Written by Danske Bank.
When it comes to digital banking the world moves fast.
Many of us have been using digital and mobile banking services for years, both at home and in business, and the use of those services has increased exponentially during the coronavirus pandemic.
And yet, when people think of banks – particularly banks with a long history like Danske Bank has in Northern Ireland – it can still come as something of a surprise to find out that making sure these apps and services run seamlessly takes an in-house team of software engineers, data scientists, robotics developers and API architects working alongside colleagues in Copenhagen, Vilnius and Bangalore.
Danske Bank has had an in-house software and digital development team here in Belfast for several years, but as the digital world expands into every aspect of our lives, that team is growing – both through external recruitment and the upskilling of existing colleagues, says Liam Curran, Chief Information Officer at Danske.
“When we bring people into tech roles in Danske they love working here,” he says. “The challenge is sometimes that people don’t know about the variety of work we’re doing. If you are working in a traditional software company then the perception would always have been, why would I want to go and work in a bank? It’s an incredibly dynamic and fun environment to develop a tech career and create innovative services people use every day.”
Danske has had a strong digital offering for many years, across its mobile apps, eBanking for personal customers and District platform for businesses.
In its most recent results, the bank reported that Northern Ireland logons to Danske Bank’s digital channels had increased 10% year-on-year, with around 6 million logons per month. The bank has responded to those customer demands by continuing to invest in its digital capabilities.
One team
The role of Chief Information Officer was created in June to help accelerate the bank’s digital ambitions.
When he took up his new role, Liam, who was formerly the bank’s Chief Operating Officer, immediately started bringing people who had been sitting in different teams and business units together into one team with the same goal. The Technology and Digital Development unit includes digital channels, robotics, automation, data analytics, IT infrastructure and security.
“What we’ve been getting people to understand is that it’s not just about pushing out new solutions for customers, it’s about transformation,” he explains.
“We are at a transformational stage in banking. Customers want to do things when and how it suits them. How they buy a house, buy a car, send kids to university, is all changing.
“My job is all about making banking easier and simplifying it for customers to enable them to engage with the bank the way they want to – which for most people is via technology.” he adds.
“People expect to be able to do their banking 24/7 and on the move, and we need to be able to meet that expectation.”
All that is not to say Danske Bank plans to replicate the business model of the likes of digital-only banks, whose transactional approach has appealed to a lot of young people. Liam says that when it comes to those big moments in life – family, buying a house, a mortgage –being able to provide the right lending solutions is more important and sometime this requires a human touch. To do this means getting to know the customer and what they need at different stages.
Investing in new skills
Doing this effectively has meant bringing in new skills sets to the bank – adding API architects, software engineers, data engineers, robotics and other specialists.
This article first appeared in the Winter 2021/22 edition of the Sync NI magazine. You can download your FREE copy and sign up to receive future digital editions here.
