Banking on a positive partnership Project partner
Banking on a positive partnership Moneta Money Bank's CIO, Jiri Mizera, describes the successes the company has enjoyed, in spite of the pandemic, thanks to its collaboration with Fiserv
Written by
Nell Walker
Produced by
Alex Page
Mo n eta M oney Bank
www.theinterface.net
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T
he past six months has been a
with their own plans for improvement and
time of change for us all, but the
expansion when many others have had
digital banking sector has experi-
to press pause. Now, with the business
enced an unexpected shove in the direc-
world beginning to see the light at the end
tion it was already moving in. Lockdowns
of the tunnel, banks are actually thriv-
all over the world meant businesses
ing; this is certainly the case for Moneta
remained shut for weeks or months,
Money Bank, a trailblazer in the market.
taking all exchanges of money online,
We spoke with CIO, Jiri Mizera, about
and even now, many bricks-and-mortar
the company’s digital transformation,
businesses which have since reopened
and its collaboration with Fiserv which
aren’t accepting cash. Banks and digi-
has helped it to stay on course during a
tal financial services have been able to
pandemic.
reap the benefits of this, and forge ahead
Mo n eta M oney Bank
Moneta is the fourth largest bank in
the Czech Republic in terms of number
strategy and the ongoing improvement
of clients, serving around one 1,500,000
of the bank of the future, in its own right;
retail customers, as well as 10,000 small
currently, it’s full steam ahead with creat-
businesses and entrepreneurs. Formerly
ing refinancing and mortgage services
GE Money Bank, Moneta went IPO in
online – basically, almost all of the prod-
2016, and its main goal was to become
ucts in its portfolio can be offered either
a digital innovator in the Czech market
fully online, or as a hybrid digital/physical
– something it has certainly achieved.
service.
Now, it provides extensive digital program
Moneta has tackled digital transforma-
and job transformation information, and
tion in the most successful way it knows
was the first bank to introduce current
how – it started with a vision of what it
accounts online in the region back in
wanted to deliver, and set up strategic
2017. Moneta is deeply focused on digital
goals to achieve that, tackling challenges
“ We are very customer-centric, which is proven by our rankings” — J i ri Mizera
Moneta m o n ey ban k
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Partners in Possibility Collaboration drives business results and consumer value in commerce and financial services.
Proud to partner with Moneta Money Bank
Mo n eta M oney Bank
fiserv.com
as they appeared. It was never a case of just hoping that positive results would come to the business; the strategy is continuously being updated, and the though process is always ‘what do we want to achieve?’, followed by ‘how can we enable that?’. Mizera himself joined Moneta in 2017 as the Head of Commercial Digital Banking. For almost two years, he worked closely with entrepreneur clients, mostly, and implemented business unsecured loan, overdraft and credit card services, fully online, for both existing and new Moneta customers. “It was very appreciated by them,” says Mizera, humbly. “When that project was finished, it was agreed that I’d be promoted to Chief Strategic Change Officer. ” In March this year, Mizera was promoted once again, to CIO.
A sustainable outlook The biggest task in the last two years,
Moneta uses something called a multi-
for Mizera, has been the implementa-
card solution, which means it moves all of
tion of a new card management system
its processing into the Fiserv data centre,
platform for all cards related operations,
integrated with Amazon Web Services
with Fiserv as partner. Moneta is an early
cloud, where Moneta is moving the major-
adopter of top-tier technologies such
ity of its operations, providing something
as ApplePay or GooglePay; meanwhile,
close to software-as-a-service. “With that
the Czech Republic is one of the lead-
approach, we have reduced our running
ing countries in e-shop penetrations and
costs dramatically,” Mizera explains. “It
contactless payments usage. Therefore,
also allows us a great platform with all
the shift has been a huge challenge.
the advantages of other banks who use www.theinterface.net
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“ It has been an honour to work with the professionals at Fiserv” — Ji ri Mi zera Moneta money ba nk
the same platform.” He admits that this
country only has three EVs per 10,000
wasn’t his own idea – it was down to the
people; in France and Germany, it’s
board of directors, especially the CEO
three per 1,000 people. One of the major
– but it feeds into Mizera’s future-orien-
issues is that there aren’t enough charg-
tated vision for Moneta. “Sharing an infra-
ing points across the country, so despite
structure with top-tier banks across the
the interest of civilians and businesses,
globe is really big thing for us, and, overall,
it’s not a viable choice for many. This
reduction of costs between banks is quite
is where innovators like Moneta come
innovative. When Fiserv explained whole
in – the company has made the choice
concept, we were definitely in”
to use electric vehicles for the sake of
That future-orientated outlook extends
the environment, which is precisely the
beyond the internal workings of Moneta
kind of bold move which makes broader
and into the way it physically operates.
change and will push those in charge to
Interestingly for a bank, it is the company
install more charging points, thus push-
with the biggest electric car fleet in the
ing the EV market in the Czech Republic
country – around 70 cars. “The decision
and allowing it to catch up with the rest of
behind that was mainly to do with sustain-
Europe in its adoption.
ability,” Mizera says. “Cost comes into it
It’s this attitude which has helped
too, but the sustainability aspect is reso-
cement Moneta as the most digitally-ad-
nating across Europe, so it’s a wise solu-
vanced, forward-thinking bank. “We are
tion for the environment.”
very customer-centric, which is proven
Interest in electric cars (EVs) as been
by our rankings,” Mizera says. “We really
mounting, in the Czech Republic, but
tackled our digital transformation from
they’re far from an everyday sight on the
a positive angle, with the goal of deliver-
road. According to Delta-EE.com, the
ing something, and set up a strategy to
Mo n eta M oney Bank
achieve that. That strategy is regularly
the agile way of working that changed –
updated, made possible by how agile we
for the better – led by customer feedback.
are as a business.”.”
We were able to implement the support of government guarantees, thanks to
The impact of COVID-19
our drive towards agile working, and we
Of course, a digital transformation never
achieved amazing market share of 15% -
really ends – it just continues to evolve. At
more than double our usual market share,
the beginning of this year, before COVID-
which is roughly six per cent.”
19 became something that changed all
Moneta’s success during COVID-19
of our lives dramatically, Moneta had a
doesn’t end there; its partnership with
strong, clear road map in mind; when
Fiserv allowed Moneta to implement its
the pandemic hit, surprisingly – and
FirstVision migration – its move to the
impressively – little of that changed.
cloud, as touched on earlier – even during
“Strategically, the plan remained very
this global crisis. “It was something we
much the same,” says Mizera. “It was just
chose as one of our strategic priorities,” www.theinterface.net
9
explains Mizera. “The change itself has been huge, for several reasons. Firstly, there were more than 28,000 mendays on call, and more than 200 people – during peak times – which, of course, is pretty challenging. We were delivering whole solution impacting 28+ of banking systems around nine agile teams delivering integrated demos, every six weeks. I believe that was one of the reasons why the implementation was successful, because we were always able to deploy, on time, a workable solution. That was a good experience.” There were challenges, of course, but Moneta foresaw these, and set up the window for migration a long tine in
and we didn’t know how the situation was
advance. Another boon was that Fiserv
going to go, but we needed to support
has huge experience in transformations
our clients. Obviously, we decided to
such as these, and helped Moneta to
go ahead with the migration but run it
run, essentially, dress rehearsals – four
completely off-site – which, I believe, was
training sessions in preparation for the
a first for Fiserv. After my son’s birth, it
migration weekend – for the teams. There
was definitely the most challenging time
were, in Mizera’s words, “a thousand
of my life! But it was really successful,
tasks which needed to be done” between
and it has been an honour to work with
Friday evening and Monday morning,
the professionals at Fiserv and the whole
but the company and its trusted partner
team. It was really ‘fire of our life’ as my
achieved what it wanted to achieve.
boss Albert Van Veen once said.”
“I have to give credit to everyone involved – we all agreed that it was almost
The results
unbelievable that we managed that inte-
Post-implementation, FirstVision has
gration in given conditions,” Mizera says.
proven stable – a primary concern after
“The pandemic added a lot of pressure,
a huge implementation. After watching
Mo n eta M oney Bank
the new system closely for the first
accepted. A lot has changed, more
few months, everything has worked
recently, because we’re able to sign
out smoothly, and Moneta continues to
contracts digitally and accept much more
receive strong support from Fiserv. As an
advanced credit scoring. And, of course,
added bonus, Moneta is already seeing
when you consider how COVID-19 has
the financial benefits of having made this
pushed remote approvals, that has defi-
change, and will continue to do so – after
nitely changed customer nature. We have
all, the push towards digital banking has
a huge online portfolio, now, so we’re
only been accelerated by COVID-19.
entirely ready for the continued change in
“Going digital has created a huge change in the target operating model,
customer needs. “This transformation isn’t finished – it
and in customer behaviour,” says Mizera.
won’t ever be – and we’re always adjust-
“Even in the Czech market, we had a lot
ing to what the customers need accord-
of new banks, in the past, who were able
ing to their feedback. We take that feed-
to offer, for example, current accounts
back very seriously, and this is why I
online but they couldn’t be fully online
believe we will continue to be successful
because the digital signature was not
in the future.” www.theinterface.net
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