Major Banking Transformation

In 2019 the banking sector underwent a large transformation due to new regulatory provisions, which was also an opportunity for part of the IT companies dealing specifically with this part of the business. As the Director of Asseco SEE, Croatia, Igor Gržalja said the year was marked by different PSD2 implementation projects and new mobile solutions.

How was 2019 for you?

I am proud to say that it is the best year behind us. We took part in numerous PSD2 implementation projects, eCommerce 3DSB, mobile banking, contact centers, customer services, and positioned ourself as a reliable partner for the development of the most advanced systems. In addition, in cooperation with banks, we took part in the development of open banking and contributed to the Telekom banking sector, like Kexpay and Intesa Digital Strategy, and improved a number of services.

Digital banking is becoming more and more important and we see significant double- and triple-digit growth of end-users. Our aim is to get as many customers as possible on digital channels (notably mobile) as equal banking channels. We have therefore worked on the digital onboarding of banks’ customers and other digital banking products, on which we will continue to work intensively. Our team’s expertise can ensure that banks make use of digital channels to the best extent to ensure greater acceptance of their services.

Some of our clients now have two or three times more mobile banking customers than in 2017, thanks to our solutions, knowledge, and client flexibility. Our international team has worked on projects in many distant markets, and currently there are now solutions in Africa developed by the Croatian Asseco team. We are proud to transfer knowledge from Croatia to other markets that see the benefits of knowledge held by our experts.

2019 is also significant for us thanks to project we launched together with the Technical Faculty of the University of Rijeka, where we have provided a mentoring program for students through which they can work on difficult projects and acquire practical knowledge in the IT industry, and after completion of their studies become employees in promising teams. Such cooperation shall be a step towards further harmonization of educational programs with market needs, notably in the field of advanced technologies, the application of artificial intelligence and security in the domain of the IoT. Asseco is continuing to develop, and we will be a strong financial and stable partner for our clients in the coming years.

We entered 2020. What do you expect from this year?

We will focus on the quality of our solutions, services, and support for our clients, with whom we work together to raise the level of digitalization in Croatia and the region. We want to grow and recruit so I can announce there will be over 50 open positions in Asseco in 2020 since we plan to exceed 200 employees.

In 2020 we plan to upgrade our existing solutions to be more robust and present new solutions in the market, notably in the domain of mobile banking, eGovernment, contact centers, digital signatures and digital customer sales, as well as digital sales of banking products. We expect further business and revenue growth and expansion into new international markets. We plan to continue dealing with markets in which I see our priority, notable markets in CEE and Africa.

Concerning regulatory changes in the financial sector, we expect to transform the traditional banking business further and to offer new, mostly mobile financial services. Given the start of open banking, we also have to increase demand for system security solutions to which we plan to work actively.

We believe that in the coming years, we will increas the influence of AI technologies in our solutions, making financial services more relevant and personalized. We strongly believe that new knowledge and technologies can bring financial services to market customers. We have a very interesting period ahead, and believe in our expertise, people, and those who want to join us in the digital transformation of customers, which will complement their business and secure the future.