A successful Treasury Front Office system upgrade at CIB Bank Hungary in 2022
With the support of MINDSPIRE Consulting, CIB Bank has successfully upgraded its Treasury Front Office, Middle Office and Risk Management systems.
The latest version of Finastra’s Treasury solution was implemented during the nine months long ‘Fusion Kondor Upgrade’ project, which was completed in May 2022.
The purpose of CIB Bank’s Treasury system upgrade project
As a subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo Group, CIB Bank Hungary has been using one of the market leading solutions, Fusion Kondor and Fusion Risk (earlier KGR) for their Treasury transactions for more than 20 years. Finastra’s Kondor application is recognised as one of the best Treasury Front Office technology platforms worldwide. The complex system covers a significant part of the Treasury business process, including the Front Office, Middle Office, and Risk Management functionalities.
The necessity for the upgrade of the Treasury Front Office system was initiated a few years ago at CIB Bank. The main goal of the version update was to meet the requirement of the parent bank to enable moving the infrastructure from Hungary to Italy. Besides this motive, it was also highly recommended by the solution provider of the Treasury system, Finastra Limited. The company advocates its users to regularly adopt the latest market and technical best practices built in the new version.
Objectives and challenges of the Kondor Upgrade Project
The Treasury Front Office system renewal was named ‘Kondor Upgrade Project’, and it was started in September 2021.
The main objective set by the client was to implement the functionality of the version to be replaced in the new system. Simultaneously with the upgrade efforts, the infrastructural environment of the Fusion Kondor system was also completely redesigned.
The Sybase database used by the Treasury solution was also upgraded, and the underlying Solaris operating system of the server was replaced with a Linux distribution as well. This dual target approach made the project even more challenging and complex. All related tasks had to be planned in detail and executed carefully in the proper sequence and in sync, always considering and looking for potential cross-impacts.
After nine months and two successful Dress Rehearsal weekends, the project team has accomplished all its goals in May 2022.
CIB Bank Hungary: Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A.
CIB Group, as a universal credit institution, provides a wide range of commercial banking and investment services based on the international parent bank’s background.
The bank’s services are available to businesses, institutions, local governments and retail customers in Hungary. Its nationwide branch network serves the needs of more than 420,000 domestic customers.
In addition to bank branches, they also offer several electronic channels, such as the CIB Internet Bank, the 360t for the corporate FX conversions, the CIB Bank Mobile Application or the eBroker information and securities trading system.
The owner of CIB Group, the Italian Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. it is one of the leading banking groups in the eurozone.
Finastra Fusion Kondor Treasury system
Fusion Kondor is an advanced treasury platform supporting banks trading high volumes of treasury. The solution also helps with complex derivatives, options, and structured trades.
With Finastra’s market leading system, financial institutions can standardise and integrate trading and risk platforms and focus on customer, regulator, and market requirements. Kondor reduces the cost per trade with true straight-through processing (STP). The open platform is easily integrated with other systems and applications, and easy to customise.
Fusion Kondor is a proven and robust FX trading solution, having more than 400 clients in 70 countries. A wide range of microservices and components can also be integrated in the platform.
MINDSPIRE Consulting’s role in the Treasury system upgrade project
MINDSPIRE Consulting significantly contributed to the successful project by providing Business Analyst, IT integration expert, Test manager, Database expert, Programmer, Project manager, Kondor system experts and a junior consultant as well, in total of nine colleagues.
Besides the general delivery responsibility as a project integrator, the following major tasks were accomplished by the consultants of MINDSPIRE with close co-operation of the bank’s experts including but not limited to:
- Planning and executing the database (Sybase) upgrade activities.
- Implementation of the new Kondor and Fusion Risk systems.
- GAP analysis of the financial reports between the old and new Treasury systems.
- Analysis of the new system in terms of the functionalities compared to the old solution.
- Developments in order to adopt the bank’s customised functionalities to the new version.
- Consultation tasks: project management, test management.
Thanks to the high level of commitment and expertise of the bank’s management and project team, and to the strong cooperation of all involved parties and stakeholders, the team managed to plan and carry out a smooth implementation of the Treasury Front Office system without any major complications.
It is also worth mentioning that CIB Bank’s ‘Kondor Upgrade project’ was executed fully remotely by all parties involved.
Our Clients Said
Alexandra Csatlós
IT Manager / Central Application - CIB Bank
"The Kondor and Fusion Risk upgrade project was a successful endeavor both on MINDSPIRE and CIB side. All team members were motivated, cooperative, and talented. Although it was during the pandemic period, the communication between all participants was effective and smooth."
