Banking leader in technologies
The Santander Bank Polska S.A. Group is one of the largest financial groups in terms of assets and the largest privately-owned bank in Poland. It is a leader in the market when it comes to utilizing modern technologies in banking services, consistently building its brand with the strategic goal of becoming the best bank for its customers. Santander Bank Polska's top priority is customer satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, the bank regularly introduces innovative features to its offerings, helping individuals take care of their personal finances and efficiently manage business finances. Companies within the Santander Bank Polska Group provide services such as investment funds, insurance, leasing, and factoring, among others.
Digitization of business processes
Santander Bank Polska, in its pursuit of optimizing internal processes, decided to reduce the use of paper in document circulation. The elimination of physical documents was intended to simplify and expedite customer service and internal operations.
The first phase of digitization targeted leasing and factoring services, as well as the bank's interactions with its external environment, including contracts with suppliers, communication with customers, brokerage houses, and financial reports submitted to the National Court Register (eKRS). In the subsequent stage, the project extended to the HR area.
To ensure compliance with Polish and EU laws, digital versions of paper documents with signatures and seals require the use of trusted services as defined in the European eIDAS Regulation. That is why the bank chose Asseco Data Systems, a provider of qualified trust services, for its digitization project. These services include mobile electronic signatures (SimplySign), qualified validation, and qualified electronic seals.
Santander Bank Polska and Asseco Data Systems initiated collaboration on the "Paperless Project" in June 2017. This ongoing partnership has resulted in numerous pioneering digitalization projects in the financial industry in both the Polish and European markets.
Qualified trust services
As part of the "Paperless Project," Asseco and Santander Bank Polska specialists collaborated to build the Online Trust Services Platform, an internal portal for bank employees to electronically sign, seal, and validate documents. This platform was developed according to a joint idea and aimed at digitizing various types of documents, including internal documents (e.g., resolutions and directives), contracts with suppliers, contracts with customers, and financial reports for the National Court Register (eKRS).
The platform was integrated with the external Asseco Certification Authority via a trust service gateway, which is a specialized and highly efficient mechanism for remote and mass sealing of electronic bank documents. Due to the substantial volume of e-documents requiring signatures and seals, including in processes related to issuing credit cards, Asseco experts also created a queuing system to manage the flow of bank documents for e-signature and e-sealing.
The introduction of digital documents presented an opportunity to implement qualified electronic seals, meeting the requirements for a "durable medium."
Positive experiences and benefits from these solutions prompted the bank to offer qualified electronic signature (SimplySign) to its customers as well. This initiative gained significance during the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated tools for conducting business with limited face-to-face interactions. Qualified electronic signature was such a tool, allowing for the remote signing of documents by both advisors and clients.
Santander Bank Polska employees support customers in obtaining qualified electronic signatures. To facilitate a fully remote SimplySign issuance process, electronic identity confirmation (eID) was introduced for customer identity verification. Clients can acquire qualified electronic signatures through Santander online banking.
The latest stage of the Paperless Project is "Paperless HR," which focuses on the digitization of human resources processes. The new solutions aim to be user-friendly and straightforward for employees, managers, administrators, and system users, following the principles of total experience. Consequently, all HR documentation in the bank is now maintained in electronic form. Furthermore, any employee with a qualified electronic signature can use it in the HR self-service portal to sign their HR documents.
The Online Trust Services Platform built in the project, connected to Asseco's Certification Authority, handles over 2.5 million operations per month. Between 2017 and 2022, the platform processed 91.5 million e-signatures and e-seals.
Asseco also provides SSL certificates for website security and offers technical support and SLA services for all implemented solutions in the bank.
The "Paperless Project" at Santander Bank Polska is an ongoing process divided into stages launched cyclically based on the bank's needs. It is characterized by the maximum reusability of deployed components, centralized procurement of trust services, and the incremental development of the Online Trust Services Platform used by the bank and other companies within the Santander Bank Polska Group.
- Efficient management of internal document circulation andbanking processes
- Elimination of the need for manual document signing
- Instant delivery of signed documentation to recipients
- Cost reduction and shortened business process executiontimes
- A secure and convenient solution for handling electronicdocuments
