Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) was conceived as a ‘Sunset Bank’ with a mission to bring the Eastern Bloc into a free market economy after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The EBRD’s continued success, and subsequent global expansion, has necessitated renewed investment in IT. The Bank’s enduring success pushed it beyond its original timetabled remit which necessitated a tech revamp to upgrade legacy systems.
EBRD: A Platform for Multilateral Banking
Subhash is leading on a technology transformation program to deliver a banking platform that is one of a kind. It serves to address a unique problem in a unique way – A productised approach to Multilateral Development Banking. Launched in 2020 the project served as a wake-up call for EBRD to transform the Bank’s technology infrastructure. Furthermore, modernising an old stack of technologies that was falling apart. However, the pandemic and recent global conflicts shifted the Bank’s priorities to focus on more immediate issues.
When Subhash joined a year and a half ago, he saw an opportunity to shape transformation efforts around delivering the best digital experience. Together with his team he developed the Technology blueprint. With platform architecture at its heart he reshaped the approach to the 80 individual transformation projects with a platform view and product mindset. Today, 22 of those projects have been completed and 90% initiated.
“During the first phase we focused on our core infrastructure with cloud foundations and data centres for all the technical upgrades,” he explains. “Building an integrated multilateral banking platform has been challenging as there were no fit-for-purpose products available in the market that we could utilise. So, we embarked on a journey of building them ourselves where we had a differentiating technology and processes and consolidated it with the best products with architecture at its core.
Nurturing a Technology Culture
Technology is playing a key role in defining what that positive future looks likes for the EBRD. “We are becoming a tech-driven organisation,” maintains Subhash. “Beyond banking, what we are selling is a piece of code – whether it be a loan product, a guarantee or trade finance. So, the organisation needs to think like a technology company with a special relationship with our customers, otherwise we will not be able to make a big impact in a changing world. That also means the whole technology team must think differently. Rather than order takers, you need a culture where people have a leading role in defining the strategy of the Bank, in defining how quickly, efficiently and effectively the Bank and the institution are able to transition towards its goals.”
