Sync NI meets Danske Bank’s Gerard McStravick to talk about the crucial role the bank’s digital transformation and data teams have played in driving its response to the challenges of coronavirus
There has been a lot of talk about Myrtle in Danske Bank lately.
That’s because Myrtle has played an important part in the bank’s efforts over the past six months to help customers impacted by Covid-19 disruption.
It was Myrtle that was the initial point of contact for customers submitting loan applications through the UK Government’s hastily arranged Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) which needed to be processed more quickly than the bank had ever processed loan applications before.
The name might suggest that Myrtle is long-serving and highly efficient member of the bank’s staff, perhaps someone who has worked in the same branch for 30 years. In fact, Myrtle is a robot.
The name was assigned by Danske’s Digital Transformation and Data team to make it easier to talk about the robotic development aspect of the project after constantly referring to its original code number became cumbersome.
Gerard McStravick, Head of Digital Transformation and Data at Danske Bank, explains that while the naming of Myrtle was a bit of fun, the project to launch the robot was a critical one because it enabled the bank to process a huge number of loan applications from businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“When the government announced the Bounce Back Loan Scheme we realised that the volume of applications meant that the process to apply for these government backed loans would need to be automated,” he says.
“In just seven days, our team had to build an end-to-end solution that would speed up the handling of loan applications, with automated approval, digital signing and automated product fulfilment options that made it easy for the customer. The solution launched on time and has meant that 70% of customers applying for loans through the scheme were able to be handled digitally.”
To date, more than 8,000 customers have had loan applications processed using the Myrtle system and through it the bank has been able to lend close to £200m to support our business banking customers and the NI economy.
“It has had a huge impact for customers and as a team we are very proud of that. In some cases customers had a digital facility letter with them less than 10 minutes after applying. Customers told us they were impressed by how quickly their application was turned around, which is really satisfying for the team,” he adds.
Gerard admits that when Covid-19 struck and lockdowns started to be imposed, the automation agenda the bank had been working on initially went on hold.
But very quickly, the need became apparent for non-human solutions to handle the volume of applications being received for some of the support mechanisms introduced both by the government and Danske Bank itself.
“A lot of measures were announced in quick succession which needed automated processes, for example, mortgage payment holidays. We had four days to build a solution for people to apply and get approved. It was driven by the deadline and it wasn’t easy, but it showed we could deliver a solution that had massive impact for customers,” says Gerard.
Similarly, the team had around nine days to turn around a more complex system for administering the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) for larger businesses. The business financing eligibility requirements of CBILS meant the system had to be more robust in terms of interrogating data about the customer. In just over a week another end to end system was built which featured as much straight-through processing as possible to enable customers to get approvals and money in their account quickly.
The projects have required engagement with stakeholders across the bank and tested not only the skills of the automation team but also the methodology they have adopted to drive the move away from paper.
“It was a big opportunity to be agile and has probably accelerated our strategy by about 18 months,” says Gerard.
“We’ve achieved completely digital end to end flows without investment in expensive software. Instead we re-engineered the process to suit the toolkit. The targets were short term ones, but the circumstances have challenged our whole development process,” he adds.
When Gerard joined the team three years ago it was a team of nine and tasked with customer experience and automation. Today they have 30 developers and analysts from a diverse set of technology backgrounds.
At a high level, the team’s function is to improve processes that drive customer journeys and the use of automation to make them easier and better.
It includes business analysts, software developers, app developers, data analysts, data architects and engineers working across Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
By putting these skills together, the capabilities of what can be achieved have gone up and recent successes mean the ambition and confidence in the team has also risen.
Gerard says that the more the automation team is able to add value, deliver cost savings, solve problems and enable change, the more credible it has become within the bank and that has been reflected in the budget it is being given to deliver projects.
The Myrtle project demonstrated that the bank’s leadership team are fully bought into the automation agenda.
“We have a track record of delivering tactical automation solutions to the bank. But now, as a result of Myrtle, we are being asked to scale that up and that means we can have more impact across the whole customer value chain,” he says.
“The way I see it is that we are building the bank of the future with people who have very different roles or skillsets to the range of skills already in Danske Bank. We are part of the bank but we’re not bankers in the traditional sense and that is beneficial. We want to bring in a diverse range of talent to keep upping the bar and challenging ourselves.”
That ambition is reflected in the bank’s new TechFutures programme, which gives employees the opportunity to undertake a fully-funded foundation degree at Belfast Met whilst rotating between different roles with the bank. It’s all about giving colleagues the opportunity to develop their technical skills and be at the cutting edge of the bank’s technological advancement.
“We’re excited about the programme. Through it, we are demonstrating how Danske Bank is changing from a High Street bank to one that offers a variety of career paths and has embedded digital first in everything we do,” says Gerard.
“Digitisation breaks down siloes across the bank and has led to more co-development. Expectations are higher and the team is driving itself to be more agile. My challenge now is to harness the energy and keep it going.”
He believes that cultural change, getting people across the bank to buy into digital transformation is as important as the technology and strategy itself.
“We are looking at getting rid of paper completely and embedding digitisation and automation in the bank and providing business intelligence that will influence how the business is run,” says Gerard.
“One positive that has come out of the crisis is the increased collaboration across the whole organisation. I don’t think as an organisation we would have been as focused on this if it wasn’t for the past six months.
“There was a collective realisation that the potential of what we can do is much higher. It showed us the art of the possible.”
This article first appeared in the 'Future Tech' edition of the Sync NI magazine and it can be found here.
