Success Story: Bantotal in Panama
Bantotal from De Larrobla & Asociados is a GeneXus-developed, comprehensive tool that operates in financial organizations. Learn how it works and the significant advantages it provides, through the experience at Banco Delta in Panama.
Bandelta is a new bank from Panama, which is dedicated to microfinance and has grown exponentially from its beginnings.This quick growth enabled, and also forced, the bank to make a considerable investment in technology during its first years of life.
Financiero Delta had made use of an in-house platform built to support auto financing, which, according to Ariel San Martín, general manager of Banco Delta, was successful enough. However, it became “very difficult, because every time we wanted to put a new product out, we had to go back to the drawing board.”
Bandelta did persevere with this for a while, and managed to adapt the program, but it was "not robust or consolidated.We have very good programmers but it took too long and it was too difficult to develop piece by piece.”
So, to enable Bandelta to round out its product offering, a search for a new core banking system began in June 2007.
The participating vendors were rated by functionality, cost, technology, customer references and the value attached by the vendor to the relationship. The main requirements were to have a web-enabled application, to have modules with microfinance methodology, integrated accounting and products and services available, both current and planned.
Bantotal was the selected vendor.Their solution had a number of advantages, for example, it was web enabled with the appropriate technology.It was a comprehensive solution for banking operations, including the handling of products and services, the accounting system, and reports to regulators and the management.It also had a module which specialized in microfinance, and had local and international references.“Uruguay has basically the same language and distance was not a problem because they were here from the beginning.So, communication was much better, which was critical to the whole project.”
Implementation
In January 2008, Bandelta signed a contract with Bantotal in order to conduct a gap analysis.This determined the exact scope, time and cost of the proposed implementation. Then in April 2008, a contract was signed to implement the system, and the project began in May.
The core system would be implemented on a Windows Server 2003 platform, and MS SQL Server 2005. The modules to be implemented were:core, liabilities, assets, housing, regulatory, microfinance, MIS and BI.A number of external systems and applications had to interface with Bantotal.
Before starting the implementation process, a number of activities were conducted, including workshops.And effort was made at this stage to communicate and explain the project to all of Bandelta’s 200 staff.A multidisciplinary team participated in the implementation, which lasted a year to cover all of Bandelta’s branches and agencies.
Testing during the implementation included several steps, and modular and integration testing involving end users, functional and technical analysts, was undertaken to test the performance and integration level of modules.
Simulations with the participation of all staff at the bank were also done for all transactions on a given day, to practice processing and recording.User acceptance was also tested in each of these stages.
Finally, the system went live in April 2009, within budget and on time, although this incorporated an increase in scope and an adjustment in schedule, which had been approved by the bank. Since then, the bank continues to develop new modules, and is currently in the soft launch phase of its internet banking product –it is presently being used by employees, ready for a commercial launch.
A solid advantage for regional expansion
“Now, with Bantotal, we have the technical tools to grow and support a bank of our size, or indeed any size in the region.We are already talking to Bantotal about putting together a technological services platform that can outsource to other banks in Panama and the region.We can see that happening in the next two or three years, possibly sooner,” says Ariel San Martín.
The fact that it is in a position to do so is a testament to its growth and soundness. Only three years after its founding, the bank is eyeing the possibility of setting up a regional bank to operate in countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador, as well as the Caribbean, plus elsewhere in Central America.
*This article is an abstract from the original article “No Entiendo” published in IBS journal, also published in the Bantotal website.