Customer Overview
Following the merger of two historic banking institutions, this banking group has become one of the largest in France, offering services in retail banking, insurance, asset management, and specialized financial services.
Strategic Objectives
The group focuses on enhancing customer satisfaction, economic performance, and social responsibility. To achieve this, they are committed to innovative, personalized products and accelerating their digital transformation, aiming to optimize both the customer experience and internal processes.
The Challenge
In anticipation of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the group partnered with Visa to issue Visa-only payment cards, predicting a surge in transaction volume from 2.8 billion to 4.2 billion by 2024, with an additional 500 million transactions expected annually from 2025. This rapid growth presented significant challenges in processing and clearing these transactions, requiring a robust, scalable, and secure solution.
The Response: Leveraging IBM Z for scalable clearing
To address these challenges, the group implemented the “Clearing” solution, optimized for IBM Z, to manage the growing demands of bank card transaction clearing. This solution was essential not only for handling increased transaction volumes, but also for ensuring the agility and reliability required in a rapidly changing financial landscape.
Agility of mainframe computing
The “Clearing” solution, running on IBM Z, offers unparalleled agility, allowing the group to rapidly scale their operations in response to the projected transaction growth. The platform’s capacity to handle large-scale processing with automated efficiency ensures that even with increasing volumes, the group can maintain high-speed, accurate transaction processing. This agility is crucial for meeting customer expectations and supporting the group’s ambitious expansion plans.
Availability of skilled mainframe resources
Operating in a z/OS environment, the “Clearing” solution benefits from a pool of experienced mainframe professionals who ensure that the system is always optimized and secure. The group’s commitment to maintaining and expanding its skilled workforce ensures that they can effectively manage the sophisticated capabilities of IBM Z, from Db2 for z/OS to the latest optimizations on IBM z16. This expertise enables the group to leverage the full power of their mainframe infrastructure, ensuring high availability and reliability of critical financial operations.
Benefits for the banking Group
By leveraging the “Clearing” solution, the group is well-positioned to handle the anticipated increase in transactions and support its ambitious development while ensuring optimal operational efficiency and security.