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2 min read
Industry
Banking
Background
A long-established German private bank acquired the German subsidiary of a major international banking house to expand its market share and branch network.
Challenge
Approximately 10,000 High-Net-Worth Individual (HNWI) customers, along with their sensitive data, had to be migrated into existing systems securely, on schedule, and in compliance with regulatory requirements. Simultaneously, decisions regarding legacy systems, existing infrastructure, and new developments had to be made and implemented on both sides.
Performance
Through comprehensive test management, targeted data mapping, and close collaboration among all stakeholders, the migration was meticulously planned, steered, and executed with rigorous quality assurance.
Benefit
The early development and implementation of a robust testing strategy ensured high requirement coverage, enabling the detection and resolution of critical defects before they could impact operations.
A leading German financial institution in the private banking sector expanded its network of locations and strengthened its market position by taking over the German subsidiary of an international bank.
As part of this acquisition, around 10,000 high net worth individuals (HNWI), including their extensive databases, were to be integrated into the acquiring bank's existing systems. At the same time, decisions had to be made and implemented on both sides regarding old, existing and new systems.
The main challenge was to carry out this migration not only on time, but also in compliance with all regulatory requirements (e.g. MiFID/EMIR) - with high data quality and system stability.
Structure and special features of banking IT
Banks typically have a highly complex IT landscape comprising numerous specialized systems and components. This project cuts across the entire system landscape.
At the center is the so-called core banking system, which controls all central banking processes such as account management, payment transactions, lending and securities processing.
This backend is supplemented by powerful database systems for managing large volumes of sensitive customer data, transaction processing systems, CRM solutions and specialized applications for risk management and regulatory requirements.
The IT architecture usually has a multi-layered structure:
The presentation layer(front end) forms the interface to customers and employees - for example via web portals, mobile apps or bank counters.
The middleware ensures communication and data transfer between the front end and back end, while the actual business functions are processed and data is stored in the back end.
Integration frameworks also enable secure data exchange with external partners, payment networks and supervisory authorities.
All of these systems must meet the highest standards of security, availability and performance, as banks are subject to strict regulatory requirements and work with highly sensitive data.
Challenges of data migrations in banks
The complexity of migration projects in the banking environment results from several factors: On the one hand, banks often use historically grown, sometimes outdated (legacy) systems that are not always compatible with modern platforms, which leads to many in-house developments and parallel modernization projects as well as obsolescence removals.
On the other hand, millions of data records with a wide variety of structures and attributes need to be transferred without errors.
The migration must also be data protection-compliant and audit-proof at all times (e.g. MiFID, EMIR, GDPR).
In addition, ongoing banking operations must not be impaired , as failures would have a direct impact on customers and market participants.
Finally, ensuring data integrity is essential: there must be no data loss, duplicates or inconsistencies, as this could lead to significant financial or legal risks.
All of these aspects make data migrations in banking IT highly complex and risky projects that require careful planning, coordination and quality assurance.
Our solution approach
Comprehensive test management was established for the successful implementation, covering all phases of the migration project. This included the development of a detailed test concept including time and resource planning as well as close cooperation between IT, specialist departments and external partners.
One focus was on data mapping: attributes and constellations were mapped using matrix tables in order to systematically identify test cases. Plausibility checks ensured that the data was transferred consistently and completely.
The coordination and implementation of system integration tests(SIT), user acceptance tests(UAT) and rehearsals ensured a smooth process.
The transition to regular operations was also actively supported during the after-care phase and any post-migration issues were resolved.
Successful merger
The migration was completed successfully, on time and in full regulatory compliance.
Thanks to our structured test management and close technical support, the transition to regular operations went smoothly.
The data migration met the quality standards and enabled the bank to seamlessly integrate the acquired customers into its own service offering.
Complex IT migrations are our daily business.
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