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Drive by Connectivity, Automation & Analytics: SEB

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, or SEB, promotes digitization as much as it operates as an established bank:

Sweden’s Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, popularly called SEB, is more known for its IT prowess and innovations than for its operations as a bank. Use of technology and the fruits of innovation are very much the DNA of the 160-year-old institution. It has been a pioneer in design thinking and in the use of methods like Service Design and UX Design.

SEB had set up an Innovation Lab in 2015 to encourage its employees to discuss and implement their ideas and create new solutions. It also conducts hackathons on different topics and propels its employees to challenge traditional methods and evolve newer and more effective solutions. This no doubt brings in ultimate benefit to the bank’s customers. One key area where the bank has been proactive is to help its customer corporates to evolve innovative financing solutions – green bonds and microfinance funding, for example.

SEB offers corporate, retail and SME banking services. As part of the corporate and institutional banking, it has products in life insurance, pensions, shipping and real estate financing, transaction services, capital markets, investment banking, asset management, venture capital and investor services. The retail and SME banking segment includes savings, lending, digital services, exchange and finance, overseas services and wealth management. It reaches its customers through a network of branches, ATMs and online portals.

The bank offers a full range of financial services in Sweden and the Baltic countries, and corporate and investment banking services in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany and the UK.

PROMOTING FINTECHS

The bank’s Lighthouse Development Program, launched in 2018 in partnership with Mastercard and NFT Ventures is focused on fintech startups. The program supports promising fintech startups, helping them develop products and services as well as establish collaborations with financial institutions and investors.

Innovation Lab set up by the bank is an innovation agency that works to develop innovative business solutions. The Lab brings together internal IT skills, business expertise and specialists, through hackathons and design sprints to develop ideas that address challenges in the banking sector.

MAKING USE OF NEW TECH

The bank has a unique initiative to exploit new technologies. Called SEBx and launched in 2018, it examines new technologies and tune them to banking requirements, study and develop alternative technical platforms and create newer customer offerings. SEBx has partnerships with technology service providers like Google Cloud and Thought Machine.

Similarly, another of its effort is SEB Singular, which offers advice to corporates on digital business models and strategies. Various business units of the bank work with corporate customers, technology companies and investors to create suitable cutting edge digital processes.

3 FOCUS AREAS

As part of its technology innovation efforts, the bank’s main focus is on connectivity, automation and analytics. The thrust is to enhance customer experience, increase speed and robustness, reduce risks and save time. It uses AI, ML, data analytics and cloud technology in this effort.

The bank has been able to set up a robust IT infrastructure to run its digital channels. One of the unique offers is a mobile app, using which customers can buy and sell mutual funds. Its mobile channel accounts for more than 80% of its customer interactions.

A BAAS PLATFORM

The bank has created SEB Embedded, a unique Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, using Vault Core, a cloud-based core banking system offered by UK-based banking technology service provider Thought Machine. One of the platform’s offers is a current account, called the Hemkop Matkonto, now being used by a leading Swedish supermarket chain. Hemköp Matkonto has modules like budget management, spending-linked rewards, etc. The bank has said it will shortly introduce more such products for the Swedish market.

SEB has collaborated with Singapore’s regtech firm Blacksmith KYC to automate its data collection and management capabilities.

AI FOR FOREX TRADE

The bank has been using AI to analyze the foreign exchange market. It has integrated AI to its forex trading system so that traders have state-of-the-art tools to analyze data, identify patterns and ultimately have more effective decision-making processes. The system has the capability to identify customers who have a need so that the bank can swiftly address that need.

The bank has a Group Data Analytics unit, which has 3 focus areas – helping business divisions implement prioritised data-driven projects, strengthening the bank’s overall ability to work in a data-driven manner by creating tools, routines and governance models for ML, AI and data analytics, and focusing on research, innovation and new technology.

The bank says its partnership with Google Cloud has helped it to stay at the forefront of technology innovation. As part of this partnership, the bank uses Google Cloud’s Security Command Center to monitor systems, identify misconfigurations and detect threats. Similarly, Google Cloud is also used to calculate the cost of each transaction and optimize resource allocation.

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This article has been compiled based on publicly available information on the web, particularly the bank’s own website.


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