Information Technology

In 2009, the Bank implemented its adopted information technology strategy, while continuing the consolidation of its IT architecture to reduce the number of solutions in use and to increase cost-effectiveness. In addition, great focus was directed towards developing solutions to provide high-quality customer support services, commencing to revamp e-banking for natural persons and ensuring compliance with laws, and completing consolidation of supports after mergers by abandoning all solutions in the affiliated banks.

In order to control costs, in 2009 NLB started to more intensely take over the IT support for packages and solutions acquired during the past years, while continuing its cooperation with local IT suppliers in software development. In the coming years, major projects will focus on upgrading electronic and mobile banking solutions for both banking and non-banking products, as well as consolidating support in securities. The Bank will continue to include local IT suppliers along with its own experts on its projects in order to obtain and preserve the necessary expertise.

In retail banking the support system is very stable as the transfer of knowledge has practically been concluded and the Bank is in a position to perform necessary upgrades itself. Upgrading the support system was carried out in line with new products, more efficient counter services, and meeting regulator requirements. The Bank thus provided users with greater security for card payments via etransactions and for e-banking in general. The most important improvements in this area are linked to the development of a support system to provide clients with uniform service desk. Via supporting electronic channels, the Bank integrated solutions to manage clients’ card transactions and thus increase efficiency. In 2009, NLB started to upgrade retail e-banking solutions, facilitating a modular approach to provide customers with solutions in which they may tailor available functionalities to meet their needs. The upgrade will also ensure the completion of security architecture solutions in order to facilitate an efficient and cost-managable introduction of security solutions, while taking into consideration recognized threats from the environment. By continuing to phase in the e-archive, NLB has enhanced the back office departments’ efficiency and providing individual key retailers with the introduction of POS IP-connectivity.

In corporate banking, immediately after concluding the introduction of the T24-system, NLB started to upgrade T24 (i.e., transition to a four-level higher version) while replacing the database with DB2 as the Bank’s strategic platform. The project was extraordinarily challenging, and yet the transition was carried out without any disruptions to the Bank’s business operations. Furthermore, the Bank continued transferring the business accounts from the old support system and preparing a strategy for their actual elimination after concluding the process within the next two years. In 2009, NLB developed a support system for guarantees and will start transferring the respective accounts to T24 at the beginning of 2010. The POND investment approval support solution was continuously adapted to the introduction requirements of the support system for guarantees and other products in T24. Along with its partners, the Bank successfully introduced electronic exchange of invoices and their integration in e-banking, which will provide NLB’s clients with simplified business operations in the future.

Regarding the payment support system,the majority of activities in 2009 were linked to NLB’s successful introduction and integration in the standardized SEPA payment system. The Bank fulfilled and introduced all requirements in due time, except for the SEPA DD payments, because at the national level the decision was made to postpone the introduction to 2010. By revamping the direct debit system (ADONIS), preparing solutions for the transformation of mass payments, starting the migration of inter-bank standing orders, and completing the foreign currency cross-border payment support system and the international rent payment support system, the objectives of simplifying the IT architecture and economizing IT processes were fulfilled. Thus, several additional old applications could be eliminated. In 2009, the Bank also carried out adjustments linked to the implementation of the new Payment Services Act (transfer of European laws into the Slovenian legal system, Payment Service Directive).

In order to better manage financial instruments trading risks, NLB introduced the Kondor + TP system for trading support for derivatives. In the course of the year, the Bank changed the trust fund support system, thereby starting to simplify support in the custody segment. Furthermore, NLB continued to revamp its brokerage support system and to analyze solutions on the market suited for introduction in the support system to directly include customers in e-trading systems.

Reporting was often changed over the past years because the regulators kept changing requirements. In 2009, the Bank introduced key changes by implementing a standardized client and client group register in the NLB Group, as well as a comprehensive system disclosing the NLB Group’s business relationship with individual clients or client groups. In order to better manage risks, in compliance with the Basel II provisions, the Bank prepared a standardized support system for managing and assessing investment insurance. In 2009, all mortgages were recorded and, in the future, all other collateral will be recorded in the support system.

In 2009, the Bank selected the new ERP support system (Enterprise Resource Planning). The PEXIM package will be introduced and used in the general ledger as of January 1, 2010. During the first half of the year, its overall integration in the Bank’s information system will be finalized.

In IT infrastructure, the Bank established IP-links to all of its branches, as well as a BA-pilot link that will and has already resulted in considerable savings in communications, while improving opportunities for monitoring and developing new ATM services. The extranet technical support system introduced last year enabled secure connection by NLB Group members and an effective introduction of common solutions. The Bank carried out an overall system and communication upgrade of all platforms and relational databases, as well as of the operational system on the mainframe computer. Moreover, a quarter of the workstations saw an upgrade of their Vista operating system. In the future, the Bank will focus on projects to introduce a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) and virtualize server systems. With the introduction of the internationally acknowledged COBIT framework in 2009, the Bank continued its activities to improve IT processes in order to decrease operational risks. The Bank’s IT center maintains its ISO 9001 quality certificate despite changing the assessor after ten years. In 2009 NLB also managed a high online availability rate at a yearly average of 99.75%.

In 2009, NLB continued to play a more active role in directing information technology projects within the Group. Packages used in member banks of the NLB Group were further standardized, contributing to easier merger of individual banks and standardized business operations. This will enable the NLB Group to create suitable IT support centers to prepare individual solutions and to improve the quality of its relations with suppliers. NLB’s IT experts are actively involved in projects revamping the IT system of these banks, as well as in determining and introducing standardized security and other IT standards.