B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W
Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer at BRD – Groupe Société Générale, says digital transformation is just one piece of the business-wide business transformation puzzle.
Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Tom Barnes
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BRD – GROUPE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE IS A ROMANIAN BANK, MEMBER OF SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE GROUP, AND CURRENTLY THE COUNTRY’S THIRD LARGEST BANK BY ASSETS.
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he bank has signed several firsts for the Romanian banking system. For instance, BRD launched the first credit card in Romania, back in 1995. The bank is one of the initiators of contactless technology in Romania, has launched the first NFC technology pilot in the Romanian banking system, and offered innovative functionalities for its mobile banking app (‘Split the Bill’, money transfers to a phone number, money transfers
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between two mobile phones by touch, Romania’s first account aggregator). In 2018, the bank’s customers made more than seven million mobile and online transactions. The company’s Chief Digital Officer, Florin-Leonard Boldescu, is primarily responsible for accelerating business digitalisation, pushing forward production by building projects that have a direct impact on fast and consistent business digitalisation. Florin
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explained, “I have experience in innovation and driving digitalisation. It’s about looking outside and inside the organisation, finding new ways to do business, then testing them and trying to absorb them into the dayto-day business.” BRD is currently in the midst of a business-wide business transformation, in which digital transformation plays a part. The programme was launched around two years ago, incorporating all strata of the organisation. It outlines a list of projects,
“BANKS ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE NOW OPERATING IN A DIGITAL CONTEXT” Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer
initiatives, tactic and strategic directions, with the sole objective of improving the way the company does business for the benefit of its customers. Florin said, “Digital transformation is one element of the businesswide enterprise programme. It is delivered mainly by the Digital Hub, which is a place that gathers specific digital projects from all areas of the organisation, executed in agile methodology. The main objective is to accelerate the business digitalisation and improve time to market and the customer experience. At the same time, we need to diffuse this new way of working, supporting each other in order to have success.” The Digital Hub is therefore the main delivery arm of digital projects, but there are teams throughout the company working on digital projects. Outside the Hub, there are more than 30 teams working on projects. Florin added, “The whole company is changing, as well as the wider environment. Banks all over the world are now operating in a digital context.”
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“I AM ALWAYS ATTRACTED TO NEW THINGS. WE HAVE ACCESS TO FANTASTIC TECHNOLOGIES RIGHT NOW, AND IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE WORKING IN THIS INDUSTRY” Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer
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ContALL was Romania’s first multiaccount navigator, launched by BRD in November 2018. The service allows BRD customers to manage all of their finances in one place, one app and one interface. There are currently eight national banks and two international banks involved in the project. Florin said, “We didn’t launch a fresh product in the traditional sense, but with fast experimentation, we were able to test the water and decide whether to scale up or down. It was one of the first agile projects for BRD. It was exciting to see this kind of working model in operation and having great results. Our vision for the future is to invest in it in terms of the
number of banks and the quality of service, building more value for our customers. I expect to see more and more examples like ContALL on the market in the next six to 12 months.” Open banking brings challenges for traditional banks, but BRD likes to put a positive spin on the threat by viewing it as an opportunity. Florin explained, “We live in a world where individuals want to be more mobile, have more access, and expect a frictionless experience. Open banking offers a natural way to take advantage of this kind of environment, finding and implementing new ways of doing business. It allows banks to share
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customer data, but I think is should also serve as a catalyst for a new way of financial innovation.” In the next three to four years, each of the top five banks in Romania will probably have around one million digitally-active customers, and this new banking world presents many challenges for them. Florin said, “Aside from the excitement of new products or services, we also need to figure out how to implement them, not just from a business perspective,
“TECHNOLOGY HAS A WAY OF CHANGING CULTURE AND BRINGING ABOUT DIFFERENT WAYS OF DOING THINGS” Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer
but also in terms of security or social responsibility, for example. It is essential to consider how the consumer will use the service, providing support where necessary. Every change involves some form of education, and we therefore need to discuss with our customers what we are doing and why. BRD is focused on talking about our products and services for our customers in order to support them, share experiences, and educate them on how they can enhance their lives.” Talking of enhancing lives, Florin said he is having the time of his life working at BRD at the moment! He explained, “I am always attracted to new things. We have access to fantastic technologies right now, and it’s a great time to be working in this industry. I love building new things, experimenting and driving change, but what is really exciting for me is to see how the people around me are adapting to this new game. Technology has a way of changing culture and bringing about different ways of doing things. For me, that is the really fun part!” For further information on BRD, visit www.brd.ro 13
0800 803 803 mybrdcontact@brd.ro www.brd.ro