The rising interest rates, increased competition, comprehensive regulation, and rising costs for digitization are forcing banks to adjust their business and IT strategies - and modernize their IT. For Christian Rhino, a board member of Helaba, this means broadening the business model and making it more efficient. At Helaba this is being implemented through the Helaba-Atlas project, as he explains during the 5th Symposium on Credit Business by PwC and Börsen-Zeitung. In a first step, the core banking system will be replaced by standard software (SAP) in the summer of 2024. Rhino vehemently advocates for standardized processes for all types of loans in the spirit of "one size fits all." "We need to discard old processes." Individuality can be demonstrated in customer discussions. For digital workflow, Helaba relies on the Pega platform. "The digital workplace is characterized by modern, interactive user guidance and constant transparency of credit processing steps."

According to Rhino, a modernized IT also allows for synergies with regional and custodian banks. "It has been found that 65 to 70% of the system architecture, such as SAP, is akin. This makes it easier to migrate data from one system to another – and save costs. However, the Helaba board pointed out that each regional bank has its own risk management systems. Whether and to what extent there will be closer cooperation among regional banks must be decided by the shareholders," emphasized Rhino.

The ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) theme also took up significant space at the symposium. While Helaba board member Rhino sees it as a growth opportunity within the new credit process, ESG is primarily a data issue for Ingrid Spletter-Weiß, board member of Nord/LB. "For the S of ESG, which has not been so prominent so far, completely new data must be collected." There is no ESG standard, so it is necessary to determine which data leads to the goal and where it can be found. "The ESG data structure will be at least as extensive as financial data." Competencies still need to be developed in-house for this. "Building our own ESG capacities is a crucial success factor." Given the data flood, Spletter-Weiß asks whether data can be better and more easily evaluated with the help of artificial intelligence. For Sylvia Wilhelm, board member of the Apotheker- und Ärztebank, it is unclear how well environmental data (E) has already been integrated into the credit process. "Where does the data come from, how is it processed, and what conclusions do we draw from it?" The bank places great importance on the personal relationship between adviser and customer. "For this, we use our more than 70 branches," said Wilhelm. Through the exchange, the bank can strengthen its expertise in local health markets.