can

also implement voice-banking with speech

recognition, video interaction with agents and

advisors, advertising and customer education

programs, as well as cross-selling add-ons. The

solution can be adjusted to individual custom-

er needs. A fully customized graphical design

according to the bank’s corporate identity is

also available.

Conclusion

As Brett King says, ‘banking is no longer so-

mewhere you go, but something you do’. We

are living in the era of a global war for domi-

nance of the mobile payments. Telecom oper-

ators have many advantages on their side. But

they still need banks as partners and innova-

tive technology to win.

cooperation, but one cannot predict how this

merger will unfold in the future. Even the above-

mentioned examples from all over the world do

not provide a clear picture of the possible sce-

narios. For now, most operators choose

a conservative model of cooperation with

banks – they use bank experience and know-

how and share the risk of new projects with

them. Most partnerships have the following

pattern – a telecom gives the brand, the cus-

tomer base, the distribution network, and the

infrastructure to create shared services. They

also take part in decisions making on how new

products and services will work and look like.

Banks offer the banking license, know-how, ex-

perience on financial markets, and sometimes

even the IT infrastructure. How will this cooper-

ation change and evolve in the future? Telecom

operators can apply for banking licenses and

become individual banks, as Rogers did in

Canada. This scenario can trigger the real war

between partners. The second possible sce-

nario is that operators and banks stay partners

and telecoms will be efficient brokers of bank-

ing financial services.

Smart telecom banking

What else do telecoms need when they want

to act as a bank? According the latest trends

observed by Brett King in his Bank 3.0, modern

banking must focus on the customer , must be

integrated with social media and take advan-

tages of the mobile revolution. Comarch Smart

Finance is a mobile & Internet banking solu-

Telecoms with banking licenses

2013 ended with one of the most interesting

movements in worldwide telecom banking.

Rogers Communications, Canada’s largest

telecom, received a banking license and an-

nounced its plans to issue credit cards, both

plastic and mobile that will be stored on Rogers

smartphones. The OSFI – Canada’s banking reg-

ulator, granted the banking license to Rogers

in May after nearly two-year application pro-

cess. Rogers wants to launch the plastic card

in 2014 after the pilot for some of its customers.

Then the mobile credit card version will follow.

Rogers credit card holders will be able to ac-

cumulate Rogers First Rewards loyalty points.

The program will allow them to earn points for

purchasing Rogers services. The points can

then be exchanged for other Rogers services

such as e.g., video-on-demand and wireless

long-distance calling packs. Rogers was the

first telecom to enter the Canadian credit card

market. In May 2012, Rogers joined forces with

CIBC, one of Canada’s largest banks. An agree-

ment allowed CIBC credit cardholders to make

NFC payments with Rogers smartphones.

Rogers is among many telecoms that are not

simply trying to cooperate with banks but also

to become a bank. At the beginning of 2014,

T-Mobile attacked the financial market in the

United States with the Mobile Money service.

First, the operator offered the services to the

unbanked and underbanked. T-Mobile’s offering

included a basic account with a pre-paid card

and a mobile application.

Partners or competitors?

The future of the alliance between banks and

telecoms is not obvious. It seems to be win-win

18

25-26.09.2014 KRAKÓW

W W W . F S D A Y 2 0 1 4 . C O M


Regardless of the financial market turbulence

in recent years, high rates of return have con-

tributed not only to a significant increase in the

number of rich people, but also in their wealth.

In 2012, the assets belonging to millionaires

reached the top and broke records set in previ-

ous years. As shown in ‘World Wealth Report’,

the global population of rich individuals had

been growing continuously for 5 years and at

the end of 2012 amounted to 12 million people.

Moreover, the rising trend of assets should

continue up to 2015, with the expected increase

of 6.5%.

The rich customers’ expectations are

growing

The increasing wealth of customers brings the

need to change the way they are serviced. One

can see that investment advisory services in

the HNWI (High Net Worth Individuals) custom-

er segment are no longer just a monologue of

advisors offering new types of investment to

their customers. It is evolving towards interac-

tion with customers, who find simple approval

of investment proposals insufficient. Customers

continually broaden their knowledge, gain new

experience and have a growing need for per-

sonal involvement in the management of their

assets. In the face of investment risk, which

has been a real and possible threat since 2007,

transparency and trust between the customer

and the bank, or the wealth management com-

pany is crucial. It manifests itself in the quest

for simplification of products offered to the

customer as well as full transparency of fees

and services offered by wealth management

companies. Moreover, the wealthiest custom-

ers require regular and transparent reporting of

their investments and online access to infor-

mation on their assets .

Direction – mobility and interaction

All these changes make it necessary to de-

velop technologies and IT solutions dedicated

to customer service and investment advisory

that meet the requirements of financial mar-

ket regulators and the growing needs of the

wealthiest customers. IT tools supporting anal-

yses of various aspects of customer invest-

ments are becoming an integral part of build-

ing and maintaining positive and long-term

customer relationships. In the next few years

one expects bankers and wealth managers

to focus on the commercial aspects of the

technology – mobile and more and more inter-

active tools for customer service will become

one of the main pillars of this business. With

the help of technological development the

advisory service in the HNWI segment can im-

prove the efficiency of customer relationships

in line with key regulations (MiFID) as well as

investment monitoring and reporting. Besides,

With the increase in the number of millionaires the investment advisory ser-

vice model is changing. One of the major trends is the use of modern mo-

bile and interactive tools to service the richest customers.

Millionaireswith tablets

educational and simulation tools which help

customers in decision making as well as the

simple and smart ways of data presentation

are becoming more and more important in the

communication process.

Millionaires with tablets

The use of mobile devices for handling custom-

ers in a private banking segment, combined

with personalized services open the way for

innovation in the area of communication and

a significant increase in the advisor work per-

formance. Mobility is a trend that no one can

ignore. It is expected that in the coming years,

the share of smartphones and tablets shall

constitute up to 85 % of the entire technological

infrastructure associated with asset manage-

ment and reporting. Such rapid development

makes private banking and wealth manage-

ment companies meet customer expectations

as it is the hot issue they cannot ignore. It is

worth noting that bank customers use tablets

more and more willingly, whereas smartphones

have already become an integral part of their

equipment. The potential of different communi-

cation channels should be effectively used by

private banking advisors and wealth managers.

By adjusting their activity to the dynamic life-

style of their customers, the advisors will be

able to quickly meet their expectations.

Anna Sacha

Business Solution Manager

[email protected]

20

[email protected]

Bartosz Czyż, Capital Markets Consulting Director at Comarch speaks

about the HNWI customer segment and the Comarch Wealth application.

Comarch Wealth Manager –app for the richest IN

FO

CU

S

Can we already speak about a new way of handling the

wealthiest customers?

HNWI segment customers like all other ones follow the same rule: more,

quicker and in the easy way. Due to the busy lifestyle and globalization

of services, these customers are the natural beneficiaries of mobile

technologies. They operate in different regions of the world, travelling

a lot. Such a mode makes standard forms of communication, that is,

traditional mail and email less useful, while dedicated applications for

smartphones or tablets are becoming more and more important..

Right, so can we say that there is already some

specialization in the area of customer communication?

Exactly. That is why Comarch has decided to extend its Wealth

Management platform with a new module. Our latest idea is the Comarch

Wealth Manager application available on iPad.

Is the solution targeted to HNWI customers?Yes. Comarch Wealth Manager is a response to the needs of private

banking and family office customers. The application is designed to eas-

ily and transparently aggregate key information about customer assets

available both online and offline. It allows to gather information on physi-

cal assets such as property, valuables, securities as well as investments

and insurance policies. The user can define individual asset attributes,

adding descriptions, photos, documents and contacts associated with

them. There is also a possibility to analyze cash flows including incomes

and related costs by each asset category.

How does the application work with other systems of pri-

vate banking and Wealth Management?

It is based on full integration with private banking/wealth management

systems. The app allows collecting and aggregating data from various

sources, for example, information about funds gathered on a bank ac-

count, securities account balances and customer own assets (i.e. art,

luxury goods).


Investment portfolio of paintings, stamps and violins

Emotional asset investments have a long his-

tory. Paintings, sculptures, stamp collections,

musical instruments, wines and diamonds

have been treated for centuries as investments

that help protect wealth in uncertain times.

Currently the art market is one of the fastest

growing and most promising capital markets

globally1. Deloitte’s survey reveals that the ris-

ing demand for investments in works of art

and collectibles is mainly caused by economic

uncertainty – half the private banking advisors

surveyed by Deloitte in Poland stated that diffi-

cult economic conditions were the main trigger

for their clients to include artworks in their in-

vestment portfolios.

Emotions still first

Globally, the art & finance sector has already

been flourishing for a long time. The Polish art

market is not advanced enough yet, but glo-

balization, a wealthier society and growing

interest in culture are contributing to its gradual

development. People are motivated to invest in

emotional assets when they face financial mar-

ket uncertainty and become disappointed with

investments in real estate and securities. Many

people lost their savings during the economic

slowdown, having invested in financial prod-

ucts they did not understand. Now they are pre-

paring to diversify their investment portfolios

and assets, so that they can understand them

better. Emotional assets are a popular choice

due to the lively development of the art market

and the stable growth in value. New technol-

ogies are also contributing. Easy-to-launch

online auction houses and artists’ websites

allow much easier access to the market. What

is more, Deloitte’s survey shows that banks,

investment funds and independent advisors

are also increasingly aware of artworks being

perceived as assets. Most banks approached

in the survey have already introduced services

connected with works of art and collectibles

into their portfolios. Even so, paintings, stamp

collections and diamonds are usually pur-

chased for their emotional value.

Fakes and shifting tastes

However, investments in emotional assets are

burdened by substantial risk, e.g., unexpect-

ed changes in trends and tastes, as well as in

the feelings that accompany their purchase.

Moreover, assets of this type are usually low-

liquidity and long-term for a minimum of 5 to

7 years and often span several generations.

Additionally, such investments require profes-

sional knowledge due to difficulties in finding

information on historical returns and frequent

attempts at forgery. Elroy Dimson of The London

Business School and Christophe Spaenjers of

HEC Paris compared the risks of emotional and

financial asset investments. They analyzed the

long-term returns on investments in artworks,

stamp collections and musical instruments on

the British market.

The lack of economic stability and uncertain return on traditional assets

more and more often result in wealthy people investing in emotional

assets. Works of arts, rare stamp collections, musical instruments,

diamonds and wines are becoming the desired items in their portfolios

and attractive goods to invest in.

Monika Tomkiewicz


22

Sentiment that counts

In the report they concluded1 that emotion-

al assets are weaker than traditional ones in

terms of profitability. Stocks and bonds have

higher long-term profitability than artworks and

stamp collections. The analysis of assets prof-

itability did not involve transaction costs and

the costs of insurance and security. Dimson

and Spaenjers’ analysis demonstrates that the

market for emotional assets is highly volatile,

although not as much as the stock market. The

standard deviation in the analyzed period (from

1900 to 2012) was 13.2% for the art market,

13.5% for stamps, 10.1% for musical instruments,

21.6% for stocks, 11.9% for bonds and 18.7% for

gold. The authors note, however, that despite

All assets in a single application

Non-financial assets, such as real estate, valuables and alter-native investments, including investments in emotional assets, constitute the majority of the average European’s wealth. Contemporary banking, serving especially clients from the mass affluent and private banking segments, combines the areas of personal finance and wealth management, covering as much ground as possible. The Comarch Wealth Manager app is designed to consolidate finances, providing a tool for monitoring current financial operations and financial instru-ment portfolios, and also to perform financial planning and manage other assets. An important feature of the app allows to gather information on the assets and liabilities allocated in various financial institutions and outside them.

Grzegorz Prosowicz

Business Development Manager

[email protected]

IN F

OC

US

the risk and the cost involved, the purchase of

such assets yields acceptable profits precisely

because of emotional benefits. They claim that

investors are willing to forgo higher returns on

stocks and other financial assets for the pleas-

ure of owning beautiful items of sentimental

value which they often acquire in extraordinary

circumstances.


Last year, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE)

launched its Universal Trading Platform (UTP)

– a new transaction platform that replaced the

Warset system, in operation since 2000. The

new solution is to help the WSE to compete

with global platforms within a medium-term ho-

rizon – within a few years we will be able to say

whether the change of the system have yielded

the expected benefits. However, investors, trad-

ers and brokerages can take advantage of the

possibilities offered by the new UTP platform

right now.

No limits

By the introduction of a new system, the WSE

wanted to ensure greater efficiency (it can

support up to 20 thousand orders per second,

while Warset could deal with only 850), greater

speed and greater scalability. It is critical that

a system used by the WSE and brokerages

have no limits that could hamper the market

growth while introducing new financial instru-

ments and increasing turnover. The UTP system

supports new types of orders that have not

been available before and enables the WSE to

launch new services, including those related to

conducting transactions.

Algorithmic trading did take place before the

introduction of the new transaction platform,

but the new system capacity and its advanced

environment make a real difference. The intro-

duction of the new system was necessary for

algorithmic trading in Poland to keep up with

U.S. and western European markets, where high

frequency trading (HFT) or high volume trading

(HVT) has been very popular for many years,

with an estimated market share of 50–70%.

It was even suggested that restrictions were

necessary due to potentially increased risk on

the market. Historically, in Poland, the develop-

ment of algorithmic trading has been hindered

by insufficient liquidity. It is frequently argued

that HFT ensures liquidity, while in fact it gen-

erates turnover which is not the same thing.

Liquidity must be achieved first in order to

provide high frequency trading with good con-

ditions for earning. The first to use algorithmic

techniques on the WSE are likely to reap huge

benefits.

Challenges for brokerages

Algorithmic trading is not the only challenge

faced by brokerages. They also need to ex-

pand their product portfolios. Apart from WSE

brokerage services and selling new issues

and investment fund units, providing access

to the Forex market, energy stock exchange

and foreign markets has become a standard.

Brokerages must consolidate all these products

under one roof. It is also important to put them

all in one system so that customers can free-

The change of a transactional platform at the Warsaw Stock Exchange

enables algorithmic trading development in Poland. The first to use

algorithmic techniques on the stock exchange will succeed. However,

brokerages face some other challenges – product consolidation,

investments in mobile platforms and wealth management solutions.

New challengesfor brokerages Comarch Capital Markets Consulting Team

ly allocate funds. This requires improving the

functionality of back office systems, as well as

developing internet platforms for investors and

wealth management solutions that support the

distribution of financial products. The online

platforms are now the most popular channel of

access to stock market investors. The systems

that brokerages offer to their customers for

monitoring the market and performing transac-

tions are one of the main sources of competi-

tive advantage, which is why their functionality

and quality are of such great importance.

Crisis made the competition fierce

The economic downturn has intensified compe-

tition among brokerages. Comarch encourages

customers who have limited financial resources

to take advantage of the outsourcing servic-

es, i.e. services provided in a SaaS model. We

successfully provide such services for finan-

cial institutions in Western Europe. We are also

working on new solutions for brokerages, e.g.,

an e-trading platform that can be configured by

investors according to their needs. We also of-

fer solutions integrating brokerage and banking

services, as well as granting brokerage account

access via mobile devices. We also remember

about adapting our solutions to the new rules

for monitoring risk and about fair treatment of

our customers.

24

Business Case Allianz

The financial-accounting module of the Comarch NonLife Insurance

solution supports settlements with reinsurers at TUiR Allianz Polska S.A.

Due to the development of its business they needed some tools to ac-

celerate settlements with reinsurers and brokers. The growing number of

transactions is now supported with the financial-accounting module of

Comarch NonLife Insurance.

COMPANY: Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń i Reasekuracji Allianz Polska Spółka Akcyjna (TUiR Allianz Polska S.A. – Allianz Group)

INDUSTRY: Insurance

PROJECT OBJECTIVE: Provision and configuration of a tool supporting settlements with reinsurers and brokers

IMPLEMENTED SOLUTION: Financial-accounting module of Comarch NonLife Insurance

SOLUTION SUPPLIER:Comarch

DURATION:April 2013 - March 2014

The cooperation between Comarch and Allianz

Group started in 2006 when TUiR Allianz Polska

S.A. and TU Allianz Życie Polska S.A. implement-

ed Comarch Debt Management – a solution

supporting the debt recovery process that has

been used and developed in both companies

until now. Allianz and Comarch have been also

working together on the development of the

insurer’s main claim & policy administration

system.

Growing business needs support

At the end of 2010 Allianz commissioned

Comarch to carry out a preliminary analysis of

settlements with reinsurers and brokers, and to

to generate reports directly from the system.

Allianz chose a financial-accounting module

of Comarch NonLife Insurance because of

Comarch expertise in a settlement area, knowl-

edge of the processes analyzed in Allianz, as

well as rich functionality and configurability of

the solution.

Implementation objectives

From data collection to report generation

A financial-accounting module of Comarch

NonLife Insurance implemented at the begin-

ning of 2014 is a sub-ledger which provides,

among others, the following functionalities

– a viewer of imported reinsurance contracts

provide some solutions to optimize these pro-

cesses. After many months of the analysis and

preparations, at the beginning of 2013 Allianz

decided to implement a financial-account-

ing module of the Comarch NonLife Insurance

solution. Allianz needed to automate the in-

creasing number of settlement transactions

as the employees responsible for settlements

with reinsurers and brokers had to manually

enter all of the data. Manual data import was

laborious and time-consuming. The fast-grow-

ing insurance company wanted their systems

to communicate with each other directly and

support instant reporting. Moreover, Allianz

wished to have direct access to the balances

of settlements with reinsurers and the ability


and accounts, a registry of reinsurers and bro-

kers, settlements (including bank statements,

clearing and unclearable amounts), postings,

mass processing, reporting period manage-

ment, configurable dictionaries, and user

management. The module imports the data of

reinsurance contracts and accounts as well as

the information on settlements with reinsurers

and brokers from Allianz’s systems. After the

user’s acceptance, the system automatically

registers appropriate settlements according to

the rules defined, generates detailed postings,

aggregates them and sends them to General

Ledger (SAP). Besides, the system generates

receivables and liabilities reports, aging reports

and, on special Allianz’s request, reports on

balances or contracts of a selected reinsurer by

settlements or accruals.

Challenging implementation

The implementation began in April 2013 and

was completed in March 2014. Comarch Project

Manager admits that one year break between

the analysis and implementation works was

quite an unusual challenge. ‘This situation

required a review of the requirements by both

parties immediately after the project launch

to make sure the provisions in the analysis

document are complete and still valid. During

discussions we identified some new require-

ments. They were included in the scope of the

project, so the total project workload increased

about 30%, and the project schedule became

very tight. That is why we decided to divide the

implementation project into four smaller parts,

26

each ending in acceptance tests performed by Allianz. Thanks to it, the

works were carried out simultaneously by both sides and the project fin-

ished as scheduled’, says Kamil Kwarciak, Project Manager at Comarch.

During the implementation, particular attention was paid to achieving

high performance of the module – an extremely important factor for the

optimization of processes with large data volumes. At the beginning of

the project a wireframe of the solution was prepared to initially asses

performance. This allowed to identify the elements of the process that

require optimization yet at the setup stage, and customize the system

according to Allianz’s needs. As a result there were no unpleasant sur-

prises after the productive launch of the system and the solution met the

Allianz’s expectations.

Optimal settlements with contractors

Thanks to the implementation of a financial-accounting module of the

Comarch NonLife Insurance solution, TUiR Allianz Polska S.A. has opti-

mized and automated the process of accounting settlements with con-

tractors. Data processing necessary for the closing of the accounting

period has been accelerated – it currently takes only 2 working days as

the system is able to process about 500 thousand records of reinsur-

ance data in 8 hours. In addition, abandoning the process of determining

the settlement balance with reinsurers on the basis of General Ledger

records allows direct access to balances straight from the system layer

with a full preview of the selected reinsurer data. This enables verification

of the data correctness needed for the closing of the reporting period.

‘After several months of work with the new system, we have noted that

the transfer of reinsurance accounting data proceeds more efficiently

than ever before. The solution implemented in cooperation with Comarch

has helped us reduce the time needed for closing accounting periods’,

underlines Sylwia Kołowacik, Chief Accountant at TUiR Allianz Polska S.A.

Comarch NonLife Insurace financial-accounting module

The financial-accunting module is an integral part of Comarch NonLife

Insurance – a platform that comprehensively handles key business pro-

cesses in an insurance company. The highly flexible and configurable

financial-accounting module acts as a sub-ledger – it contains analytical

records as well as additions to General Ledger accounts. It is responsible

for supporting the accounting of insurance events, generating account-

ing documents and performing insurance settlements with contractors.

Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń i Reasekuracji Allianz Polska

Spółka Akcyjna

Allianz has been present in Poland since 1997 when property and life

insurance companies were found. For several years in Poland Allianz

Group has been developing rapidly and has become one of the leaders

of the Polish financial market. Allianz Poland is now one of the fastest

growing groups in the insurance sector, providing comprehensive servic-

es to more than 2 million individual and corporate customers. Wide offer

of Allianz Group in Poland includes nearly 180 products offered by 5,000

agents in branch offices and agencies, as well as cooperating entities:

insurance brokers, multi-agencies, car dealers, travel agencies, banks

and other financial institutions.

Comarch

Comarch has been providing insures with its own IT solutions and

services for over 15 years. Our key assets include a deep understand-

ing of the industry and experience in modern technology. Comarch

solutions cover insurance processes throughout the whole value

chain and are targeted at both internal and external users within mul-

tiple activity areas. The company products are well-known for their

modularity, open architecture easing up the integration, and flexibility

allowing to adjust to customer specific needs without changes to

the source code.

For more information, please visit: www.insurance.comarch.com.


Belgium

Belgium is a traditional market where outdat-

ed solutions in banks and insurance compa-

nies are slowly being replaced by new ones.

Belgium hosts a number of headquarters for

European companies. Belgians appreciate the

openness to new ideas, product quality and

competitive price. They look for stable partners

and high-quality solutions. Comarch is rapidly

prospering in Belgium as we fully meets the ex-

pectations of the market. Comarch is perceived

as an IT challenger here. We have a competi-

tive advantage because of our unique offering,

product flexibility, quality and price. We started

business activity in Belgium only a few years

ago but we have already gained major custom-

er confidence. Currently, we have sales, design

and consulting teams in Belgium but we are

planning further development in the region. As

for Comarch solutions, our front-end systems

for both insurance and banking enjoy the larg-

est popularity on the Belgian market. We have

already some success stories – we signed

contracts with such companies as Delta Lloyd

Life and Ergo. For Ergo Group we are creating

an innovative mobile solution for tablets and

laptops supporting policy sales management

by insurance agents. It is the first such system

in Belgium.

Wojciech Pawluś,

Country Manager, Comarch, Belgium

Norway

In Scandinavia, the key determinants of suc-

cessful business are: high-level competence,

innovation and reliability. Comarch began pro-

moting its IT solutions which support more

and more challenging communication with

clients on the capital markets, in Norway more

than three years ago. Our activity turned into

a reporting project of the highest level – the

implementation of Comarch Client Reporting &

Communication at the Norwegian fund man-

agement company – Skagen Funds. Thanks

to the successful cooperation, in 2012 Skagen

Funds decided to implement another solution

– Comarch Investment Advisor which supports

the advisory process in terms of offering in-

vestment products for private and institutional

clients. Meetings with new potential custom-

ers in Norway confirmed strong interest in our

products. Currently, the Norwegian market

shows strong demand for capital market solu-

tions and in this areas we continue to expand

our business activity.

Magdalena Staniowska,

Sales Director, Comarch

Italy

The Italian financial market is very attractive for

us – we see many new challenges and poten-

tial directions of development for Comarch. Last

year we completed an implementation project

of Comarch Personal Finance Management –

part of the Comarch Smart Finance solution at

UniCredit. Currently, we are talking with some

large banks which have strong interest in this

system and our other solutions.

Monika Rzucidło,

Key Account Manager, Comarch

Luxembourg

Comarch is one of the few Polish companies in

Luxembourg and thanks to first customers and

contracts in the insurance industry is becoming

visible on the Luxembourgish financial market.

Companies such as Comarch are appreciated

for their versatility. We promote our comprehen-

sive solutions for insurance, banking and asset

management. The market here also shows a lot

of interest in reporting services, due to the new

directives introduced by the local regulators.

Moreover, we offer IT services in various mod-

els, including SaaS, compliant with the regula-

tory requirements. Legal changes concerning

data confidentiality create new opportunities

for us to cooperate with banks that need re-

porting and network security services. New di-

rectives and regulations such as AIFMD, FATCA

and EMIR are the chance for us to cooperate

with investment funds, management compa-

nies and other organizations at the capital mar-

ket. As the Luxembourgish financial market is

currently adapting to cloud services, Comarch

meets their needs with its community cloud

offering. Currently Comarch in Luxembourg

is actively acquiring customers and building

brand awareness. We run several regional pro-

jects and we have some customers interested

in our reporting solutions. We are also negoti-

ating with several asset management compa-

nies. In May, Comarch participated in the offi-

cial Luxembourg economic mission to Poland.

Journalists of the largest Luxembourgish

newspapers visited Comarch headquarters and

offices, including data and medical centers. In

June, Professor Janusz Filipiak had a meeting

with the Minister of Finance of Luxembourg

Pierre Gramegna to talk about cooperation in

the field of IT security, a new data center and

services on capital markets.

Anna M. Foster,

Head of Sales and Customer Relationship,

Comarch, Luxembourg

Voices from abroad

28

Morocco

This year, Comarch takes the first steps in

a financial and banking industry on the African

continent. The first implementation project

of the corporate Internet banking solution in

Morocco is just taking place. We see poten-

tial in cooperation with international financial

groups in North Africa. The rich functionality of

Comarch banking products, in particular inter-

net and mobile banking solutions, gives our

company a great chance of business develop-

ment in this region of the world. North Africa is

now experiencing the economic growth, boom

in digital telephony, so financial institutions

actively seek competitive offers.

Ksenia Goncharova,

Business Development Manager,

Comarch, Belgium

Switzerland

Thanks to the long history, Comarch has an

established position among IT suppliers in

Switzerland. Apart from the financial market,

where Comarch cooperates with significant cli-

ents, we also have some key clients in the SME

sector, e.g., Victorinox (a manufacturer of Swiss

knives and pocket knives since 1884, one of

the two official suppliers of Swiss army knives).

Today, companies on the Swiss financial mar-

ket are primarily interested in customer-orient-

ed solutions, such as Comarch Smart Finance

and Comarch Wealth Manager. Besides, year

by year outsourcing becomes more and more

important as it allows the optimization of IT

resources. Banks and insurance companies

in Switzerland are also increasingly interested

in loyalty programs that use gamification el-

ements, encouraging customers to purchase

banking and insurance products and servic-

es. To meet the expectations of the market in

the near future we are planning to introduce

new functionalities of Comarch Smart Finance

which will combine gamification and loyalty. In

addition, we are planning a roadshow with our

new solution for insurance – Comarch Mobile

Claims Adjuster.

Raphael Meyer,

Business Development Manager,

Comarch, Switzerland

United Kingdom

The UK market is open to new technology

trends – it observes the development of mo-

bile solutions in Central and Eastern Europe

with great interest. Comarch is seen here as

a company that offers innovative and proven

solutions. The main trend in the UK is the focus

on the customer and customer needs. It is the

result of the loss of customer confidence in

financial institutions. Much is said about retail

customers whereas business ones are often

ignored. Comarch conducted a survey among

50 small and medium-sized businesses oper-

ating in London’s TechCity asking about their

satisfaction with the available banking servic-

es. The report was very popular among British

banks, and it was quoted by local media and

experts of the financial industry. It was a mean-

ingful voice in the discussion about the UK

banking business. Comarch in the UK focuses

on promoting innovative front-end solutions

for banking, insurance and capital market cus-

tomers. The solutions supporting multi-chan-

nel customer communication, self-service via

Internet and mobile channels as well as big

data analysis are of particular interest. Comarch

has recently teamed-up with a London-based

company Azimo to launch a mobile service for

international money transfers. This cooperation

will let 335 million of potential Azimo customers

in 19 European countries, including Poland, ac-

cess affordable, fast and secure transfers. With

the new application, sending money is within

reach any time.

Eva Jasiecka,

Managing Director, Comarch, UK

France

The banking market in France is very attrac-

tive for Comarch because of its size, strong

players and, paradoxically, poorly developed

technologies. Comarch is perceived here as

a rapidly growing company from Central Europe,

gaining more and more recognition among

French customers. That is not only due to

a wide range of our innovative products, but

also a flexible and proactive approach to cus-

tomers. Currently, the French financial mar-

ket shows a growing demand for interactive

and user-friendly portals and mobile apps.

Traditional banks feel threatened by online

banks – very popular now in France. Personal

meetings with bank advisors slowly go the

way of the slide rule as customers expect just

functional and easy-to-use banking applica-

tions that allow them to remotely manage their

finances. We can also observe a growing inter-

est in loyalty systems. The average Frenchman

used to have one account in one bank and one

credit card. As competition intensifies, cus-

tomers begin to change their habits and give

up the services of banks they were bound to

for years. Hence the interest in bank loyalty

programs. The perfect example of such inter-

est is the implementation of Comarch Loyalty

Management in the Banque Populaire des

Alpes, belonging to the second largest banking

group in France. We hope that all Comarch’s

solutions which we offer will gain popularity

on the French market. Our recently launched

French website, planned media campaigns and

own events should help in promotion.

Marcin Romanowski,

Financial Services Unit Director,

Comarch, France


Corporate online banking is an area usually dominated by tables and

a user unfriendly interface. However, developments in the financial market

have forced banks to explore this area. Systems are being designed to be

increasingly clear and user friendly. As the leading provider of systems for

corporate banking clients, Comarch remains on a par with its competition

by refreshing its flagship solution Comarch Internet Banking.

Relocating customer service online is one of

the major trends currently in progress in corpo-

rate banking. The authors of Celent’s Top Trends

in Corporate Online Banking indicate, however,

that modern channels used to communicate

with customers are a considerable challenge

for those banks that target corporate custom-

ers. Implementing advanced technological

solutions is not enough. Banks need to focus

on ensuring customer satisfaction and striking

a balance between functionality and user ex-

perience.

Employees demand friendly

and effective tools

The Polish banks which are already using on-

line banking solutions more often decide to

upgrade their interface and user experience.

Comarch has taken the same path with its pro-

prietary Comarch Internet Banking solution. The

system provides extensive functionality that

reflects the latest trends in online banking. Our

current and potential clients are always im-

pressed by the range of features offered, but

their expectations towards the interface are ris-

ing, as they want it to fully reflect the system’s

capabilities.

Corporate banking systems have been a bit

neglected in terms of usability and design.

Developers believed that since these are just

everyday tools for accountants, they only need

to display tables and numbers. Meanwhile,

technological progress and young users with

everyday access to smartphones and tablets

filled with modern, attractive and user-friendly

apps, have necessitated changes in the corpo-

rate banking sector. They have their own habits

and specific requirements with regard to work

tools. The banks do see the need for change –

two corporate banks using Comarch Internet

Banking are already working on upgrading their

systems. If our clients change, we must do the

same; we are now working on visual improve-

ments of our solution.

New face ofcorporate banking

Better performance and enhanced

ergonomics

The changes in Comarch Internet Banking cover

three areas – visual, product, and technological.

While providing improved ergonomics and bet-

ter performance, the new system is to activate

employees as well. The technological modifica-

tions we are introducing reduce the time need-

ed to access data. Our goal is a client-site solu-

tion which facilitate browsing and searching

data, by e.g., uploading the operation history

straight after the user logs in. We also want to

introduce a mechanism to activate bank cus-

tomers, namely the context-specific cross-sell-

ing of banking products that takes advantage

of Smart Rules. Smart Rules is a robust offer

system which focuses on the real-time analysis

of customer behavior and the bank interactions

with them via all communication channels. This

solution allows to generate messages directed

to customers, tailored to their current needs,

context and financial situation. Such tools will

Agnieszka Piróg

Banking Solution Manager

[email protected]

3030

ensure better and more streamlined user expe-

rience of Comarch Internet Banking.

The process of introducing changes to the sys-

tem began in early 2013. Until now, Comarch

Internet Banking has worked and looked dif-

ferently depending on the client. The project

objective is to standardize deployments which

will help to make the new ones shorter and

more profitable for the banks. We are preparing

the changes with our clients in mind and we

are continually cooperating with them to devel-

op Comarch Internet Banking. Due to the large

number of functionalities involved, the chang-

es are being introduced gradually. With each

implementation we are streamlining different

parts and layers of the system. We will soon

start refreshing the HTML code and the technol-

ogy used to develop the system.

Go West, go South

We believe that the updated Comarch Internet

Banking system will contribute to our expan-

sion on foreign markets. The latest report by the

Polish Financial Supervision Authority says that

there are 39 banks in Poland. Eight are currently

using Comarch Internet Banking. This means

that the market in Poland is not too big, which

is why we are interested in foreign banks. We

aspire to expand in Western Europe, but we

are currently implementing our solutions in two

banks in other regions – the Balkans and North

Africa. It is worth stressing that the head offic-

es of financial groups using or deploying our

solutions recommend Comarch as a provider

to its daughter companies in other countries.

There is one more aspect to overseas imple-

mentation projects. Thanks to them, Comarch is

Expert’s View

Corporate banking, unlike individual banking, has not changed a lot

since its inception and is still in the era of tables and numbers. From

the point of view of user experience (UX), we are facing a challenge

in which it is essential not to embellish the interface but to find

and recognize the processes that not only irritate, but also impose

additional costs due to their time-consuming nature. The users will

appreciate this change as a real improvement. Abandoning the old

habits will not be related to learning anything new, but to omitting

certain steps which will be performed by the app. At the same time,

we cannot forget about the bank’s needs.

The changes to the Comarch Internet Banking system will prioritize

not only the cross selling tool, but also the designing of the interface

in a way that allows to take advantage of users’ natural behavior. We

want to get to a point, when the users will treat product advertise-

ment, advice or information as desired and appropriate, and the pro-

cess of accepting and using the offer will take only a few seconds.

Therefore, when talking about the optimization of user experience,

we do not only mean the interface. It is all about the holistic ap-

proach, where the designer, technology and business meet, where

business defines the requirements and the designer does his or her

best to translate them into the needs of the user. This can only be

obtained with appropriate, innovative technology.

Bartłomiej Kozieł,

UX Consultant

[email protected]

boosting its position, not only as an IT solutions

provider, but also as a supplier of expertize

and know-how in the field of online and mobile

banking. The project manager at one of the

banks, in which the implementation is in pro-

gress, said that his bank learns a lot about cor-

porate customer service and European stand-

ards from Comarch. It is a huge advantage of

Comarch over local providers, whereas for us it

is an opportunity to run interesting implemen-

tation projects that will open the doors for us of

other banks abroad.

SO

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TIO

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The factoring market in Poland is still far behind the markets of Western

Europe or the US. However, in recent years, we have observed a dynamic

increase in the number of clients and the volume of invoices submitted

for factoring in Poland. In order to facilitate entering the factoring market

by new entities, Comarch has introduced the Comarch Factoring solution

in a SaaS (Software as a Service) model. This solution is also drawing more

and more attention from foreign companies which operate on better

developed markets.

Factoring is not very popular on the Polish mar-

ket, but in the last few years we have been

observing an upward trend. In 2006, companies

submitted invoices to factors for a total amount

of 17 billion PLN; in 2013 this value increased to

131 billion PLN. This means a yearly average in-

crease in volume by almost 34%, which makes

Poland one of the fastest developing factoring

markets in Europe.

A market with potential

Results for Q1 2014, announced by the Polish

Factors Association are encouraging – the

turnover value of factoring companies affil-

iated with the PFA increased in Q1 2014 by

16.3%. Receivables financed by factors as at

the end of the period amounted to 24.2 bil-

lion PLN. However, the turnover of the Polish

factoring companies in 2013 amounted to as

little as 6.45% of GDP, while the average for

the European markets equaled 9.36% of GDP.

For instance, the United Kingdom reached

the level of over 15% of GDP a few years ago.

Therefore, experts predict further intensified

development of factoring services in Poland. All

the more, factors have a very extensive market

to cover – hundreds of thousands of potential

clients of small and medium-sized enterprises

which at the time of restricted access to tradi-

tional sources of financing should appreciate

the advantages of factoring. Only five thousand

companies are currently using factoring servic-

es in Poland. Such market potential also means

a place for many new factors and factoring

products.

Factoring in the cloud

The SaaS model system

For factors following trends and wishing to

make a web-based platform available to their

customers, and also for new companies enter-

ing the market, Comarch is creating an IT solu-

tion in a SaaS (Software as a Service) model,

in order to eliminate the financial barrier of the

purchase of the system. Owing to this, a factor-

ing company will be able to take advantage of

a modern IT solution without the necessity of

purchasing a license, or without paying for its

implementation, maintenance and infrastruc-

ture. Once the solu-

tion is purchased, the

factor gains access

to the back office

portal for itself and

the front office por-

tal for its customers.

The scalability of the

system enables quick

extension of the solu-

Factoring is a type of a commercial transaction in which receiv-

ables with long payment terms are sold to a factor which allows

to obtain the amounts due immediately, reduced by commission.

Such a solution significantly contributes to the improvement in

the liquidity of a business and its ability to pay its obligations

within their due dates.

Milan Popović

Factoring Solution Manager

[email protected]

32

Western Europe is heading towards platforms

In the countries of Western Europe, in which the factoring market is well-developed, factors are implementing new so-lutions and boasting their own receivables-trading platforms. They attract much interest, as they enable small companies to sell invoices to, among others, investment funds and private investors.

tion by new customers. Another very important

feature of the new system is full, automatic

accounting and export to the general ledger.

Not only for banks, not only in Poland

Comarch is creating a system for factors using

the SaaS model, similar to Western solutions,

with a high degree of parameterization. This is

a pioneering solution on the Polish market. It

can support not only banking factors but also

non-bank entities which decide to provide fac-

toring services. Due to the interest by foreign

factoring companies, Comarch Factoring was

created from the very beginning as a mul-

ti-language platform. The addition of another

language does not require time-consuming

translation – all it takes is to upload a dictionary

file which makes expansion into foreign mar-

kets significantly easier. Following the Western

trends, an invoice-discounting service has

been introduced into the solution which is a

form of confidential factoring with a simplified

operational part in which the factor finances

the customer’s receivables, but provides no

other services. Invoice discounting is still not

very prevalent in Poland, although in Western

Europe it is very popular, consisting of almost

80% of the turnover of factoring companies

operating there. Western European companies

have much more trust in financial institutions

and their knowledge in the field of instruments

used to finance current operations is definite-

ly more universal. Polish factoring companies

are much more engaged in the processing of

receivables and enforcing of repayment-due

dates by sending reminders which undoubtedly

results in increasing costs.

SO

LU

TIO

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With the development of technology and constantly increasing competition

on the insurance market, there is a growing need to use new sales chan-

nels. One of the most recent solutions, aimed at supporting the activities of

insurance agents, are mobile applications which allow to increase sales by

providing customers with a convenient way to purchase insurance, but also

to reduce costs and increase profitability.

Innovative solutionssupporting mobile sales

Another change arises from the expectations

of insurance agents, who want to be equipped

with an innovative and efficient tool, allowing

them to accelerate the sales process and in-

crease its effectiveness. Moreover, it should

provide them with access to the contact his-

tory, customer data, and information about

the products they have already purchased,

regardless of the place where the agent is lo-

cated – at the office or at the customer’s home.

Intuitiveness and simplicity of use, automation

of the process and minimization of the possi-

bility of error are becoming increasingly signifi-

cant – especially for the agents who are just to

start their cooperation with the insurer.

An increasing interest in applications for mo-

bile devices is a result of several significant

changes that have occurred recently. First of

all, the behavior and preferences of customers

regarding the selection of products, distribution

channels and the sales process have changed.

This is partly due to the fact that more and more

people are using tablets and smartphones

on a daily basis which enable interesting and

interactive presentations of insurance and in-

vestment products. Customers expect to be

offered products that are individually tailored to

their needs and situation. They expect the en-

tire sales process to be as short as possible, at

the same time allowing them to understand the

benefits and costs related to the purchase of

a particular insurance product.

It is also important to make sure the applica-

tion works on different platforms – from desk-

top computers and laptops to smartphones

and tablets. Considering the fact that there is

no definite leader on the market in the field of

operating systems, it is not recommended for

the app to be limited to only one of them. If the

application is available for different operating

systems, agents can select devices according

to their preferences. The requirements present-

ed above more and more necessitate finding

a solution that will not only be innovative but,

most of all, useful and a guarantee of cost

reduction.

Maciej Ślósarczyk

Insurance Consulting Director

[email protected]

34

A native mobile application should be available

for a range of platforms. At the same time, it

should provide access to all essential informa-

tion, e.g., the personal data of customers, pres-

entations of products offered by the insurer. It

should also allow customers to run the greatest

possible part of the sales process on their mo-

bile devices, without the necessity of printing

offers or applications on paper. Comarch Mobile

Insurance Advisor is a solution that meets

all these requirements. It is a multi-platform

application designed to support agents and

advisors as extensively as possible. This tool

ensures comprehensive support for the sales

process of even the most advanced insurance

(both life and nonlife) and investment products,

starting from customer identification and the

analysis of their needs, through simulations,

calculating premiums, investment advisory,

to generating an application and obtaining

the customer’s signature. The Comarch Mobile

Insurance Advisor solution can be used by both

insurance salesforce and agents at any time

and place, as it is available both as a native

and a web application. It enables the manage-

ment of sales networks, browsing sales results

and access customer data. The Comarch solu-

tion can work in both offline and online modes

and is centrally managed by a web back-office

application.

The results of the needs analysis and simula-

tion are kept in the system, and they can be

shared with customers via portals, or sent elec-

tronically. Once the simulations are finalized,

Comarch Mobile Insurance Advisor enables

the process of the registration of applications,

including the acquisition of missing personal

data of customers and their electronic signa-

tures. Binding offers are created with graphic

presentation of benefits and costs (e.g., in the

form of product cards for unit-linked policies),

and, thanks to integration with the policy ad-

ministration system, the employee can track

the status of the applications in a back-office

systems.

SO

LU

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Comarch Mobile Insurance Advisor is a mul-

ti-language and multi-currency application. It

allows to gather personal and contact data as

well as to present information about the com-

pany, offered products, and solutions. It sup-

ports needs analyses on the basis of gathered

information concerning the current financial

and family situation of customers, their plans

for the future, budgets, state of health, actual

professions, and willingness to take risks. Next,

the solution presents lists of recommended

products most closely corresponding to the

needs and abilities of customers, and also per-

forms personalized simulations based on the

generated recommendations. Customers can

adjust the level of protection, depending for ex-

ample on the budgets at their disposal, or the

amount of insurance coverage, as well as add

and modify the benefits to their entire families.

Owing to its intuitive interface, multi-platform

capability, and both online and offline modes,

Comarch Mobile Insurance Advisor is a very

useful tool supporting the work of sales net-

works. Modern technology and easy integra-

tion with other systems makes the solution

fit perfectly the needs of insurance sales net-

works, ensuring support for various insurance

products and better contact with customers.


COMARCH WEALTH MANAGER

All your wealth in one place!

wealthmanagement.comarch.com

COMARCH SMART FINANCE

Re-think Your Banking

smartfinance.comarch.com

36

With the redefinition of a banking paradigm by Brett King in 2010, a stormy

debate has sparked off by financial market experts concerning the future

of banking. Backed by the leaders of new technologies, they began search-

ing for the golden mean that in times of unfavorable economic situations,

will help retain customers and increase profits.

Customer is always right

Today’s customers understand banking offers;

they are demanding and canny; they want to

have everything immediately, regardless of

time and place; and they want it in an easy and

enjoyable way. They find phone consultants

annoying, particularly if they are unable to ac-

curately discuss their financial situation. They

do not tolerate unexpected interruptions in

access to banking applications and increasing

banking fees. Above all, they expect the bank to

offer them products and services that are tai-

lored to their individual needs. If they do not get

what they want, they remorselessly search for

another bank that will take better care of them

and meet their expectations. Reliability, secu-

rity, and competitive rates are what matter to

today’s banking customer.

Win-win

Maintaining such demanding customers re-

quires not only effort, but expenses. Simple

transactional tools satisfy neither party. Bank

customers dream of reliable web and mobile

applications, also called apps which are ac-

cessible from different platforms. They prefer

ergonomic, visually attractive, highly functional

and freely configurable parameters. They want

to set up alerts for limits and repayment date

reminders. Generating comprehensible reports

and expense statistics is important to them,

as well. They want to do as much as possible

online, and when they need help, they want to

contact the bank consultant quickly and effi-

ciently. In addition, they expect an automated

advisory service, so they can invest their mon-

ey and plan their expenses so that they can

gain benefits.

Nothing is impossible; however, to meet these

expectations, the bank must obtain as much

customer information as possible. To get

a complete view of the customer, the bank

should know and analyze, among other things,

their buying behavior, financial condition, as

well as financial instruments and services

purchased in other banks and financial insti-

tutions. To this end, the bank must ask the

customer to enter this information manually.

Theoretically, the bank can also use data gen-

erated by the customer online from in social

networks, such as Big Data. The ongoing analy-

sis of a large volume of customer data is a real

challenge for IT providers.

The use of Big Data, however, raises a lot of

controversy, especially among customers. On

the one hand, customers registering in online

Bank 3.0 –a relationship without secrets

stores and social networks voluntarily trans-

fer a lot of private information. On the other

hand, they consider Big Data a tool for spy-

ing and infiltration. Experts point out that Big

Data means the analysis from information is

obtained from legal sources. By registering to

various networks, Internet users consent to

the use and processing of their data by these

portals and their partners. Current EU legislation

limits the use of collected information, but one

can expect that in the near future, Big Data will

become a catalyst for some changes in these

regulations.

The effective analysis of customer behavior

and financial situation results in commercial

offerings tailored to their needs, hence a high-

er conversion rate. The individual approach

increases customer confidence in the bank,

which not only translates into higher retention,

but it can also positively influence the bank’s

image in the eyes of potential customers. To

do this, the bank must be able to harness the

power of Internet.

Customers eagerly manifest their discontent

with the bank in social media. Positive com-

ments are rare and often seen as a bank’s pub-

lic relations maneuver. However, there are ways

to leverage satisfied customers. For example,

Anna M. Lik

Public Relations Coordinator

[email protected]

LU

TIO

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banks can reward customers for persuading

their friends to open accounts, or give the most

active customers better discounts at loyalty

programs or a higher money back percentage.

Leveraging social media, not only in terms of

collecting customer information, but also as

a marketing tool is invaluable, as well. In order

to effectively compete for customers, banks

must demonstrate flexibility in their offerings;

as well as make use of the latest technological

achievements. They must observe their cus-

tomers, follow trends, and explore the benefits

of the most popular communication channels.

My bank = my smartphone

By moving the lion’s share of banking activity to

the Internet, banks have initiated the process

of global ‘de-location’ and virtualization. For

the younger generation the bank is no longer

a synonym of a building or institution protect-

ing savings and granting loans in cash. King

calls them ‘de-banked customers’ as they are

massively abandoning traditional relationships

with banks in favor of banking. Visionaries such

as King forecast that banks and banking await

further (dis)integration.

In the near future, one can expect significant

changes in the structure of financial and bank-

ing services providers, as well as in the form of

banking in customers’ lives. Banking solutions

will be integrated with e-shops, real estate

portals, e-offices, and other virtual solutions.

Apps for mobile devices will identify the cus-

tomer, thanks to their earlier log on to the social

network or mailbox. These apps will run in the

background as widgets, showing the current

account balance, creditworthiness, or savings

plans. The customer will not have to visit the

bank’s web-portal, since all necessary features

will be available in a banking app, found on

their mobile device.

Plastic cards will also be outmoded soon, as

well. Right now, technologies such as NFC ena-

ble payments and cash withdrawals from ATMs

can be made using mobile devices. With time,

more technologies will be found on the custom-

er’s smartphone.

Comarch Smart Finance – *Re-think

your banking

This banking vision can be realized quickly, but

only if there is always adequate security and if

customers can tame Big Data. Nowadays, soft-

ware providers are focusing on developing

a wider range of tools that are designed to

adapt financial products and services to the

needs of the customer. This results in signifi-

cantly improved customer retention.

One solution is Comarch Smart Finance. In addi-

tion to standard internet banking platform fea-

tures, it provides the customer with the ability

to manage personal finances. The app analyses

customer financial habits and projects monthly

expenses and savings. It also acts as a per-

sonal financial adviser. At the same time, the

bank offers more attractive products meeting

customer personal needs. The combination

of the online banking functionality, individual

offerings, and personal finance management

helps the customer make the right financial

decisions. Personalized products and servic-

es enhance the customer relationships with

the bank, as well as strengthen customer

loyalty.

Comarch Smart Finance also helps reduce

customer service costs. Customers are be-

coming more independent; therefore, the

number of complaints and orders placed to

banking call-centers are decreasing. Thanks

to Comarch Smart Finance, the bank rein-

forces its brand and confirms its status as

an innovative, future-oriented, and custom-

er-friendly institution.

Recent technological progress has contrib-

uted to the total transformation of retail and

corporate banking business models. In order

to remain competitive, banks must modify

their priorities. The focus is now on the cus-

tomer who expects a personalized approach,

tailored service, and support at the highest

level. Thus, it is crucial for banks and finan-

cial institutions to effectively collect and

process customer data, as well as become

customer-oriented. Luckily, there are IT solu-

tion providers that supply new generations of

comprehensive tools, such as Comarch Smart

Finance, to help both banks and customers in

achieving their objectives.

Customer expectations are also changing in a commercial ban-

king segment. In the recent survey conducted in London Tech City

(October 2013, Comarch), only 53% of questioned SMEs confirmed

positive impressions of their business banking experience. Banks are

aware of the importance of online channels and are implementing

novel strategies to boost their customer satisfaction. Online banking

systems are becoming more action-oriented with multiple advisory

functions included. SMEs are given online tools to track their cash

flows on a daily basis and forecast the future ones. They receive

tailored offers fitting their current needs. What is also important, they

can run multiple simulations to check how the offered product influ-

ences their financial situation. Equally significant becomes the mobi-

le channel. Banks already understand that business customers need

individual mobile offering, which cannot be based on mobile apps for

retail ones.

Krystian Suchodolski

Business Development Manager

[email protected]

38

IT S

ER

VIC

ES

The perennial dilemma how ‘to have the cake and eat it too’, in the case of

large organizations, such as banks, insurance companies and investment

funds, takes the form of a question – how to use the benefits of cloud with-

out contravening internal procedures and external regulations? The answer

is the Community Cloud concept.

Recently, the processing of data in cloud has

been developing dynamically and gaining

more and more popularity in successive lines

of business. This is so because cloud has un-

questionable advantages – it guarantees vast

possibilities in terms of flexibility and the vol-

ume of provided services, plus it allows to re-

duce costs and adjust them to revenues (pay

as you grow). In the case of small and medium

sized enterprises, cloud is also recognized as

a solution which, owing to, among others, the

centralization of access management and the

consolidation of IT resources, increases the

level of security. However, large entities still

approach cloud technologies with caution, es-

pecially those supervised by a regulator. They

are worried about data privacy, the locations in

which the data are stored, and compliance with

regulations.

Bet on shared cloud

How can banks or insurers use cloud without

concern about compliance with procedures

and regulations? They can choose Community

Cloud, a concept based on the so called multi-

-tenant infrastructure which is shared by seve-

ral entities from a particular organization, e.g.,

by companies in a capital group, conglomera-

tes, affiliates or companies with similar busi-

ness profiles. Such a solution facilitates, among

other things, the dividing of the groups of em-

ployees on many levels (applications, virtual

machines, databases) according to rights and

tasks, as well as the effective use of resources

(people, equipment, software) within the scope

of business needs. Community Cloud also al-

lows the planning of costs in a chargeback mo-

del which means that each department is billed

according to the actual usage of resources. The

client is also guaranteed high system availa-

bility and reliability, as well as maintenance of

business continuity (e.g., MetroCluster). A sha-

red service or infrastructure can be the answer

to, among other things, national or international

regulations, the requirements of auditors or the

issue of the efficiency of hosting services for

applications requiring very short reaction time.

Between public and private clouds

Thanks to Community Cloud, the client enjoys

the benefits of multi-threading and pay-as-you-

go related to public cloud, and is guaranteed

the higher level of privacy, security and poli-

cies usually offered under the private cloud.

The Community Cloud service can be provided

in both the geographical area of an organiza-

tion’s activity and outside it. It can be managed

by an organization, its subsidiary or an ex-

Between cloud and regulations

ternal provider of Managed Services, such as

Comarch. Apart from the basic requirements,

Community Cloud also meets particular require-

ments, e.g., compliance with the AFS (Act of

Financial Supervision) standard or compliance

with personal-data protection standards, i.e. the

European Union DPA (Data Protection Act) di-

rective, regarding personal data processing, as

well as the localization of services in local Data

Centers, in accordance with the EU guidelines

for personal-data protection (e.g., information

kept by banks and other financial institutions).

Cloud of challenges

The concept of Community Cloud allows to

enjoy the benefits of cloud technologies in ac-

cordance with internal procedures and external

regulations. Adrian Hajduk, IT services architect

and consultant at Comarch, quotes the exam-

ple of a group of small banks which can build

a shared cloud platform for IT solutions (e.g.,

Internet banking, CRM). ‘Thanks to Community

Cloud, the IT department of a bank is able to

quickly provide a modern solution for business

departments, at the same time limiting the

costs of investment at the beginning. Owing to

this, it can effectively implement new services

for its customers’, says Hajduk. He draws atten-

tion to the fact that in the financial sector there

Adam Tymofiejewicz

EMEA Global IT Services Consulting Director

[email protected]


communitycloud

levelof dataprivacy

storage services

computerservices

database services

storage services

computerservices

database services

private cloud public cloud

Community Cloud strikes the balance between a flexible

public cloud, the use of which is limited by regulations related

to data protection, and a limited private cloud which restricts

flexibility within the IT resources of a single company.

can be doubts regarding the use of Community

Cloud related to internal policy which often

makes it impossible to share resources with

other financial institutions or meet the legal

regulations. The response to this challenge,

however, is to design an appropriate version of

Community Cloud that will meet these require-

ments.

Stefan Kiszkurno, cloud services consultant,

cites the example of a group of gas compa-

nies considering migration to the shared cloud

model. ‘Community Cloud gives our clients the

opportunity for the dynamic management of IT

projects in an environment that is easily scala-

ble in terms of equipment and costs, as well as

the optimization of activities and operational

IT processes within the group with the use of

synergy resulting from sharing resources’, un-

derlines Kiszkurno. However, he adds that one

needs to take into account that the process

of migration to the shared cloud structure pre-

sents a huge challenge for the entities partici-

pating in the process, in both technological and

organizational dimensions, resulting, for exam-

ple, in the loss of independence by particular

units at the IT infrastructure level.

Take care of security

The key challenge and concern of the

Community Cloud users, is the division of data

and systems, as well as access management.

This is why experts emphasize the significance

of physical security and recommend the im-

plementation of shared infrastructures in Data

Centers, which ensure reliability at the mini-

mum level of TIER3 (TIA 942 standard), as well

as the implementation of devices controlling

physical and logical access to data, physical

division from environments outside Community

Cloud and logical division within the environ-

ment of Community Cloud. Security monitoring,

i.e. the control and online registration of secu-

rity incidents, as well as the audit of systems

and networks from the point of view of the

adopted regulations and security policy (e.g.,

SOC1, PCI DSS, ISO 27001), are equally important.

Apart from the security aspect, which has to be

assessed prior to the implementation of

a shared infrastructure, two other issues

should be taken into account. The first one

is the IT strategy, meaning the verification of

whether the company’s activities are in accord-

ance with the IT strategy which should reflect

the strategy of the entire organization. The sec-

ond is supplier management, meaning the defi-

nition of activities that will allow the controlling

of costs, improvement of service quality and

risk reduction.

A solution for the demanding

Community Cloud is a response to the needs of

demanding users, often subject to internal and

external regulations on both local and interna-

tional levels. It provides the benefits of cloud

technologies, i.e. facilitates the automation and

optimization of IT resources which are provided

flexibly, in accordance with business needs.

The implementation of a shared infrastructure

can present a technological challenge, and the

migration of many entities to a single platform

– an organizational test. However, considering

the trends and comparing the advantages and

disadvantages of this concept, one should

definitely analyze Community Cloud as an alter-

native to the current way of providing IT. Will our

IT strategy not be implemented in a better way

if we have a more flexible and safe tool sup-

porting our business?

It is not easy for companies offering health in-

surance to control what they pay their medical

partners for. They just receive a list of medical

services which at a given time were available

for patients, without confirmation of which ser-

vices were really provided. Following the motto

of the Air Force Technical Applications Center,

the organization monitoring nuclear threats, In

God we trust, everyone else we monitor, it is

good to monitor everything that concerns us.

A company settling up with partners, like an in-

surer with medical facilities, is especially at risk

of fraud or corruption and should protect itself

against the threat of the money loss.

Money under controlIt is useful to think of how to certify an invoice

to a party that is obliged to pay it. Comarch en-

courages the insurers to control their payouts

in an affordable and simple way. The insured

should be certain to receive the contracted

treatment at the given medical facility and the

insurer should obtain proof that the insurance

was only used to pay for services that were

actually provided to its clients. Based on strong

cryptographic tools, Comarch is able to provide

a solution that will solve this problem. The in-

surance company can supply the clients with

identification cards which are at the same time

an electronic signature carrier. The card can be

used to identify the client at the medical facility,

it can contain information regarding the insur-

ance package and the range of medical ser-

vices, to which the patient is entitled and can

be used by the patient to confirm that a given

service was actually provided at a particular

facility.

Insurance companies, as institutions offering services to both individual

and business customers, should take particular care of their own security

and protect themselves against frauds.

Forewarned is forearmed

An investment worth making

Although an insurance company that wants

to implement such a solution must supply its

clients with cards, and medical facilities with

software and card readers, it is an investment

worth making. The medical facility sends a bill

together with a list of medical services pro-

vided at the cost of the insurer, including the

electronic signatures of the clients. This gives

the insurer confidence that the services were

really provided. Thanks to this method, which

is simple, affordable and convenient to both

clients and partners, the insurer is protected

from frauds by medical facilities.

Tomasz Śnieżyński

Cyber Security Consulting Director

[email protected]

IT S

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Once an appointment at the doctor’s is completed, the re-

ceptionist of the medical facility can use a tablet to present

a list of medical services that were provided to the patient.

The patient confirms the correctness of the data by placing

the identification card on the wireless reader. At that point,

the patient’s electronic signature is submitted under the list

of the performed services.

42

Human psyche –the weakest link

Giving personal data over the phone to someone pretending to be a bank

employee, thoughtlessly completing surveys, automatically giving consent

to personal data processing – vulnerable to social engineering, we allow

the hackers into our bank accounts ourselves. The only security measure

against such attacks is education.

Social engineering is obtaining certain informa-

tion in a dubious way. In the field of information

security it means techniques used by cyber

criminals to obtain confidential information

or persuade a computer user to act in a way

allowing the device to be hacked.

Taking advantage of friendliness

and naivety

Hackers can extort the personal data of bank

customers by means of impersonating a bank

employee, proposing a special offer or partic-

ipating in competitions. They take advantage

of people’s good nature, naivety and the desire

to win or to benefit from a promotion. Cyber

criminals forge a link with the victim; using the

authority of an employee of a bank or an office,

they create a context which makes a fabricated

story look credible. This is why even the best

and the most expensive IT security measures

will not stop social engineering if it is used

against a person susceptible to suggestions

and manipulation. If a poor method of author-

ization is implemented at the bank, acquiring

an authorization code from a gullible customer

with the use of social engineering is relative-

ly simple. Specifically, if it is not necessary to

re-read the information about a transfer under

verification, or any information about the trans-

action being conducted, the owner of a bank

account might not realize soon enough that the

stolen data was used to make a transfer from

his or her account.

Beware of phishing

Phishing has recently become a very popular

social engineering method of obtaining confi-

dential information and theft. Cyber criminals

most often send emails or text messages im-

itating messages from a bank with a request

to verify or provide data. Although such attacks

are publicized in the media, they are still ef-

fective and a certain group of bank customers

are still getting conned. Just as unthinkingly,

some Internet users open attachments in du-

bious messages about trips, competitions and

rewards. All it takes is for an email user to open

such a pdf file or an image and he or she is at

the risk of a direct hacking attack. Online stores

also often obtain personal data from their cus-

tomers, making a purchase conditional on their

consent to personal data processing. Although

it is against the law, customers tempted with

such special offers often agree without think-

ing about future consequences.

Banks educate and invest

The only solution to this problem is to edu-

cate people about the security and potential

risks. This should also be addressed by the

banks – public trust organizations, if they want

to protect their image in the proper manner.

Customers who share their personal data with

hackers impersonating bank employees and

then became victims of cyber theft often do

not see their fault, only the fault of their bank.

Even if a bank has the best security measures,

such groundless accusations can have a neg-

ative influence on its image and position on

the market. Banks should meet the expecta-

tions of their customers and offer a high level

of security for all channels of communication

and transactions; however, it should be a

compromise between security and usability.

A bank cannot ask a customer to come to its

branch office every time when identification

and authorization are required. Unfortunately,

strong and customer-friendly methods of au-

CY

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Cyber Security Consulting Director

[email protected]

// comarch // nowe technologie ̀ 14 43

Biometrics technology is developing dynamically. It is most often used to

ensure the security of physical access, i.e. as a mechanism supporting

identification. It also appears in financial systems, but it is still far from

being popular.

The fastest development of biometrics in the

field of financial and banking systems can be

observed on the Asian markets. In the other

regions of the world there are not so many

interesting examples of biometrics application.

Most often it is limited to biometric identifica-

tion in the ATMs.

Security measures

The largest commercial bank in Turkey,

Türkiye İş Bankası, uses biometrics in three

thousand ATMs and a thousand branches.

Thanks to Bio-ID, Türkiye İş Bankası substantial-

ly reduced the number of scams which are a

major problem in the Turkish banking system.

The bank also eliminated the problem of issuing

cards for the customers who do not trust plas-

Fingerinstead of PIN

tic or do not want to use it at all. 40% of cash

withdrawals from the ATMs of Türkiye İş Bankası

are currently performed with the use of biome-

trics. On the other hand, the Argentinian Banco

Supervielle is using fingerprint biometrics for

identification in almost 80 branches nation-

wide and is planning further implementations.

In the first place, the bank provides biometric

identification to elderly customers, in order to

eliminate the attempts to withdraw money by

thentication and authorization mean higher

costs. Although corporate customers can af-

ford it, retail ones might not always be able to

do so. Luckily, banks are more and more often

investing in strong security measures, for both

corporate and retail customers. Such decisions

are often imposed by internal risk analyses, but

most of all they are taken on the grounds of

image – owing to the latest technological solu-

tions the banks can position themselves as

innovative and safe.


Cyber Security Consultant Director

[email protected]

44

the family. The bank has no doubts that this is

a good direction – the CIO of the bank, Claudio

Ercolessi, emphasizes that the investments in

biometrics have been recouped thanks to the

reduction in fraud. Another interesting example

is MasterCard which at the end of 2013 joined

the FIDO Alliance (Fast Identity Online) to work

together with the other companies on replacing

the logins and passwords, proliferating in online

banking, with biometric identification.

The Polish pioneers of biometrics

In Poland, banks are approaching biometrics

with mistrust and reservations. Interestingly,

the pioneers of using biometrics for identifica-

tion in the ATMs in Poland were the cooperative

banks. The biometric ATM implemented in 2010

by Podkarpacki Bank Spółdzielczy was not

only the first in Poland, but the first in Europe.

Biometric identification is currently used by

a small part of a commercial banking sector,

e.g., BPH Bank and Getin Bank at new Getin Up

outlets. Most corporate banks in Poland are

still using masked passwords or text messag-

es for logging in and authorizing electronic

signatures. Meanwhile, biometrics could be

an affordable supplement to electronic signa-

tures. Such a solution was taken up in 2010 by

Bank Pekao SA. It is one of the most interest-

ing examples of applying Comarch biometrics

solutions. Thanks to the implementation of

Comarch Smart Card Bio, the users of the online

transaction platform of PekaoBIZNES24 bank

can log into the system and authorize orders

with the use of fingerprints. This is probably

the only such solution implemented worldwide,

and definitely the first in Europe. The project

covers new Comarch Smart Card Bio cards,

featuring biometric applets and card readers,

plus fingerprint readers, integrated in a single

small device. The use of cryptographic cards

is a solution recommended as it is a strong

authentication and authorization method, en-

hanced with electronic signatures. The built-in

biometric mechanism makes the cards easy to

use for their owners. The user no longer has to

remember the PIN number for the card, as it is

not entered each time he or she logs into the

system or authorizes a transaction. All it takes

is to use one’s own finger to unlock access to

the card.

An appreciated and awarded

innovation

Bank Pekao SA offers biometric authorization to

new customers with the ‘Komfort’ or ‘Premium’

package in the PekaoBIZNES24 system. Bank

Pekao SA’s biometric method of logging in and

authorizing transactions on the website for

corporate banking has been appreciated by

many institutions and received many awards.

The Committee of the 5th Congress of the

Electronic Economy awarded the implemen-

tation in the Project of the Year competition,

the aim of which is to honor institutions and

persons whose activities contribute to the de-

velopment of the electronic economy and the

information society in Poland. Bank Pekao SA

also received the title ‘The Best Information-

Security Initiative in Central-Eastern Europe in

2010’ awarded by the Global Finance magazine

and the award for Innovations of the Year 2010

in the forum organized by Gazeta Prawna.

At this year’s CES, a global consumer electronics and consumer

technology tradeshow, a digital wallet with biometrics was

presented. The solution attracted a lot of attention and the ex-

perts commenting the trade show predicted that 2014 would be

groundbreaking for the use of biometrics in technological devices.

CY

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// comarch // nowe technologie ̀ 14 45

The end of yellow sticky notes

The use of biometrics by banks solves the

problem of yellow sticky notes, i.e. writing pass-

words and PIN codes on them, sticking them

to the monitors, keeping them in other unsafe

places or passing them to outsiders. Moreover,

biometrics allows banks to avoid the recently

popular attacks due to cryptographic cards be-

ing left in a reader, or based on eavesdropping

on the PIN with key-logger tools. Biometrics

with a cryptographic card is not a standard

human detector. Such a solution ensures that

a particular transaction is authorized by a spe-

cific person. This is especially important in the

case of the authorization of major transactions.

Authentication based on fingerprints is, in the

case of Comarch’s solution, also secure owing

to the fact that the specimen of the fingerprint

is not kept in the database of the bank or an

external company, but on the card which the

owner can carry at all times. A comparison of

the fingerprint with the specimen also occurs

on the card.

Therefore, fingerprint biometrics enable banks

to reduce the time of the identification of cus-

tomers and employees, reduce attacks by

hackers and increase the level of confidence

related to the identity of the customers. This

is also an opportunity for the bank to achieve

a status of a modern and trustworthy institu-

tion.

46

Flat design –a fad or a trend?

For over a year now, websites, applications and even systems designed

in line with the flat design principle have enjoyed growing popularity.

These projects are characterized by a flat image and minimalism, employ-

ing monochromatic planes and simple geometric figures.

Oscar Wilde once said ‘fashion is a form of

ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter

it every six months.’ Many people investing in

such applications have been wondering if flat

design is just a fad that will change, or a more

established trend, which will continue to de-

velop and expand. Subsequent smartphone

interface versions have been systematically

stripped of any excessive on-screen embellish-

ments, shadows and gradation. Websites have

explicitly shown their designs. Frames with-

out any smooth edges or shadows. Verticals,

horizontals, lines to separate individual rows

and monochromatic color planes which can

be written in a code without the need to cre-

ate background images. All this, coupled with

a consistent and subdued application design,

conveys a sense of order and security. This is

exactly what the popular flat design is about.

A milestone on its way to popularity was ar-

guably the market premiere of Windows 8 and

Windows Phone 8, its mobile equivalent, at

the end of 2012. Both systems were not only

groundbreaking, but also introduced changes

in the OS interface and approach to applica-

tions. Another important event was the launch

of iOS7 on September 18, 2013. UIs started to

evolve. If not towards flat design, then at least

towards minimalism.

Seeking inspiration in Cubism and Art

Nouveau

Design based on flat planes, repeated mod-

ules, well-defined proportions, functional forms,

and, above all, no redundant ornamentation, is

nothing new. The history of design, architecture

and art is full of examples of such approach-

es. Take, for example, ‘Ornament and Crime’,

a noteworthy essay by Adolf Loos, an Austrian

architect criticizing Art Nouveau, popular at the

time, or the establishment of Bauhaus, a school

of the fine arts and crafts, or Cubist paintings,

pioneered by Pablo Picasso. But we do not

have to go that far to find such examples. The

artistic output of the Polish School of Poster Art,

DE

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Jan Witkowski

Designer

[email protected]


cation. This is particularly important for portable

devices with only a couple of buttons and lots

of functions. It is not easy to design an intuitive

and user-friendly architecture in this situation. It

is necessary to develop a color scheme which

helps to understand the architecture and fa-

cilitates app navigation. Any unnecessary on-

screen shadow, gradation or color will draw the

user’s attention, causing distraction and disori-

entation.

Developers can also breathe a sigh of relief,

as they do not have to import any scalable or

non-scalable bitmaps anymore and can enter

colors with a simple #. Similarly, the processors

of these small devices have to handle more and

more operations, while, after all, their primary

function is to make phone calls. Responsive de-

sign and switching from tablet to smartphone,

then to computer and back again to tablet is not

much of a problem anymore. Flat design also

a group of Polish poster artists who received in-

ternational acclaim, is one of them. Then, there

are the works of Andrzej Pawłowski, a sculp-

tor, painter, photographer and designer from

Kraków, who follows his proprietary philosophy

of naturally shaped forms.

All these movements and works share a com-

mon approach to design, based on a limited

number of forms of expression, characteristic

of periods of intense social developments or

even industrial revolutions, where technological

orientations changed. Frequently, the rejec-

tion of ‘frills’ was a response to the excessive

richness of form in an earlier period. Take, for

instance, the moderate and rational Age of

Enlightenment which followed the lavishly-or-

namented and sensual Baroque. These vari-

ations in the aesthetics of individual epochs

and trends were a natural consequence of new

ways of thinking and the emerging changes in

the mindset and the perception of the world as

a whole, which were reflected, for example, in

manufactured items.

Similar shifts can be observed today. For exam-

ple, the widely available and relatively cheap

tablets and smartphones are operated using

gestures. Small displays limits the presented

data to the absolute minimum. At the same

time, the very nature of touch-screens makes

the on-screen navigation as pronounced and

clear-cut as possible to facilitate operation.

Technological advancements compel us to

change the way we think about devices which

are long beyond the mouse-and-keyboard PC.

Changes in mindset are followed by shifts in

aesthetics.

Where different needs meet

Before we address the question of whether flat

design is merely a fad or an established trend,

let us consider its origins in the first place.

First of all, flat design emerged at a time when

the market was flooded with mobile devices.

It could be argued that it is a certain compro-

mise between the needs of designers, software

developers, and, above all, app users. With flat

design, designers can use new means of ex-

pression, reduce the form, and focus on the us-

er-friendly interface and functions of the appli-

solves a number of problems faced by users

who have access to a growing volume of data

and more and more devices to handle, while

at the same time they suffer from a shortage

of time to filter the information. The fascination

with colorful and shiny interfaces and elab-

orate schemes is on the wane. Users seek

specific information, easy to find, preferably in

a straightforward manner to quickly make the

decision and close the website or application.

Nobody really cares what visual tricks have

been employed by the designer. What counts

is the performance, the pleasure derived from

smooth navigation and the general interface

experience. These aspects are of particular

importance for the devices and applications we

use on a daily basis at work. Apps designed for

entertainment are a whole different ball game.

4848

Skeuomorphism i.e. e-readers pre-

tending to be books

The opposite of flat design is skeuomorphism,

an idea used, for example, by Apple. It is a

method of designing which imitates and em-

ulates the shapes and design of real-world

objects. You can appreciate it, for example, if

you hold a book in one hand and an e-book

app-powered tablet which looks just like the

book, in the other. Both these ‘items’ can be

navigated in a similar manner. In fact, when

scrolling the pages down you can even some-

times hear the sound of a page being turned

over. As a result, the user does not have to

learn how to operate the device, since it builds

on the user’s previous experience. But what

if a given capability or application has no re-

al-world equivalent? Should we continue to

‘emulate’ reality and create visuals to imitate

actual materials, the shades they provide, and

explore the three-dimensional experience, or

Banking can be trendy too!

One of the applications that successfully uses flat design is

Comarch Smart Finance. The structure and modules, which form the

interface, can be easily distinguished in the app. Modular elements

create an impression of smooth and clear communication. This en-

sures a user-friendly experience. Flat color planes make it possible

to introduce color codes and data grading from the most important

information to secondary details. Color is not for ornamentation here,

but serves informative purposes. Some UI components can be

further reinforced or softened through contrast. With its module

-based system, the application can be designed to ensure visual

compatibility in web, mobile and tablet environments.

The idea of flat design is an opportunity to engineer new navigation

and control systems. In Comarch’s solution for mobile banking,

a standard table activating credit parameters has been replaced

with interactive infographics. Simple geometric figures and plain

colors do not put a strain on the processor which, in turn, ensures

smooth operation and makes data presentation interesting and clear.

should we rather stay in the virtual world, while

switching to a system of symbols, pictograms

and mental shortcuts?

What is important here is that flat design is

closely connected with social status. To quote

Deyan Sudjic, ‘an extended form [of the book],

its minimalistic design. Clear connection with

luxury product design: limited means of ex-

pression suggest that we are dealing with an

item which does not have to take your breath

away with its glitter, it is good in its own right’.

Such visual tools are used, for instance, for

designing perfume packaging and wine labels.

The more expensive and top-end the product,

the more basic and plain the form and the

stronger the emphasis on its features, to allow

users to use their own imagination and inter-

pretation.

New mindset, new user experience

To treat flat design as a fad would be risky, to

say the least. The idea is a vehicle not only for

changes in aesthetics, but primarily in the way

people use new devices and applications, and

the way they think about them. Flat design is

the result of a compromise between technol-

ogy and the expectations of users, designers

and developers. It is hard to predict how this

trend will develop, and even harder to imagine

we could abandon it. In fact, flat design pro-

vides vast creative opportunities. Simple and

user-friendly infographics can become intuitive

control panels, without any tables, annotations

or complicated charts. This raw and crude style

gives more room to the intellectual value of a

product. Naturally, flat design does not guaran-

tee success, but it is a direction which brings

us closer to what Dieter Rams described as

‘good design’. Let us hope that it will develop

with style, because, as Coco Chanel once said:

‘fashion fades, only style remains the same’.

DE

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Time for brevity

First of all, what changed in video-making is

a considerable reduction in length. A couple of

years ago TV ads lasting more than two min-

utes were rather common, now the majority of

productions are no longer than one minute.

A growing number of companies use video

channels for their branding operations, produc-

ing clips as short as only several seconds, or

even less. What has made such short forms

grow in popularity? Perhaps marketing special-

ists are simply cutting corners to compensate

for their laziness? Quite the opposite, actually.

It is not the outcome of indolence or forced

belt-tightening, but rather a response to the

evolving practices of Internet users, who are

more and more careful in filtering the content

Recently, the importance of video channels in marketing operations has

been strongly on the rise. Brands are more and more ready to use this

long-established medium to enrapture, astonish or even overwhelm po-

tential buyers. What has changed is the nature of such productions. Online

commercials have to appeal to the user in just a couple or several sec-

onds, because Internet users generally value their time, search for specific

content and have high expectations.

Video crazeWojciech Kuder

Online Marketing Specialist

[email protected]

Bridging the gap

What drove the progressive downsizing of

commercials was the emergence and rapid

expansion of Internet platforms such as Vine

and Instagram. The former allows its users to

they browse to protect themselves from infor-

mation overload. As a result, the average atten-

tion span for a single item has been shrinking.

The longer the video, the lower the probability

the viewer will see it in full, and the smaller the

chance that marketing objectives will be met.

50

upload six-second-long recordings, and the

latter admits clips of up to 15 seconds. Such

limits help to bridge the branding gap, also

making the viewer more involved, emphasizing

brand dynamism and forward-looking orien-

tation. On the other hand, it requires creativity

from marketing specialists, who are faced with

quite a challenge – to convey a clear message

during those several seconds. Not all brands

will feel comfortable with this form of expres-

sion. It needs to be remembered that the goal

of a marketing communication channel is in the

first place to reach a specific target audience.

In such a situation, the most universal place to

publish your video content is still YouTube. Vine

and Instagram, or the less popular MixBit and

Tumblr, are enjoying growing popularity, howev-

er this popularity remains high mainly among

people below 26 years of age.

Content is king

The number of video clips uploaded daily on

YouTube alone has long exceeded 80 thousand,

which clearly shows that competition among

video channels is currently more than fierce.

The current state of affairs is a result of mobile

technology progress and the growing availabili-

ty of smartphones which allow to record

a quality ad virtually on the spot. Quite of

a challenge in this case is to provide end users

with a comfortable viewing experience, regard-

Meet Smarty and Jim!

Scan the code to watch the cartoons!

In order to follow the latest trends, in 2014 Comarch launched a new,

original, campaign to promote Comarch Smart Finance. Smarty and

Jim, appearing in short cartoons, created by Comarch in cooperation

with SoInteractive, show how Comarch Smart Finance capabilities

can be harnessed in everyday applications.

The cartoons contain seven independent scenes (30-50 seconds

long each), available in four language versions (English, German,

French and Italian). The clips are available individually and as a single

movie, and present system functionalities, such as geolocation, mo-

bile payments and account management. The cartoons will be used

not only to promote Comarch Smart Finance online, but also during

conferences and in-between presentations, and to supplement

meetings with our clients.

less of the screen size they use. Similarly to

other marketing communication channels, the

‘content is king’ principle applies here as well.

Therefore, when working on a project, it is

important to remember that the top priority

is the content that you should try to make

as user-friendly as possible.

MA

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Interview with Wojciech Rafał Wiewiórowski, Ph.D., Inspector General for the

Protection of Personal Data (GIODO) in Poland, on the integration of banking

and social media, and personal-data leakages from financial institutions.

Social media have been gaining growing popularity in the financial sec-

tor. Banks have continued to integrate their services with popular web-

sites. Who is responsible for securing the data, e.g., during a wire trans-

fer via Facebook?

The responsibility for securing a financial transaction performed by

electronic means rests with the bank. In such situations we are dealing

not only with the protection of personal data which is of interest to the

Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data (GIODO), but also

with the compliance with some special, industry-specific regulations

which, in turn, is supervised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority

(KNF) or the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKIK).

And what consequences does the bank face for a personal-data leak-

age? What steps should be taken in such a situation?

The most obvious is the damage to its reputation. First of all, however, we

are talking of civil, penal and administrative accountability. Administrative

penalties are imposed by KNF and GIODO. Personal-data protection bod-

ies are not authorized to impose financial penalties, but they can impose

an embargo on the institution responsible for the breach which has dire

consequences. This involves a prohibition from processing personal data

in a system which does not satisfy the applicable security requirements.

Such a decision makes it impossible for a bank to operate effectively.

What is missing from the Polish legal framework is the obligation to notify

users, or bank customers, and GIODO, about any personal-data leakage.

Such a solution is, for instance, in place in the regulations related to the

telecom industry. In this situation, GIODO must be informed of any per-

Personal data in theworld of finance

Paweł A. Kozyra

Director of Communication

[email protected]

52

sonal-data leakage within 24 hours. Together we assess whether the

actions taken by the operator are sufficient, or if there is a need to in-

form the subscribers. We also evaluate if it is necessary to take a legal

action against the individuals responsible for the violation.

People often share their private data online. Insurance and debt-recov-

ery companies often use these to create personal profiles which are

used to determine, for example, the rates of insurance premiums or

creditworthiness. Are such practices legal?

TThis is a matter of awareness and education of the user. By sharing

such information online, in publicly-available venues, we run the risk

that whoever is collecting this data might find a basis for processing

them, since we have disclosed them publicly ourselves. Even if these

are not only routine information, but also sensitive data, such as our

medical records, any data-processing entity can invoke articles 23 and

27 of the Act on Personal Data Protection to claim to have the basis for

processing these data.

However, the legal basis for processing the data is one thing, and

meeting the requirements specified in the Act is another. The insurance

company is required to inform the insured person that it collects their

information in such a way, and that these are used to create a personal

profile. Such an individual has the right to verify and delete any infor-

mation which is not true, out of date, or have been collected illegally.

The recommendations of the Council of Europe on automatic profiling

systems [on the protection of individuals with regard to the automatic

processing of personal data in the context of profiling], issued in 2010,

emphasized the legality of such practices, but only after the entity re-

sponsible for the data aggregation satisfies the information obligation.

Software pre-installed on our mobile devices, such as smartphones,

or installed by ourselves individually, can collect information on our

behavior or solicit our consent for tracking, for example, our location.

What are the requirements for entities employing such practices?

Application developers do not inform us of all their functions. Such

applications can sometimes act as a Trojan horse. When we install

the app, we usually only care about quickly getting access to it. In

this rush, many people unknowingly agree to share their personal

data. However, in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act,

for the consent to serve as the basis for data processing, it has to be

provided voluntarily by a properly-informed person. The question is,

then, whether the person who decides to accept the terms of use for

an application is actually aware of what this consent entails. The key

is the terms of use which should provide information on any data-col-

lection practices. For instance, if a service provider fails to inform us

how our personal data are to be used, it is better not to take the risk

– do not download the app. If you have concluded an agreement for

a personal account with free access via mobile banking services, it

does not mean that you have consented to have your personal infor-

mation collected.

Let us recapitulate – what challenges are faced by financial institu-

tions in relation to personal data and privacy protection?

A constantly recurring question is the issue of profiling. Financial

institutions, as part of capital groups, want to use the data collected

by other institutions within their groups. But we have to remember

that the fact that it is technically possible does not necessarily make

it legal. Another challenge is the clash between the concept of pro-

tecting the financial market from criminal offenses and individual

privacy. Measures used to prevent financial, tax or insurance fraud

have become the basis for operations which are completely illegal

under other regulations. This has come to be a back door to collect

a wide range of data from citizens and excluding confidential infor-

mation which could not have been excluded before. Attorneys and

legal counsels can be released from their confidentiality obligation

in the case of money-laundering, but not in respect of genocide or

war crimes. Indeed, crimes against financial systems have been

given priority over war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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// comarch // technology review ̀ 14 53// comarch // nowe technologie ̀ 14 53

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