Supporting trade finance products at Raiffeisen Bank Polska S.A.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Back in 2009 Raiffeisen Bank Polska required a modern solution to manage a growing number of Trade finance products as well as an overwhelming amount of related paperwork.

At that time the bank had been issuing around 300 guarantees a month, delivered to destinations across the country and abroad. As the process was highly formalized, requiring a series of official approvals before the submission of each issuance order to the bank, it consumed a great deal of time and effort.

While waiting for green lights to move forward with not only guarantees but letters of credit as well, both the bank and the corporates it catered to kept being flooded with a torrent of paper documents, which gradually took its toll on everyone.

PROJECT CHALLENGES

First: many corporates were used to processing Trade finance products in the previous way of exchanging e-mails or sending faxes, delivering documents in hard copies and signing issuance orders in pen. It did work, but there was a lot of room for improvement.

That’s just why the bank has come forward with a concept of digitizing the process, which was subsequently fine-tuned in the course of numerous brainstorming sessions involving both Comarch and Raiffeisen employees.

Second: the bank’s key customers included well-known European retailers who would use the Trade finance module on a daily basis, so providing them with a second-best solution was not an option. To up the ante, Raiffeisen decided to not only merge the module with their corporate banking system working 24/7, but also to notify corporates by email on a progress of any given operation – just to ensure that all parties are kept thoroughly informed.

PROJECT RESULTS / BENEFITS

Thanks to the new tool, Raiffeisen’s customers can order bank guarantees, open letters of credit and manage these products in one system, without visiting the branch office. These improvements translated into better performance of the bank.

Raiffeisen was provided with Guarantees Online, a tool within the Trade finance module, enabling corporates to apply for guarantees easily and keep a detailed track record of the process. All of this is available around the clock with minimum paperwork involved.

Corporates can now also request issuance of a guarantee or open a letter of credit in the online banking system, which saves time and money, the more so as the request instantly reaches the relevant bank employee who is able to make tailored suggestions as to the guarantee model and confirm LC documents online.

SOLUTION COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

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