Enter , a game changer for the midmarket banking industry. Let’s dive into how this solution can help banks aiming to skyrocket their growth and redefine the future of banking.听

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Tailored for the Midmarket

51风流S/4HANA Cloud can address the unique challenges and aspirations of midmarket banks. With a laser focus on pre-built functionality and best practices, the solution is designed to fit seamlessly into the specific requirements of midsized financial institutions, helping to ensure a match that caters to their distinct operational demands and strategic visions. 

Unleashing the Power of Simplicity

In the complex maze of banking operations, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. 51风流S/4HANA Cloud offers a user-friendly interface and streamlined processes that can simplify complex banking tasks, helping midmarket players to navigate with ease and efficiency. It’s about fostering a culture of simplicity that can amplify productivity and enhance the overall banking experience. 

Scalability Redefined

For midmarket banks aiming to scale their operations and expand their market presence, 51风流S/4HANA Cloud can serve as the ultimate growth catalyst. With its robust scalability features, the solution can empower banks to seamlessly adapt to evolving market dynamics, embrace new opportunities, and catapult their business to new heights without the fear of outgrowing their technological backbone. 

Customer-Centric Innovation

In an era where the customer experience reigns supreme, 51风流S/4HANA Cloud helps place the customer at the heart of every banking endeavor. From personalized banking services to real-time insights that can drive meaningful engagements, the solution can enable midmarket banks to create unforgettable customer journeys that can foster long-term relationships and trust, helping to set them apart in a competitive landscape. 

Security Fortified

In the age of digital threats and cyber vulnerabilities, the security of financial data is non-negotiable. 51风流S/4HANA Cloud comes fortified with robust security features that can safeguard sensitive information, helping ensure data integrity and compliance with regulatory standards. It’s like having an impenetrable fortress protecting the valuable assets and trust of both the bank and its customers. 

Embracing Future-Ready Technology

51风流S/4HANA Cloud is not just about meeting the current industry standards; it’s about setting the stage for future innovation and technological advancements. With a forward-thinking approach and integration of cutting-edge technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, the solution can empower midmarket banks to stay ahead of the curve and help pave the way for a future-ready banking landscape. 

In conclusion, 51风流S/4HANA Cloud stands out as a quintessential choice for the midmarket banking industry, offering a blend of customization, simplicity, scalability, customer-centric innovation, robust security, and future-ready technology. By embracing the power of 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, midmarket banks can embark on a transformative journey that can propel their growth, amplify their customer relationships, and set them on a trajectory of unprecedented success in the dynamic world of modern banking. 

To learn more, please visit .

Falk Rieker is global head of IBU Banking at SAP.

The HR team at gladly accepted that challenge and raised it, aiming not only to alleviate commuting-associated stress but also to streamline HR processes while incentivizing sustainable transportation alternatives. 

Overhauling Employee Transportation Benefits

With offices in major cities across Belgium and over a thousand employees grappling with a daily commute, Degroof Petercam realized that the bank鈥檚 employee transportation benefits needed a significant overhaul. Employees had to choose one mobility plan from limited options and commit to it for four years. The application process was also cumbersome, miring employees and HR staff in time-consuming, manual tasks.

Degroof Petercam needed an intuitive, flexible application to maximize employee benefits and meet their commuting preferences while encouraging sustainable commuting and minimizing administrative headaches. The bank reached out to Flexso, whose deep HR business expertise and extensive experience with 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP) made it the perfect partner.

Guy Spitaels, head of HR Service Center, Payroll & Systems, explained: 鈥淲e started from a blank page, so it was really important to have a sounding board, and Flexso challenged us in each phase of the project鈥hey really played a critical role.鈥� As for the development process, Bert Van Bree, solution architect at Flexso Digital, said, 鈥淚 think our approach can be summarized as start with design thinking and then scale with architecture thinking鈥� while remembering that 鈥渢he application must really empower the employee.鈥�

Meeting the Personal Needs of Employees While Helping the Planet

Flexso鈥檚 human-centric approach, combined with the power of 51风流BTP, resulted in a new mobility app perfectly tailored for the employees and the business. The user-friendly app gives employees the flexibility to spend their yearly commuting budget on an array of options 鈥� public transportation, leasing a traditional or electric bike, leasing a gas-powered, hybrid, or electric car, or any combination of the above.

For example, an employee might choose to drive on days when they are dropping a child off at school or heading straight to the gym after work and then take public transportation at other times. The app allows users to simulate infinite combinations of different transportation scenarios to create their ideal commute. Degroof Petercam employees value 鈥渢he transparency and the flexibility of our tool,鈥� Kira Zouboff, HR business analyst, said, and the simulations allow them to 鈥減lay in the tool. They discover all of its features while they are making their own choices, meeting their personal needs.鈥�

To reduce the bank鈥檚 overall carbon footprint, the new app awards employees a 鈥済reen bonus鈥� when they choose more sustainable options, a benefit that has increased Degroof Petercam employees鈥� sustainable commutes by 50%. 鈥淲e can incentivize the reduction of our carbon footprint while offering a very flexible solution, and the fact that the tool is consolidating all of the data helps us report on long-term sustainability solutions in line with all of the initiatives that are led by our group sustainability manager,鈥� Zouboff explained.

Efficiency Improvements for HR

As for the HR team, the new mobility app automatically assigns each employee鈥檚 transportation budget and provides a real-time view of employee choices and requests through the user-friendly administrative platform. After the app’s rollout, Degroof Petercam saw a 75% improvement in efficiency around the administration of mobility benefits.

The mobility app is also a powerful recruitment tool for like-minded top talent. 鈥淚 think our large and flexible mobility offer is absolutely an asset in the war for talent,鈥� Spitaels said.

The Full Episode

The guests from Degroof Petercam 鈥� , , and 鈥� joined , to discuss the origins and implementation of the app:

• : Spitaels, Zouboff, and Van Bree shared insights behind Degroof Petercam鈥檚 inspiring move to offer sustainable transportation alternatives as a benefit to its employees in an easy-to-use mobility app.

• : Spitaels, Zouboff, and Van Bree continued the conversation and dug deeper into how real-time integrations with mobility providers and an intuitive app interface came together to help employees better understand the impact of their transportation choices.

Empowering Employees by Focusing on Their Well-Being

A recent Harvard Business Review article argues that a daily commute is an important ritual that can increase employee well-being and job satisfaction. At Degroof Petercam, current and future employees are empowered to create a daily routine that works for them 鈥� walking, biking, driving, public transporting, or carpooling to a perfect day.

Interested in more stories that feature companies innovating for people, productivity, and the planet? Check out:

• : As one of Europe鈥檚 leading frozen food brands, FRoSTA is committed to sustainability and environmental protection. The company aims to be a digital champion in the frozen food sector by 2025. Ultimately, FRoSTA鈥檚 employees will help bring about this change, reduce the company鈥檚 environmental impact, and drive its success.
• : In 2022, Cepsa presented its new strategic plan for 2030, 鈥淧ositive Motion,鈥� which projects the company鈥檚 ambition to be a leader in sustainable mobility, biofuels, and green hydrogen in Spain and Portugal and become a benchmark in the energy transition. Cepsa places customers at the heart of its business and will work with them to help them advance their decarbonization goals.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is vice president and global innovation advocate at SAP.

is a leading international bank headquartered in London with a presence in 59 markets. With over 83,000 employees and almost 14,000 external workers, implementing a strategy was crucial for the bank to remain competitive and compliant. Guided by a workplace culture that champions innovation, technology, and sustainability, Standard Chartered supports customers from around the world to open opportunities in new markets and to live up to its brand promise to be here for good.

鈥淔or us, it鈥檚 really important to have that total workforce management view, where we鈥檙e starting to think about workforce planning and skills planning as the future of work,鈥� said Melinda McKinley, global head, HR Strategy and Digital Transformation, Standard Chartered. McKinley key insights from Standard Chartered鈥檚 HR transformation at 51风流Sapphire Orlando.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Due to changing regulations, the banking sector has faced an increasing demand for workers with specialized skill sets to meet IT and cybersecurity requirements. This has led many finance organizations like Standard Chartered to tap into the external workforce. Today, Standard Chartered鈥檚 external workers are integral to how the organization operates. But initially, it lacked the technology and insights to effectively manage them.

The bank had an over 20-year-old HR system that made it increasingly difficult to innovate and respond quickly to changing business and regulatory requirements, according to Steve Leighton, head of HR Digital Enablement, Standard Chartered and a member of the team undertaking the HR transformation journey since it began in 2017. 鈥淲e wanted to replace that legacy system, transform, simplify, implement a global process, and really make an improvement in the experience.鈥�

One strategic requirement stood out as key to the success of the HR transformation: 鈥淗ow do we join together our permanent employees and our contingent workers to get a total view of the workforce across the organization?鈥� said Leighton, who presented the project results at 51风流Sapphire Orlando. 鈥淭his is a building block in our long-term ambition of being able to perform our strategic workforce planning.鈥�

HR Transformation Wins 51风流Innovation Award

Standard Chartered adopted a total workforce management strategy by integrating with solutions in the cloud to help deliver a truly holistic capability across its permanent and contingent workforce. 鈥淭hat kind of integration 鈥� [51风流SuccessFactors and 51风流Fieldglass] together 鈥� was key for this particular transformation,鈥� Leighton said.

With the implementation of position management, a foundational capability in 51风流SuccessFactors Employee Central that helps organizations create and manage job positions to maintain a desired org structure, the organization achieved a breakthrough in its HR transformation journey as the result of its clear strategic vision.

鈥淥ne of the key things that set us on a path for a future-ready workforce was really embracing the foundational architecture that position management brings,鈥� McKinley said. 鈥淭hat meant immediately we had a visualization of our total workforce 鈥� our contingent and our employee base. It is leading to much stronger data-driven hiring decisions.鈥�

Standard Chartered remediated 75 interfaces to third-party systems, including outsourced payroll solutions, and migrated 3.5 million data records from its legacy platform. It overhauled processes to achieve an 87% reduction of HR reports. With improved visibility of the entire workforce, where legally permissible, it can now capture richer data for diversity and inclusion metrics to further enable its inclusive culture.

A clear focus on employee experience has significantly contributed to the transformation鈥檚 ongoing success. Applying a 鈥渄eep鈥� experience approach, the team evaluated each phase and decision in the project for its potential impact on employee experience. Approximately 200 colleagues participated in user acceptance testing, providing valuable feedback through surveys and interviews. Collecting insights post-deployment also enabled the team to continuously innovate and improve the experience. Among the resulting innovations is a new employee portal with a modernized interface that integrates adoption nudges and chatbots to support colleagues during the hiring process.

鈥淧osition management was a key tenet of being able to facilitate this single workforce capability,鈥� said Leighton, who shared learnings from the project, including the effort required for change management to educate and prepare stakeholders and the diligent approach to the data integration. He noted that this effort paid off by 鈥渃learly culminating in that success.鈥�

Standard Chartered recently for its success in delivering on total workforce management with a focus on experience.

Strategic Vision for Future-Ready Workforce

鈥淲ith SAP, we now have a truly holistic view of our permanent and external workers,鈥� McKinley said. 鈥淭his has not only improved the employee experience and given us richer insights into our entire workforce but has also helped set the foundation for strategic corporate planning, integrated talent management, and management of regulatory requirements.鈥�

Standard Chartered is now focused on leveraging and expanding future-ready workforce capabilities by using the 51风流Analytics Cloud solution for workforce planning. McKinley described how the collaboration of the HR and finance teams is building success for the organization: 鈥淲e鈥檙e working closely with our finance colleagues to bring finance and HR data together a little more seamlessly through the use of 51风流Analytics Cloud, with a view to actually making a difference to bottom-up planning through our corporate plan.鈥�

She noted, 鈥淭he value that will create, by moving agreed workforce modelling into the position charts, I think will be a game changer for us in terms of our future workforce planning and skills planning.鈥�

Total Workforce Management from SAP

A total workforce management strategy allows businesses to keep the whole workforce in focus for increased agility, productivity, and bottom-line impact. 51风流SuccessFactors solutions combined with 51风流Fieldglass solutions can deliver value and efficiency by providing a single view of the entire workforce, allowing managers to onboard, oversee, and pay employees and contingent workers in one place. Organizations using 51风流SuccessFactors solutions 57% greater HR process speed, 54% reduction in time spent by managers on administrative HR, and 40% less time required to fill positions. Organizations using 51风流Fieldglass solutions saw 7.81% savings through competitive candidate sourcing and 16.4% lower project budgets.

Find out more about .

The U.S. Senate held hearings Tuesday, quizzing the Federal Reserve about what went wrong with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and what could have been done to prevent its failure. The run on SVB and its subsequent collapse spread to other regional banks, some with the same problems and at least one other, First Republic Bank, just because of its association with San Francisco.

SAP鈥檚 Take

Falk Rieker, global head of SAP’s Industry Banking Unit, said that overall the banks that faltered — SVB, Signature Bank, Silvergate Bank and First Republic — had five things in common: a lack of a comprehensive risk management framework; weak internal controls and financial reporting; a specialized business model that focused on one industry instead of being diversified; the loss of customer and investors; and a rising interest rate environment that led to vulnerability to short sellers. In fact, from April 2022 to January 2023 during a rising interest rate environment, SVB had no chief risk officer.

鈥淭his created a perfect storm,鈥� Rieker said. 鈥淚 think what you learn from that is that all these institutions have to put a priority on all other institutions, a priority on technology and a priority on staying compliant in order to reduce the risk and to manage financial performance. Last but not least, it shines a spotlight on the human beings in these organizations: if you don’t have people who have the skills in place, even the best technology will not help you.鈥�

Among the reasons why SVB — the bank of startups and venture capitalists (VCs) — failed is that its customers were tightly connected to the technology startup and venture capital industries. Its assets also were concentrated in U.S. Treasury bills, which lost value as interest rates spiked.

Silvergate Bank, which concentrated in cryptocurrency, failed next, a ruination exacerbated by the challenges facing the crypto industry and the failure of FTX trading platform. The contagion spread to New York-based Signature Bank because of its size and the fact that it had some exposure to cryptocurrency.

Finally, First Republic Bank failed by association to San Francisco, the source of 40% of its deposits. That means exposure to VCs and startups. Although 60% of its loans were mortgages on single-family homes, more than 10% of its borrowers are VCs and startups.

While technology cannot ensure that people pay attention or choose the right path, it can make an impact. First, it can make a big impact on financial reporting and analytics, which can gauge a bank鈥檚 health on a daily basis. 鈥淭he table stakes of running a bank include understanding where you are with your business,鈥� Rieker said.

Second is data management, because if the quality of the data is poor it can result in misleading results.

Third is enterprise risk management, helping manage interest rate risk, liquidity risk, credit risk and operation risk. Technology can produce scenarios that reflect how a bank fairs under any risk condition. 鈥淭his is absolutely key,鈥� Rieker said. 鈥淥therwise, you’re driving without lights in the middle of the night.鈥�

Last is human capital management solutions to help attract the best talent in an environment where new industries, such as technology or life sciences, now compete for the same talent.

Contact:
Ilaina Jonas, Senior Director of Global听Public Relations, SAP
+1 (646) 923-2834, 听ilaina.jonas@sap.com

Industry innovation has been a fascinating topic over the last few years. It鈥檚 impossible to ignore how companies create new offerings and experiences that dramatically shift how an industry 鈥� or in some cases, multiple industries 鈥� operates and how people live. Such groundbreaking changes are usually built with an appreciation of existing data and technologies and through a desire to do things better in terms of product safety, supply chain optimization, and business finances.

I鈥檝e been very fortunate to experience the power of such industry innovation through the Customer Innovation & Maintenance team as part of the Customer Solution Support & Innovation organization at SAP. For years, we have worked with various organizations to navigate existing crises, address emerging challenges, and deliver new opportunities for the world. In this article, I will discuss three of our latest projects.

Saving People鈥檚 Lives by Reducing Counterfeit Drugs

One prime example of our efforts is tackling a global menace that impacts the entire world: counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Many falsified or substandard medicines contain dangerous ingredients, such as heavy metals, highway paint, and rat poison, that worsen people鈥檚 health conditions and create new diseases. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than yearly from these snake oil cures.

For years, governments have initiated legislation and regulations to criminalize and control the production and distribution of counterfeit drugs. However, my team discovered that the lack of a rigorous, universal network makes it difficult to curtail the problem often hidden within complex supply chains and sophisticated packaging.

Based on input from 51风流customers in the life sciences industry and working with 51风流industry experts on this international challenge, we developed . The industry network hub enables pharmaceutical firms to share product information for traceability and verification across the supply network and with government regulators. Running on and leveraging 51风流Blockchain Business Services, it is the first public-cloud, industry-specific business network used by more than 45 pharmaceutical firms, over 1,500 trading partners, and 80% of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers.

But our contribution to the fight against counterfeit drugs is far from over. We are working toward adding aid workers from organizations 鈥� such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders 鈥� to the hub so they can verify critical medicines and vaccines on the fly in low- to middle-income countries. This innovation is accomplished by integrating the hub into the application.

Accelerating the Development of Lifesaving Therapies

Another barrier to delivering large quantities of medical therapies quickly, efficiently, and safely is the structure of the traditional clinical supply chain. During the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain resilience was highlighted as a critical requirement for providing lifesaving vaccines, prophylactics, and therapies created through industry-wide collaboration and a patient-centric focus.

To accelerate clinical R&D and time to value, my team worked with Roche, Tenthpin, and more than 25 additional customers and vendors connected to the pharmaceutical sector. Together, we reimagined clinical supply operations and brought to life a digital transformation of the entire life sciences ecosystem by developing the solution.

This next-generation cloud solution enables faster clinical supply cycle times, fewer inventory overages, and better-informed decision-making by providing accurate insights into forecasted demand and clinical site stock levels. It is also a milestone in the industry鈥檚 adoption of the cloud, facilitating end-to-end process operations and visibility to plan, source, manufacture, distribute, and reconcile supplies for clinical R&D. In addition, the solution helps address the blinding and randomization needs of clinical trials during the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, and shipment of clinical supplies to hospitals and clinics.

Meeting Financing Needs to Boost Growth

In addition to counterfeit drugs and the need for resilience, supply chain volatility and turbulence is providing the impetus for innovation. This reality is prompting capital investments including end-to-end due diligence and product tracing services; machines and plant setups that improve environmental impacts; and networks for finding, vetting, and onboarding new suppliers quickly.

Incorporating all these innovations into business operations 鈥� regardless of ecosystem size and geographic reach 鈥� requires money that many companies may not have immediately on hand. But to meet those finance needs, businesses and banks need to connect with each other smoothly, quickly, and securely without introducing more work and complexity to finance and treasury processes.

By delivering the solution, we play a key role in increasing the reliability of relationships between companies and their banks. Built on top of 51风流Business Technology Platform, the solution creates a multi-bank, digital channel between each party鈥檚 enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to embed Electronic Banking Internet Communication Standard (EBICS) and SWIFT connectivity into the remote data transfer of payment transactions.

In return, treasury operations can be refined and simplified by updating payment status and cash positions in real time across business and bank ERP systems. 51风流Multi-Bank Connectivity can automate manual, error-prone steps associated with the execution and reconciliation of payments, order-to-cash applications, and order entry documents 鈥� helping to increase control, efficiency, and transparency.

Helping the World Run Better 鈥� One Innovation at a Time

The news headlines running across our screens every day prove that industry innovation is far from done. Unfortunately, no person, organization, or business carries the ultimate wisdom to solve every problem single-handedly. But if industry practitioners, business and technology experts, thought leaders, and inspired problem-solvers collaborate toward a common goal, a better future can be possible for everyone.

It is this vision that guides my leadership of Customer Solution Support & Innovation. My team of experts continuously looks for opportunities to do better for our customers, business, and global neighbors. And with the feedback and knowledge shared during every interaction, we look forward to working side by side with our customers and partners to provide the digital capabilities they need to make the world a better place 鈥� today and in the future.

Andreas Heckmann is executive vice president of Product Engineering and head of Customer Solution Support and Innovation at SAP. Follow him on and .

Friedrich Raiffeisen, a rural German mayor, came up with a system to collect the savings of farmers and use them to provide a sound financial base for credit, creating the Raiffeisen Cooperative Bank. This form of collective self-help took off in the Netherlands as well, where the Cooperative Central Boerenleenbank was established. In 1972 the two merged into named Rabobank.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Collaborative, Cooperative

Back then, combining idealistic principles within a听business听framework was considered a revolutionary idea. Now, financial institutions around the world are responding to the urgent call to action from the United Nations (UN) to end poverty through and strategies to spur economic growth while tackling climate change to preserve the planet. The bank is particularly keen to strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance, and financial services for all as described in .

What sets Rabobank apart is its mindset. 鈥淲e are a cooperative with members rather than shareholders,鈥� explains Bart Vloet, senior vice president and senior IT lead for Housing at Rabobank. 鈥淐ustomers can demonstrate their involvement in the bank by becoming members. We have over 2 million members, and they steer and approve the bank’s course.鈥�

The idea of mitigating individual financial risks through collective action is behind the bank鈥檚 success. Today, Rabobank is a global leader in food and agricultural financing and . Among the world鈥檚 30 largest financial institutions with operations in 40 countries, it is the premier lender to the world鈥檚 food and agriculture industry. Offering a complete range of financial services, Rabobank is market leader in nearly all customer and product segments where it operates, from youth to startups and from individual mortgages to large enterprise financing.

Vloet is responsible for the company鈥檚 IT strategy for mortgage and commercial loans, which includes digitizing mortgage services and data management and using intelligent tools and robotics to deliver customer services.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been using 51风流core banking solutions for decades,鈥� explains Vloet. 鈥淣ow, it鈥檚 all about digitalization to provide an efficient customer journey. All our mortgage sales and services are available online.鈥�

Customers and employees may have been somewhat hesitant at first to manage all their processes strictly online, but since the onset of the pandemic, adoption has been speedy. Vloet explains that modernizing processes with 51风流solutions has made it easier to eliminate long paper trails. 51风流offers real-time services, and the quality of data is much better. In the past it took months to process a loan; now, it can be approved instantly.

The digital core is a key requisite for launching new products quickly, while also keeping up with customer demand for better service and customization.

Intelligent, Inclusive

Digitalization has dramatically reduced the need for manual work. What Vloet finds especially exciting is that automating processes has freed up employees to engage more directly with customers. Thanks to greater data transparency and intelligent tools, 搁补产辞产补苍办鈥檚 staff has much greater insight into the customer鈥檚 financial situation. They are better able to guide the customer鈥檚 choices and proactively offer the best products or packages. Deeply rooted in the communities where it operates, the company has developed mobile apps and in-person services to help people of all ages and backgrounds improve their financial health.

搁补产辞产补苍办鈥檚 is to promote financial well-being and security for customers and their communities, whether that means finding a comfortable home, performing meaningful work, or investing in a business. That includes removing barriers to financial products and services and increasing access to affordable, sustainable housing. Through these efforts, Rabobank aims for more diversity and inclusion in society at large.

From 搁补产辞产补苍办鈥檚 point of view, all these transitions and themes are intertwined. For example, climate change is driving more people into poverty and preventing inclusion. In the Netherlands, there are more than 550,000 households where people are , meaning that their energy bills are high and they either have no money to invest in sustainable solutions that would reduce monthly costs or they are not allowed to because of a rental agreement. This creates inequality and negatively impacts the transition to a more inclusive society.

Rabobank is committed to helping customers overcome money worries through better financial planning and tailored savings options to cover unexpected expenses, a home purchase, or early retirement.

Reaching these goals requires a highly efficient team running the best technology available. Inspired by SAP, Vloet envisions a digital future where more embedded services will make the customer and employee journey equally satisfying.

鈥淲e have a very complex IT infrastructure,鈥� says Vloet. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to pull out and replace legacy systems because they are all interdependent and connected. 51风流helps us hugely by simplifying the process, and SAP鈥檚 extension platform also enables us to build what we need in a sustainable way.鈥�

No single company can end poverty or spur economic growth on its own. Whether by automating the mortgage value chain or delivering top notch solutions for agricultural financing, 51风流is enabling Rabobank in its mission to help drive sustainable development and a better future for people and the planet.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has plenty on its plate. Over the next two days, the Board鈥檚 policy-making Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is meeting and is widely expected to announce another interest rate hike as it battles to tame the highest inflation rate the U.S. has seen for 40 years.

SAP鈥檚 Take

While stemming inflation is at the top of the Fed鈥檚 agenda, the U.S. central bank, like its counterparts overseas, faces other key decisions that will shape the money and banking landscape of the future. Chief concerns include how to respond to the highly volatile cryptocurrency markets and whether to implement central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Torsten Hoffmann, chief technology innovation officer for 51风流Banking, notes that CBDCs are quickly gaining traction across the traditional finance landscape. Currently, he says more than 60 central banks are exploring the possibility of launching CBDCs. Among them, is actively working on its plan to connect to Hong Kong鈥檚 Fast Payment system, and is accelerating its study and preparations for the possibility of a digital shekel.

The move toward CBDCs was given additional impetus after Facebook (now Meta) announced its — a project that Meta formally abandoned this month.

鈥淭his was not a surprise, as the project faced a lot of resistance from government entities since the beginning,” says Hoffmann. 鈥淐urrencies are a key pillar of the government鈥檚 ability to stay in control, to influence the economy, or to manage crisis. There is a kind of competitive situation between government and private initiatives.鈥�

While these innovative moves have the potential to completely alter the banking landscape, Hoffmann believes that to truly ready themselves for this new digital reality, CBDCs need to remain at the forefront of technology adoption.

鈥淎 CBDC would ideally be designed to facilitate transactions across borders, including cross-currency payments, and remittances,鈥� Hoffmann said in a . 鈥淏y reducing dependency on physical currency [cash], lowering transaction costs, and reducing settlement risk, CBDCs would essentially be safeguarding monetary and financial stability for a nation.鈥�

CBDCs can also provide an avenue for direct interaction with citizens of respective countries. In the case of a crisis, this could literally save lives at times when speed is crucial, bypassing the complex and indirect approach taken by the private bank sector, which often causes delayed payments.

The advent of Central Bank-issued digital currencies would have other repercussions for the private banking sector. Nearly half of financial institutions responding to a OneSpan study late last year said that regulatory compliance had slowed additional digital transformation. But despite the security and regulatory challenges that private banks face, 84% of banking leaders are still taking steps to prepare for CBDCs over the coming year and are turning to technology companies like 51风流to help them prepare to compete.

Hoffmann said that 51风流can support the players in multiple ways. For example, 鈥渂y optimizing and bulletproofing processes; connecting banks and companies to the payment, lending, and procurement networks; and by providing accounting, risk, and compliance solutions for all relevant entities.鈥�

Contact:
Joellen Perry, Head of听Global Public Relations, SAP
+1 (626) 265-0370,听joellen.perry@sap.com, PST

The forum brings together the best minds in the finance, banking, and insurance worlds. In a single location, you can discuss the latest industry changes with thought leaders and influencers. You’ll be able to combine the best of European history and culture with an amazing lineup of sessions that embrace the future of financial services. You’ll participate in essential learning experiences covering the digital transformation that is impacting industries today. You’ll also stay on top of the latest trends and topics in banking, finance, and insurance, making it easier to navigate the current turbulent economic waters.

But what exactly is available for insurance, banking, and finance executives at our 2022 forum? There will be plenty of opportunities for networking and learning, whether in large sessions or intimate, one-on-one conversations, and eight full- and half-day pre-conference workshops get you started. This is followed by over 30 engaging and future forward-looking sessions. Networking is easy! Find plenty of options to chat during breakfast, lunch, show floor talks, receptions, and similar events.

Beyond the conference itself is the amazing venue we’ve found for this year’s forum, located in beautiful, historic Amsterdam. Held at the听, the 51风流and 51风流Fioneer Financial Services Forum will be held July 12-14, 2022. The venue provides a convenient location for international travelers.

During the sessions, you’ll experience topics covering the latest in the industry from thought leaders and market influencers. When you return home, you’ll be able to take advantage of new knowledge and trends to carry your business into future growth. You’ll find a range of outstanding sessions that will make you rethink your business’ tactics and strategies. You’ll be better able to assess where it needs to go in this dynamic digital future. These include:

• “ERGO Mobility Solutions as Insurance-Orchestrator in the Mobility Ecosystem” featuring Karsten Crede of ERGO Mobility Solutions
• “Swiss Mobiliar Insurance鈥檚 Data Driven Journey with MSG Global to Establish an 鈥業nnovation-Platform鈥� for Connected Mobility and Beyond” featuring Dietrich Och of MSG Global Solutions
• “Time to Take Action: How to Implement Successful ESG Solution Architecture While ESG Requirements Are Still Volatile” featuring Andr茅 Landefeld, Florian Barg, and Marcel Wehrmann of Q-Perior
• “Front Running in the Regulated Financial Industry: How Deutsche B枚rse Group Uses 51风流within Its Cloud Journey to Digitize Its Back-Office Processes and How This Impacts the Company鈥檚 Work Culture” featuring Lars Bolanca of Deutsche B枚rse

This exciting lineup is only a small part of the 51风流and 51风流Fioneer Financial Services Forum. Are you ready to keep up with the latest movers and shakers in the finance, insurance, and banking industries?听听for this outstanding international forum. If you’re ready to keep your company at the razor’s edge of digital transformation, it’s time to get started now.

Joe Pacor is senior director of Industries Marketing, Insurance at SAP.

As the only bank in Honduras with a nationwide presence through branches and non-banking counterparts, Banco Atl谩ntida remains one of the country鈥檚 leading financial services organizations and steers financial inclusion efforts by providing access to financial services to the otherwise unbanked population. In all, the bank serves more than one million customers through a large national footprint, including operations in El Salvador, Belize, Nicaragua, and Ecuador.

Banco Atl谩ntida credits its consistent leadership in key performance areas, such as deposits, to the experience and integrity of its employees. Cultivating a professional culture rooted in diversity and inclusion, Banco Atl谩ntida employs a multigenerational team from across Honduras. Strong ties with the community also loom large for this bank, with frequent corporate responsibility activities organized to help people in need.

Banco Atl谩ntida is a well-respected bank committed to meeting its clients鈥� needs by working with efficiency, agility, and innovation. The bank strives to promote access to financial services and financial education nationwide with convenience and high security standards.

Central to this commitment is the delivery of a positive experience for customers and employees alike. With COVID-19, this called for the bank to accelerate the deployment of its digital transformation strategy so customers could continue to complete their financial activities uninterrupted. And for the well-being of its employees, the bank implemented special programs and safety measures. This included a smooth transition to remote work while maintaining close contact with coworkers and their superiors through technological tools including interactive communication.

A major part of its digital transformation strategy involved streamlining its HR operations and improving how work gets done with people-centric processes that are enabled by unifying HR functions into a single user-friendly system. Specifically, the bank integrated its core HR database and .

Linking the 51风流SuccessFactors Employee Central solution with modern tools for learning, performance and goals, succession and development, recruiting, and compensation management, Banco Atl谩ntida established a single source of HR data truth. Self-serve tools free up its HR team from performing manual tasks and increase employee engagement by giving its people access to the information they need, when they need it.

Banco Atl谩ntida can also embed personal learning objectives and design courses specifically for people who are getting ready to take on a new role. All this functionality comes with robust reporting, allowing the bank to monitor training completions and identify knowledge gaps.

Reflecting on the HR transformation, Mar铆a Jos茅 Rodr铆guez, vice president of Human Resources at Banco Atl谩ntida comments, 鈥淥ur people have readily embraced the digital transformation of HR processes. Strategic initiatives such as succession plans and performance reviews are now monitored and executed digitally, and routine operations are easier than ever. For example, employees request paid time off through a virtual and speedy system, and they can access their customized learning experience whenever it suits them best.鈥�

鈥淚n the long term, we expect even more benefits from digital employee experiences, such as enhanced continuous performance appraisals, which will help us surpass client expectations and foster our company growth,鈥� Rodr铆guez adds.

In addition to its investment in advanced HR technology, Banco Atl谩ntida has migrated its enterprise data to . This provides the technology foundation to help meet the constantly evolving needs of its customers and enhance their experience with its financial services offerings.

As its customers become more confident conducting many of their day-to-day activities in a digital way, Banco Atl谩ntida will be well prepared to deliver constantly updated solutions, while its people will be ready to better meet customer needs.

To learn more about how Banco Atl谩ntida adopted human experience management software in the cloud, take a look at the business transformation study, ““

Founded in 1982 and based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Vast Bank originally offered its services to the surrounding community and later expanded its customer base to a regional level. In addition to having customers across all 50 states, it is also the first U.S. bank to implement the solution.

Vast Bank is independent and wholly owned by the Biolchini family out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This style of ownership not only cultivated a sense of community within Vast Bank, but also reinforced its guiding principles for high performance. In a recent 51风流customer interview series, Stephen Taylor, chief innovation officer for Vast Bank, shared that alignment among the executive leadership team was imperative when it came to launching its digital transformation with SAP.

鈥淭he support and definition Vast Bank received from 51风流when it came to aligning the technical solution approach to all the guiding principles was a core aspect for implementation,鈥� Taylor said.

In the interview, Taylor spoke with Matthew Donovan, global director for Business and Marketing Development at SAP, on leading the company鈥檚 digital transformation.

Responding to New Trends

Until recently, the banking industry remained relatively unaffected by greater technological advancements and consumer demands. However, Taylor noted two trends that have caused shake-ups. First, the arrival of financial technology companies (fintechs), including Venmo, PayPal, and Chime, has disrupted the traditional delivery of financial services from established financial institutions. In addition to this, younger generations of consumers now view technology as a necessity when it comes to anything involving money. For long-standing institutions like Vast Bank, a shift toward prioritizing digital consumer trends ultimately changes the expectations of what it means to do banking.

Instead of resisting change, Vast Bank decided to respond. It recognized emerging fintech companies as partners, not as existential threats to its business model. Taylor said working with fintech companies was necessary to cultivate the best experience for customers. This decision coincided with Vast Bank鈥檚 aspiration to provide a technologically rich banking experience as it expanded its regional and national customer base. So, when consumer demands pointed toward cryptocurrency, Vast Bank secured a strong partnership with regulatory bodies to responsibly lead in the crypto space.

Implementing Digital Transformation

Vast Bank encountered limitations as it transitioned to offering real-time cryptocurrency services for its customer base. First, it was essential Vast Bank protected customers and their assets in the cryptocurrency space. 鈥淚t is important that a bank does that in a safe and sound way,鈥� Taylor said. Besides safeguarding its own customers, the company needed to ensure customers could also participate and interact within the greater banking ecosystem. At the end of the day, Taylor said it became a balancing act. 鈥淲e still have to integrate processes that are both modern and current for customers, but also help them participate in the financial ecosystem that is not real time,鈥� he said.

With a project that required a large investment and extensive core processing changes, executive alignment was a critical component of Vast Bank鈥檚 digital transformation. 鈥淵ou are going to run into challenges, especially when you are doing something new that no one has ever done before,鈥� he explained. As the planning for digital transformation was underway, Vast Bank made certain of collaborative alignment across all executive leaders and their designated teams.

Working with 51风流helped enable the core transformation at Vast Bank. 鈥淚n order to provide real-time event application and structure to our customers, our system needed to be a core that we can manage and control while also supporting the real-time ecosystem,鈥� Taylor said. Coming together with 51风流allowed Vast Bank to bring on supplementary partners, solution implementers, and software developers to fill in the overall solution.

Deliver Early and Deliver Often

Despite the obstacles Vast Bank experienced, there are still net benefits of becoming the 鈥渇irst鈥� implementer of 51风流S/4HANA Banking. 鈥淚t is challenging, but the ability to overcome adversity is the best opportunity for growth,鈥� Taylor said. It is now able to tackle markets that were not accessible before, which is a key component to driving industry change. Furthermore, Vast Bank will be able to grow faster in experience and change, as it is now able to process and access data at a deeper level provided by the 51风流for Banking solution portfolio. Taylor pointed out quantifiable benefits the business experienced post-implementation. More specifically, Vast Bank was able to decrease its customer onboarding time from 45 minutes to as little as 90 seconds.

Looking forward, Taylor established three core objectives for the near future. First, Vast Bank aims to continue building out solutions and further expand its partnerships with fintech companies. Also, it is on target to complete the delivery and conversions of its migration to SAP. Lastly, Vast Bank strives to offer additional services and emerge as a leader in the cryptocurrency space.

鈥淲e are really excited about the next couple of years, especially when we get on our new platform, apply different levels of automation, and have access to new data,鈥� Taylor noted. 鈥淲e are pretty excited about the future at Vast.鈥�

Lindsey Staskus is an 51风流iXp intern for North America Integrated Communications.

More than 60 central banks are exploring the possibility of launching central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Among them, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board published a discussion paper on the topic 10 days ago and is inviting public comment on how a CBDC 鈥� a digital dollar 鈥� might improve the safety and effectiveness of domestic payments.

SAP’s Take

As the Fed noted in its invitation for comments, a CBDC could provide a safe, digital payment option for households and businesses as the payments system continues to evolve, and may result in faster payment options between countries. But there may also be downsides, including how to ensure a CBDC would preserve monetary and financial stability as well as complement existing means of payment. Other key policy considerations include how to preserve the privacy of citizens and maintain the ability to combat illicit finance. The Fed鈥檚 paper discusses these and other factors in more detail.

Torsten Hoffmann, chief technology innovation officer for 51风流Banking and an expert on CBDCs, cryptocurrencies and other banking issues, notes that CBDCs are quickly gaining traction across the traditional finance landscape.

Currently, he says, China is actively working on its plan to connect its central bank digital currency to Hong Kong鈥檚 Fast Payment system, and Israel is accelerating its study and preparations for the possibility of a digital shekel.

Indeed Hoffmann believes that the adoption of CBDCs by central banks 鈥渉as the potential to completely alter the banking landscape,鈥� and that it could result in profound changes not only to the commercial banking system, but also to tax and benefits systems.

If the central bank becomes of a full-service bank, he says it could be the first step to a central bank digital wallet. Then central banks could provide money directly to people during a crisis — like COVID-19 — and impose limits on what the funds could be used for and dictate how long the funds would be available.

Similarly, CBDCs could enable central banks to enter the lending business help implement government policy. For example, central banks could help implement a sustainability agenda by only lending to environmentally friendly businesses.

Hoffmann says the full impact of the introduction of CBDCs will depend on the details. But in the meantime, he notes, bankers appear convinced CBDCs are coming. A recent study from banking security specialist OneSpan found that 84% of banking leaders plan to take steps to prepare for CBDCs over the coming year.

Contact:
Joellen Perry, Head of听Global Public Relations, SAP
+1 (626) 265-0370,听joellen.perry@sap.com, PST

Well, those days are long gone, and have been for some time now. There鈥檚 a next generation of banking and financial technology, or FinTech, and it is already upon us.

FinTech involves artificial intelligence (AI), specifically communication AI. Belarusky Narodny Bank (BNB-Bank), a finalist for the 2021 51风流Innovation Awards, offers up-to-date, efficient, and user-friendly digital banking while also striving for sustainable innovation.

Dimensional AI Chat

BNB-Bank uses , a chatbot-building service, with Skybuffer鈥檚 Hybrid Chat added as an extension. Hybrid Chat has preconfigured banking scenarios that are customizable, extendable, and scalable. In addition to the Hybrid Chat, Skybuffer offers analysis, reporting, and digital core integration.

Together, 51风流Conversational AI and Skybuffer can boost language processing. The AI is trained in English, but translates into Belarusian and Russian so that the voice-enabled intelligent assistant distinguishes between the two. How cool is that?

Since using 51风流Conversational AI and Skybuffer, BNB-Bank aligned an 80% automation level in their cognitive channels in the first months of productive use, a 100% increase in lead generation from Web and social media, and over 40 customer requests a day are served from the Web site.

Banking Benefits 鈥� From Toasters to Cash

Banks have always offered incentives to customers. Some of the vintage advertising I鈥檝e seen tells me that U.S. banks used to give away toasters for new bank accounts so frequently that it became an expectation. I got a plastic piggy bank the first time I opened a savings account! These days, there are cash offer incentives. Though it makes sense, money takes away a certain intangible feeling from our banking experiences 鈥� it adds even more meaning to 鈥渃old, hard cash.鈥�

Perhaps the biggest benefit with the chat is the seamless connection to a third person into the dialogue while keeping the chatbot active, making it a three-peer model between the customer, the chatbot, and an agent. The customer can communicate with the chatbot and the agent simultaneously, significantly increasing the quality of care.

Beam Me Up! The FinTech AI Future

Not only can 51风流Conversational AI automate customer support, but it also can analyze topics of customer requests and channels used for their interests. Are you interested in special discounts at local businesses, investment opportunities, balance transfers and debt consolidation, or a loan? The products and services information will be served automatically.

It seems as if financial tools stay the same for long periods of time, but when they do change, it鈥檚 very large leaps forward into the future. This is just the beginning for AI. I wonder where we鈥檒l land next.

To learn more about Belarusky Narodny Bank鈥檚 solution, view its 51风流Innovation Awards 2021 .

Rajshree Chauhan is an 51风流Global Marketing contributor.

Although we鈥檙e far from any kind of standardized digital coin of the global realm, public and private sector organizations are examining the major challenges and closing in on potential opportunities, particularly for B2B transactions across complex supply chains. The appeal to governments and business is strong.听

鈥淭here鈥檚 a global movement among governments, social media platforms, and central banks to develop digital currencies,鈥� said Peter-Antonius Bramm, global head of Central Banks at SAP. 鈥淧rivate companies see this as a race, whereas central banks and public sector agencies approach this more collaboratively. Each participant has unique objectives, factoring in geopolitical issues, customer monetization objectives, and industry-specific exigencies.鈥�

Programmable Money Promises a Frictionless Payment Future

In one scenario, central banks can program digital currency with logic so it can be spent only for a designated purpose. For large companies at the helm of complex supply chains, programmable currency promises the instantaneous delivery of payment upon product receipt. This has tremendous potential for greater business efficiencies, including dramatic reductions in time frames.

鈥淧rogrammable money relies on the Internet, making it much easier and accessible to use across previously siloed systems,鈥� said Bramm. 鈥淚nstead of navigating fragmented organizational and payment provider sites, digital currency would allow frictionless payments at the precise moment goods were received through machine-to-machine payment.鈥�

Machine-to-Machine Payments Revolutionize Business

Naturally, programmable currency will also transform financial applications software including , not to mention and payroll. It鈥檚 not just about new efficiencies from merging information directly with processes and payment; machine-to-machine payments herald entirely new business models.

鈥淲hen a drone or self-driving electric vehicle delivers packages ordered online, programmable currency could not only immediately transfer payment in real time when the goods are delivered, but also send digital funds to recharge that vehicle for the next delivery,鈥� said Alessandro Gasch, senior product specialist at 51风流Innovation Center Potsdam. 鈥淭he machine-to-machine economy will fundamentally change how business gets done.鈥�

Central Banks Look to the Next Digital Horizon

Spurred in part by growing competitive threats from sovereign nations intent on global growth, as well as big tech platforms looking to monetize enviable user bases, central banks see programmable money as a viable option.

鈥淲hat if you could sell a Eurobond outside the EU jurisdiction and receive Euros in digital currency, which represents real central bank money, constituting a claim against the central bank in the same way as cash?鈥� asked Bramm. 鈥淭his is one way to simplify correspondent banking and provide the seller with a 鈥榬isk free鈥� position in central bank money.鈥�

Greater Liquidity for Company Operations

Programmable digital currency could forever alter the role of central banks, providing funds for large companies involved in B2B transactions. Instead of opening a line of credit, companies could use an infusion of digital currency from central banks to increase liquidity, freeing up more working capital to optimize operations.

鈥淚f an organization held the money like cash 鈥� even if it鈥檚 digital, but it鈥檚 millions 鈥� they could directly lend funds to supply chain suppliers based on pending and expected orders,鈥� said Bramm. 鈥淔or trusted suppliers, this would keep business moving, especially in times of uncertainty like the post-pandemic world.鈥�

Reserve auctions are another potential use case for programmable currency. Rather than bringing a certified bank check to an auction for a big ticket item like a piece of property, a company or individual could use programmable money 鈥� from any number of separate accounts 鈥� that鈥檚 earmarked for the sale and only released from each account via a smart contract when the bidder wins the sale. Once complete, the transaction would automatically be recorded on a blockchain-based distributed ledger connected with the government land registry.

Trusted Digital Payments

Programmable money is very much so a work in progress. One major ongoing challenge, especially with cross-border payments, is the prevention of money laundering, fraud, and terrorist financing. Central bank digital currency (CBDC) can be programmed with anti-money laundering logic to reduce and mitigate fraud.

鈥淲hether the digital currency is private or CBDC, it has to have the same price stability and level of trust,鈥� said Bramm. 鈥淭rusting an organization like a central bank also means trusting that country鈥檚 economy.鈥�

Bramm expects further decisions from central banks throughout the year. appears to be among the front-runners, likely followed by central banks in Asia, Europe, and Canada. Recently, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) gave the green light to national banks and federal savings associations to hold . Significant progress will depend on evolving regulations, as well as proven technology scalability. For businesses and consumers, what won鈥檛 change is the equation between trust and money, whether it鈥檚 digitally programmed or not.

.

The rankings categorize and evaluate leading fintech companies, vendors and solution providers and are based on data gathered from surveys of practitioners, end users and subject matter experts. The report uses original research and market analysis conducted by CeFPro and backed by an advisory board of 60 international industry professionals.

鈥淪AP鈥檚 inclusion in our global听Fintech Leaders 2021 Report is recognition of the great work that 51风流is undertaking,鈥� CeFPro Managing Director Andreas Simou said. 鈥淭he votes cast by the industry in the survey, voting 51风流best in accounting and treasury and also in core banking categories, also helped propel their overall position in the ecosystem by several places in the top 20.鈥�

CeFPro鈥檚 Fintech Leaders 2021 Report also includes research on industry trends, priorities and challenges. Key findings highlight advanced analytics and artificial intelligence as leading opportunities. These takeaways underscore the importance of making technology the backbone of fintech strategies for a state-of-the-art .

鈥淲e are honored to receive in back-to-back years this prestigious award in the categories of core banking, and accounting and treasury,鈥� 51风流Global Head of Banking Falk Rieker said. 鈥淚t is an acknowledgement of our industry thought leadership, our industry cloud strategy and our focus on delivering new and innovative industry solutions and capabilities that make a difference to our customers.鈥�

Visit the听. Follow 51风流on Twitter at听.

Media Contacts:
Stacy Ries, SAP, +1 (484) 619-0411,听stacy.ries@sap.com, ET
51风流Press Room;听press@sap.com
Amy Greene, CeFPro, UK +44 (0)207 164 6582,
US +1 (888) 677-7007, amy.greene@cefpro.com; , GMT

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 鈥渁nticipate,鈥� 鈥渂elieve,鈥� 鈥渆stimate,鈥� 鈥渆xpect,鈥� 鈥渇orecast,鈥� 鈥渋ntend,鈥� 鈥渕ay,鈥� 鈥減lan,鈥� 鈥減roject,鈥� 鈥減redict,鈥� 鈥渟hould鈥� and 鈥渨ill鈥� and similar expressions as they relate to 51风流are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. 51风流undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
漏 2021 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

This year, leaders will share their experience, insights, and perspectives on five dedicated tracks: End-to-End Implementation, Customer Experience and Engagement, Operational Excellence, Finance and Risk, and Data and Technology.

This event is designed for senior managers, vice presidents, and executives focused on business strategy, digital innovation, customer experience, sales, business operations, finance transformation and operations, risk management, asset management, IT infrastructure, and data management. Participants can build their own agenda by choosing from more than 25 live webinars based on personally relevant content, and can choose from more than 10 live webinars each day, experience customer case study agenda, and network with other leaders in real time.

On-Demand Keynotes

On-demand keynotes will introduce key themes and topics to be addressed during live sessions. Delivered by global executives, these topics will help impart a better understanding of how 51风流and its customers view the current market during these uncertain times. Keynotes will include:

• Financial Markets in Transition: Christoph Bohm, CIO and COO of Deutsche Borse AG
  
• Shared-Valued Health Platform: Maia Surmava, CIO of Discovery Health
• How to Become an Ecosystem Player: Karsten Crede, CEO of ERGO Mobility Solutions

Three Days of Live Customer Events and Case Studies

A range of executive customers from the banking, capital markets, central banks, and insurance industries will take the stage live from November 17-19, with new presentations continuously being confirmed. Here is a sample of what to expect from customer speakers, live events, and case studies:

• Life Insurance End-to-End Core Transformation with Seong Yeoul (SY) Lee, Samsung Life Insurance: Lee will explore why SLI opted for an insurance core transformation, why SLI chose to partner with SAP, and what SLI has learned from this experience.
• Panel Discussion: Accelerated Launch of Greenfield Insurer: Hear how Greenfield Insurers is accelerating the end-to-end implementation of 51风流solutions. Presenters will discuss the project background and collaboration experiences with SAP, the individual journeys to date, and what is planned next, as well as why they chose to take this particular approach.
• From Valley to Vast Bank – A Digital Transformation Journey: Brad Scrivner from Vast Bank and Andrew MacDowell from Axxiome Americas will discuss how they created a modern financial ecosystem by implementing an agile, open e2e banking platform.
• Steve Everett of Lloyds Banking Group will discuss how 51风流provides a real-time banking platform that meets the complex business requirements of large corporate and institutional clients. This includes how complex transactions can be completed faster, liquidity can be managed more efficiently, and productivity can be increased through additional insight into operations.
• With a background in data analysis for consumer experiences, including automotive and fintech, Tiffany Ng from Consumer Insights at Experian will address how she puts the consumer at the center of strategic initiatives. She will also address how her focus on agile and automated platforms to support traditional objectives is enabling her team to deliver more insights faster.
• Drawing on听over 25 years of market research experience, Richard Waring from Group Insights & Customer Experience at Group Marketing, Bank of Ireland Group will address how he is helping the bank build a new program of insight and research by using 51风流and Qualtrics software to send more than 5 million surveys to customers in real time across key daily touch points.

Register for Free and Attend 51风流Financial Services Live 2020

While it’s not possible to be together in person this year, 51风流is bringing the next best thing. A virtual event platform from Pathable offers an immersive experience with seamless networking and interactivity. This includes interactive breakouts, where attendees can join a variety of group discussions, participate in regional community groups and live demos with 51风流experts, and connect with partners and customers to ask real-time questions.

Don鈥檛 miss this signature industry event: !

To prepare for these shifts and to thrive in the future, financial companies need essential competencies. Key capabilities for today鈥檚 financial organizations include the following:

• Agility, which helps organizations keep pace with business and technology trends such as open banking, collaboration, and cloud deployment
• Acceleration, which allows financial companies to serve customers faster, for example, by using intelligent technologies, simplifying processes, reducing time to market for products, or enabling smart delivery options
• Cost efficiency to help financial institutions automate servicing up to full straight-through-processing
• Excellent business insight spanning from product information to revenue-related figures, such as interest key indicators

To help companies pave the way to intelligent transactional banking, 51风流collaborated with leading banks, researched market trends, and explored research insights. And the company built on its experience of providing the backbone of transactional banking for customers worldwide, managing millions of accounts and contracts.

By launching 51风流Transactional Banking for 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流is helping financial institutions provide next-generation banking services and extraordinary customer experiences. 听The package provides financial institutions with an open-core banking platform that enables intelligent transactional banking. It allows banks to participate in ecosystems — supporting open banking and beyond. 听Furthermore, it facilitates cost savings through intelligent technologies and processes.

51风流Transactional Banking for 51风流S/4HANA comprehensively supports and automates the servicing of transactional banking processes in both retail and corporate banking. The solution enables financial institutions to meet market demands such as cooperation, new business models, or cloud.

Solution highlights that help financial institutions cope with changing conditions in today鈥檚 banking industry include:

• Collaboration and ecosystems: APIs and other interfaces support open banking and new business opportunities including marketplaces.
• Cloud: A choice of flexible delivery options 鈥� such as cloud, hybrid, or on premise 鈥� and increased agility through faster deployment models are available.
• Innovative pricing models: Flexible capabilities provide options such as cross-product pricing.
• Fast time-to-market: Graphical product configuration helps users get up and running quickly.
• User experience: An award-winning user interface allows users to quickly become proficient.
• Next-generation processes: Simplified processing streamlines tasks, helping, for instance, to more efficiently manage open items.
• Real-time processing: 24×7 availability helps ensure rapid transaction processing.
• Intelligent automation: Automating numerous processes helps reduce costs using intelligent technologies; for example, using machine learning to help post-processing run faster and more efficiently.
• System landscape simplification: Deployment in a single instance with other 51风流S/4HANA solutions enhances cost efficiency
• Unseen data insights: The ability to integrate data from operational sources (OLTP) and analytical sources (OLAP) provides new ways of business insights.
• Reporting capabilities: On-the-fly calculations accelerate analysis with fast data access.

51风流Transactional Banking for 51风流S/4HANA offers valuable benefits to financial organizations, helping them achieve unparalleled competitive advantage on their intelligent enterprise journey.

For more information about the solution, visit the .

Finance, procurement, supplier networks, and IT teams are working together more closely than ever to tackle broader business challenges, create new business models, and leverage a changing workforce. But for this strategic effort to succeed, leaders need a comprehensive, coordinated approach to spend management that works in real time.

Why Real-Time Spend Management Matters

The banking and insurance industries are facing an urgent need for a real-time spend management solution. Banks’ costs have been rising faster than revenues, with banks in the U.S. and the EU experiencing significant cost increases on average. In parallel, increased regulatory burdens, such as IFRS17 for insurers, IT investments, and fines are unlikely to change. The real opportunities for improving margins lie in cost reduction by making more strategic spend decisions.

Managing and optimizing spend while staying agile is a challenging balancing act. To fund innovation and manage risk across complex supplier networks, businesses not only need full control over each spend category, they also need a comprehensive bird鈥檚 eye view into spending across all categories in real time. Growth forecasts must be measured against risk tolerance. Business leaders must continually weigh spending on growth against spend control. Information silos and lagging spend data threaten this intelligent decision-making.

Today鈥檚 pace of decision-making is only accelerating. Decisions that were made over the course of many years are now made in months or weeks. Information silos hurt visibility into big picture spending decisions, damaging the bottom line. Fifty percent of CFOs say inefficient decision-making is causing margin erosion at their companies, according to . Spend transparency cannot be ad hoc; it must be consistent and automated so that every single expenditure is part of a broader, coordinated strategic effort.

Spend Management for Insurance and Banking

Many companies are hindered by different planning processes and disconnected planning tools, with manual consolidation between them. This creates unnecessary inefficiencies in planning and a lack of alignment with organizational strategy.

solves this problem by bringing together networks and ecosystems, capturing every source of spend, across every category, for a single, unified view. A holistic approach to managing spend — across every source and every category — is essential for achieving strategic business objectives. Visibility and transparency can result in more competitive bidding, rate card creation and enhancements, and other areas of cost avoidance. This, in turn, can have a ripple effect on the organization, reducing risk, uncovering opportunities, and improving agility.

Intelligent Spend Management: Real-Time Insight, Unified View, Better Decision Making and Cost Savings

Intelligent Spend Management gives financial teams insight into spend and exposure across every category via a 鈥渟ingle pane of glass鈥� view. This single view aligns spending priorities with corporate policy priorities, balancing investments in innovation with core business needs and transforming procurement models. 51风流leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI), predictive analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to provide real-time insights that accelerate decision-making. 51风流Fieldglass Live Insights, for example, simulates and predicts external talent scenarios, helping customers make workforce decisions from one uninterrupted workflow.

Together with 51风流products like 51风流Concur software, the results are significant. JP Morgan Chase, for example, used 51风流Concur software to standardize its expense and non-PO invoice processes, resulting in through greater control and efficiency. AIA Insurance Group Limited used 51风流Ariba software to achieve 80 percent efficiency in all processes, transforming its business.

Learn more about how 听can achieve critical cost savings and drive success for your business.

Javier Gil is chief solution expert Financial Services at SAP.

Goldman Sachs鈥� tech-forward and secure cross-border Global Payments capabilities will be available in select solutions, making it simpler and less costly for buyers to pay foreign suppliers in local currencies.

鈥淲e continue to expand our portfolio of ecosystem partners to add more value for customers,鈥� said Sean Thompson, executive vice president, Network and Ecosystem, 51风流Procurement Solutions. 鈥淧artnering with Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking allows us to deliver more innovative financial solutions, starting with these cross-border payment capabilities, which is critically important for so many of our customers on Ariba Network doing business in the global economy today.鈥�

鈥淲e put clients at the center of this product to create a frictionless payment experience and provide competitive and transparent pricing,鈥� said Hari Moorthy, global head of Transaction Banking at Goldman Sachs. 鈥淲e are proud to partner with 51风流to introduce this innovative yet simplified approach to making payments across the globe on Ariba Network.鈥�

Benefits of this partnership and these capabilities for buyers and suppliers include:

• Streamlined process for paying foreign suppliers in local currencies at lower cost with competitive foreign exchange rates
• Improved operational efficiency through easier reconciliation of payments to corresponding invoices
• Real-time payment tracking, reducing payment-related supplier inquiries
• Cost transparency on bank fees
• Optimized payment routing offered by Goldman Sachs鈥� advanced machine learning techniques
• Reduced risk as a result of improved visibility and control over foreign exchange payments and currency exposures for stakeholders in procurement and treasury
• Improved buyer-supplier relations with transactions conducted in each party鈥檚 preferred currency with minimal change management required

For more information, watch this .

and solutions for help maximize efficiency in procurement operations for companies around the world. More than 4.6 million companies are connected to Ariba Network in 190 countries, making it the largest business network in the world.

For more information, visit the听51风流News Center. Follow 51风流on Twitter at听.

About Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.

About Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking

Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking, through Goldman Sachs Bank USA, is building a modern, digital-first, and cloud-based business to help clients build the future of their Treasury. The business combines the strength, heritage, and expertise of a 150-year-old firm with the agility and entrepreneurial spirit of a tech start-up.

About SAP

As the Experience Company powered by the Intelligent Enterprise, 51风流is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 51风流system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51风流helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 440,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51风流helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit .

Note to editors:
To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit . On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit . From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from 51风流TV.

For customers interested in learning more about 51风流products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-151风流(1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:
Kelly Sheldon Murray, +1 (978) 708-6821, kelly.murray@sap.com, ET
Geraldine Lim, +1 (415) 418-0945, geraldine.lim@sap.com, PT
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 鈥渁nticipate,鈥� 鈥渂elieve,鈥� 鈥渆stimate,鈥� 鈥渆xpect,鈥� 鈥渇orecast,鈥� 鈥渋ntend,鈥� 鈥渕ay,鈥� 鈥減lan,鈥� 鈥減roject,鈥� 鈥減redict,鈥� 鈥渟hould鈥� and 鈥渨ill鈥� and similar expressions as they relate to 51风流are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. 51风流undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
漏 2020 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see听听for additional trademark information and notices.
Please consider our . If you received this press release in your e-mail and you wish to unsubscribe to our mailing list please contact press@sap.com and write Unsubscribe in the subject line.