Credits for people and companies
Santander Consumer Bank – a Credit bank belonging to the Spanish Santander Group, which has been present in Poland since 2001. It offers a wide range of credit products for individuals and businesses. It conducts sale through 321 branches and a network of cooperating facilities – over 27 thousand stores and markets and 1000 car dealers and used car dealers.
Digitization of credit agreements conclusion process
The dynamic growth and high sales volumes of financial products prompted Santander Consumer Bank to look for a solution that would enable it to digitize the process of concluding credit agreements. The institution wanted to increase the speed, efficiency, and comfort of nearly 30 thousand business partners' advisors, who handle 350 thousand of clients annually. The bank wanted to improve the quality of customer service and refine the existing "paper" document workflow, which was not only time-consuming but also prolonged the time of issuing decisions on granting credit or its disbursement. This required the use of IT solutions compliant with eIDAS, an EU regulation specifying requirements for electronic signatures and transactions. To implement this project, the bank chose Asseco Data Systems (ADS), a leader in the trust services market in Poland. The company was responsible for implementing trust services and providing full support, which included technological, legal, and organizational aspects.
Asseco's qualified security and trust services
The first part of the project, which began in December 2019, was to analyse the existing process of concluding credit agreements and identify Santander Consumer Bank's needs and requirements for the new system. It had to meet the high-security requirements of the delivered products so that the components implemented in the bank's infrastructure ensured full confidentiality of the signed credit agreements.
The project included the implementation of Asseco's security and trust products and services, including:
- Trust Gateways (Signature and Validation) used, respectively, in the signing and validation process, along with components enabling the creation of advanced one-off signatures.
- Dedicated web application to enable making electronic signatures on credit agreements.
- Advanced one-time signature via text message for authorization of agreements by customers
- Qualified seal in the SimplySign service to authorize agreements on behalf of SCB.
- Qualified validation service.
After the main work on the system was completed, a pilot test was carried out with a selected group of business partners. In the next stage, Santander Consumer Bank, in cooperation with Asseco, began gradually implementing the new solution in the entire sales network.
The project was carried out in observance of the SCRUM methodology, which means that subsequent elements of the solution were delivered incrementally and iteratively. This allowed the client to verify the progress of the work at every stage.The electronic process of concluding credit agreements launched across the network in November 2020.
The combined teams of Santander Consumer Bank and ADS, consisting of 20 experts each, were responsible for its implementation.
The “Voice of Customer” survey of 345 Santander Consumer Bank advisors who can use a digital signature, conducted using CATI, found that implementing an electronic sales process reduced the time to conclude a credit agreement by 30%.
It also contributed to the improvement of the quality of work of advisors in the network of the bank’s partners, of whom as many as 80% emphasized the simplicity of the new process, and 40% appreciated the possibility of concluding a credit agreement without using a single sheet of paper.
Efficient, secure, and digital sales process
- Unburdening the back-office
- High level of security
- Faster credit decision
- Full confidentiality of data
- Reduction of paperwork
- Easier sales management
- Increase in the quality of services provided
