NatWest has hired Accenture and Amazon Web Services to overhaul its data systems in its attempt to upgrade its technology and cut costs.
The lender mentioned this is a five-year partnership in which the consultancy and the cloud computing company will redesign how it stores its customers’ data. This project aims to eliminate days-long delays regarding fraud risk warnings to clients.
Warning clients of fraudulent activity faster
AWS and Accenture will bring NatWest’s customer data under one system so it can be stored and utilised more efficiently. The bank believes that this will allow for a more personalised customer experience and minimise the time it takes to alert customers of fraud risks, roll out new services, and change mortgage terms.
By storing the information this way, the bank hopes to analyse data and spot scams more easily, reducing the time it takes to alert customers of fraudulent activity. At the moment, if the bank detects a scam, it could take five days to comb through the information and warn customers. NatWest hopes that the revamp will allow this process to happen in hours.
The decision comes as many young customers are drawn to fintechs operating through user-friendly mobile phone apps, such as Revolut, which led banks to upgrade their ageing technology systems. This is why NatWest’s rival, Lloyds Banking Group, plans to focus on its digitalisation for its five-year plan for the business. The banking group gave up on its IT systems to move its data to the cloud and eliminated hundreds of jobs.
As some employees will inevitably be lost due to its IT revamp, NatWest mentioned that this was not the purpose of the project, and refused to comment on the number of potential job losses. These kinds of overhauls bring risks for the bank as well, as they usually cost tens of millions of GBP per year. TSB, for instance, suffered an IT meltdown when it tried to move customer data from the systems of its former owner Lloyds to one managed by Sabadell, its current owner.
