Greater Bank has enlisted SAS to deploy and manage its cloud-based fraud detection/prevention and anti-money laundering (AML) solution as part of an extended transformation partnership deal between the mutual bank and business intelligence software developer.
The whole-of-enterprise ‘hosted managed service’ solution, based on Microsoft Azure cloud, will now underpin Greater Bank’s overall AML and fraud protection capabilities.
According to SAS, this transforms the bank’s “cybercrime toolkit to a world-class offering that will deliver rapid staff and customer experience benefits”.
Greg Nyman, Greater Bank’s group general counsel and company secretary, praised the SAS-developed AML and anti-fraud solution as being “grounded in ease-of-use, real-time data insights and automation”.
This, he added, will allow the bank “to act more rapidly than ever before to remedy any potential threats”.
The anti-fraud and AML measures also form key strategic components of Greater Bank’s wider digital transformation program, which is now into its third year and in part assisted by SAS.
SAS noted that the current phase of its partnership with Greater Bank, which commenced in 2020, was crucial for meeting its regulatory compliance objectives across its banking function.
Implementation of the cloud-based platform will, SAS added, see the bank’s “multiple homegrown, disparate IT systems transformed to meet organisational fraud and AML requirements”.
“Despite different systems built over time, SAS is equipping the bank to significantly decrease heavy manual intervention and, in turn, enhance the user experience for both employees and customers.”
Nyman acknowledged SAS’s work in simplifying the bank’s IT operations “by eliminating the need to manage our own on-premises infrastructure” and supporting the Greater’s cloud-oriented goal of becoming “a more agile, nimbler organisation”.
“Not only does this [AML/fraud prevention] platform align with our own cloud journey and strategy, but it will enable us to invest more time into creating a safe, secure, and reliable environment for our customers that ultimately allows us to focus on growth, building upon a really solid base of established trust. “
While the Newcastle-based Greater Bank and SAS have worked together in some form since 2013, the pair began the strategic phase of their latest partnership in 2020. SAS noted that the bank has been “reaping the benefits of the Hosted Managed Service over recent months”.
SAS recognised the criticality of partnerships in accelerating Greater Bank’s digital transformation objectives.
“The formation of strategic partnerships has been fundamental to the bank’s objectives to strengthen and simplify IT operations, revolutionise customer experiences, and ultimately, continue to be a significant challenger to the larger banking competitors,”.
Greater is currently undergoing a merger – to be approved by banking regulator APRA – with fellow Newcastle mutual, Newcastle Permanent, creating what would become one of Australia’s largest member-owned financial institutions.
