A Question of Trust: ICT Services for the CEE Financial Sector

The financial sector is always on the go and new ways of working and communicating require new kinds of ICT solutions and services. A glance at the financial industry in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) offers insight as to how Deutsche Telekom is supporting its bank and insurance customers there. In this article, we will have a closer look at some of the markets where Deutsche Telekom is present: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Hungary and Romania.

We have a long history of partnership with various banks in the CEE region. In Romania, we offer a complete portfolio of ICT solutions to presently 40 banks (e.g. BCR Erste, BRD Societe Generale) and around a dozen insurance companies. In the Czech Republic, we work together for example with Raiffeisen, Czech National Bank or UNIQUA insurance company. In Greece, our customers include all significant banking institutions: National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank, Eurobank, Piraeus Bank, Attica Bank, HSBC, Central Bank of Greece as well as large insurance companies (e.g. INTERAMERICAN of ACHMEA Group). In Hungary our references are Allianz, Aegon, Erste Bank and in Slovakia Allianz, Tatra Banka and ZUNO BANK. All of these cooperations are based on our long-standing experience in the CEE region and our competencies within a comprehensive range of communication and IT solutions for the financial sector.

One of our future-oriented services for the financial industry that is in high demand in all CEE countries is personalized solutions – specially designed for clients’ needs and requirements. With our full range of communication and IT competencies we support our bank customers in ensuring a high level of availability, information security, cost optimization and an effectiveness boost of their activities.

As a result of this approach, we developed a diversified catalog of ICT services for each CEE country: In Hungary we use, for example, cloud-based core banking solutions and flexible “Pay Per Branch” IT. In Greece we offer service level agreement (SLA) and off-site ATM connectivity for banks, provided via secure IP VPN transportation channels and 3G/ 4G back up. And in Romania we are working on Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDI). In Slovakia we were the first to introduce the biometric signature for our customer Tatra Banka. For Allianz we optimize core insurance processes through salesforce automation and claims management solutions. Furthermore, we have accompanied  ZUNO BANK since their first banking operations on the Slovak market.

Safe, digital transition
Our business customers in CEE are constantly confronted with changing professional  standards and regulation, as banks attempt to keep pace with the digital transformation of society and the economy. The increased use of digital channels and mobile devices makes it more challenging to retain customers, as competition is often literally just a click away!

Therefore it is vital to attract and retain the attention of end customers by providing relevant information across all channels at all times. Czech video banking and voice biometrics in Hungary are just some examples for innovative channel solutions that we supply to our business customers. To realise this, we work together with a number of multinational and national partners in the CEE region providing IT (e.g. IBM, HP, Cisco, SAS) and finance sector-specific solutions (e.g. MISYS).

Another constant topic is the drive for improved security in the financial sector. For our customers this has always been a high priority. The big challenges with security requirements are as varied as they are demanding – especially when financial services are moving into the digital and mobile realm. Malicious software, phishing tools and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks aimed at overwhelming server traffic by generated standard-use overload, remain a serious danger!

With our portfolio and expertise, we enable business customers in the banking sector to protect themselves, their end customers and all related data. Moreover we provide a secure environment for financial services, especially with mobile applications and digital channels. Financial services companies must remain competitive in an industry, where reliability is paramount to preserve the trust of their customers. New ICT solutions can be an asset here. Deutsche Telekom ensures they can be maximally trusted to achieve this.