Raiffeisen Bank Serbia revolutionizes risk management with low-code technology and data

“Technology is not just a piece of software, or a static tool. It’s something much more dynamic and engaging, which we can use to empower employees and improve the way we work.”

Dimitar Dilov, Chief Risk Officer and Board Member at Raiffeisen Bank Serbia, is describing how technology is fundamentally changing his organization and the wider financial services sector. 

“At Raiffeisen Bank, we see digital transformation and banking as intrinsically connected – especially when it comes to risk management,” says Dilov. “These are areas that deal with huge amounts of data, and technology has a key role to play in supporting them.”

Over the past few years, Raiffeisen Bank Serbia has been actively engaged in making this vision a reality. Under Dilov’s leadership, the organization has undertaken an ambitious digital transformation journey aimed at driving optimization and removing some burden from its employees. 

This has encompassed everything from communication platforms to data reports and data lakes, all the way through to automation. All in collaboration with Microsoft. 

“A bright future awaits those in the FSI sector who are keen to embrace technology,” he says. “That’s what our digital transformation journey is all about: using digital solutions to free up time for our colleagues and help them to provide great services for our customers.”

A traditional organization with a modern ambition

Founded more than 130 years ago, Raiffeisen Bank International is one of Central and Eastern Europe’s largest financial organizations. Headquartered in Austria and with 12 subsidiary banks in the CEE region, RBI employs over 44,000 people and serves some 17.2 million customers a year. 

Amongst the many independent banks operating within its network is Raiffeisen Bank Serbia, where Dimitar Dilov and his team have been implementing new digital solutions for the past decade.

“It all started with a simple migration to Office 365 [now Microsoft 365],” says Dilov. “I was working at a different office and was looking to build a new digital ecosystem that would allow us to better communicate internally and also embed new solutions. 

“And O365 was the perfect answer.”

Paving the way for a fully-fledged data strategy

Things evolved quite radically after Raiffeisen Bank Serbia first adopted O365. 

First, he says, came Power BI. “We quickly saw how O365 could be not just a communication tool, but the foundation of a wider solution for data sharing and data insights,” he explains. “So we decided to dig deeper into what this ecosystem could offer, and eventually landed on Power BI.”

Initially tested within Dilov’s risk management division, Power BI quickly proved pivotal at a broader, bank-wide level – helping to create an end-to-end system for the gathering, analysis and use of data. 

“By combining Power BI with the Azure Analytical Services, we were able to create a single source of truth for various data-centric processes in our office,” he continues. “This helped us to reduce decision-making time and better understand our KPIs.” 

Most of all, he adds, the initiative persuaded Raiffeisen Bank Serbia to elaborate an entirely new data strategy. One that relied on Power BI to report data, using various other solutions in the Power Platform suite for automation and analytics. 

“We saw endless opportunities open up before us, just by tapping into our data and making it actionable,” he says. “So we decided to amplify Power BI with more Power Platform services, namely Power Apps and Power Automate.”

Creating DASA

Since expanding its portfolio to Power Platform, Raiffeisen Bank Serbia has been using the solution to improve a range of operations within its offices. 

A prime example is DASA. “DASA is the acronym for Decision Approval and Signing Application,” says Dilov. “It is the result of our efforts to both reduce our paper consumption and make the signing and approval process for board members more efficient.”  

He recalls coming into the office, one day, after some time away, and finding a pile of loan forms on his desk waiting to be signed. “These documents are usually drafted for the process of reviewing, approving and signing credit applications for our corporate customers,” he says. “And all of them required my signature.

“Using Power Platform, we’ve developed a system that speeds everything all up by digitalizing the process.”

Breaking boundaries with technology

Following a trial in the midst of the pandemic, DASA has now been successfully integrated within the wider business operations – contributing to the improvement of both remote working and RBI’s sustainability credentials.

“More than 300 people in our office alone are now using DASA,” says Dimitar Dilov. 

The solution is now ready to be scaled up, using Microsoft Dataverse to create a common data model and allow each Raiffeisen Group entity to re-use it based on their needs. 

The move, he claims, has been transformational for the bank– generating new innovation opportunities within the organization and beyond.“

Uses range from big data sharing and analysis to more practical, day-to-day activities. In Bulgaria, for example, the solution was used to create an HR application, while the UK office has used it for cybersecurity purposes.

The common goal, says Dilov, is freeing people up to focus on their priorities, by reducing the time spent on chores that are now automated. 

“Before Power Platform, we used to spend hours and hours of our time in creating our monthly portfolio reviews – involving different team members, creating slides, tables, charts, you name it,” he says. 

“Now that the technology prepares the data and formats these tables and charts, that time has been reduced by 30%, helping us to reduce operational costs and allowing our analysts to focus on their core job: using data to find real solutions to our challenges.”

A revolution in risk management

Among the most transformative solutions developed at Raiffeisen Bank Serbia is the Integrated Stress Testing model (IST), which is designed to support market risk predictions.  

“No one can see exactly what will happen in the future, but using stress tests and/or sensitivity analysis, we can also simulate what a customer’s portfolio can look like in the future – and to what risks this portfolio might be exposed to,” explains Dimitar Dilov.

“Currently, all banks are required to take this regulatory stress test once per year but in many instances, this is also used for forward-looking analysis,” he continues. “It’s very helpful when it comes to risk management and getting a greater understanding of the future.”

This is what the IST model is for: using a combination of Microsoft solutions including Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps and Azure Databricks, the tool allows Raiffeisen bank Serbia to work out market risk scenarios testing on both portfolios and at an individual customer-level. 

“Before, this used to be a very long, complicated process,” says Dilov. “Certain parts of our work, such as stress tests, used to be very demanding – data preparation and computing, in particular, took up a lot of our time and efforts. 

“Now, we have a solution that allows us to perform all these tasks in nearly real-time.”

He emphasizes the importance of this solution in not just optimizing processes, but also in strengthening customer relations. “We deal with many stakeholders, from regulators to customers, shareholders and more,” he says.

“All of whom expect reliable data insights, on time. The faster you get the data, the more convinced they are that you are a reliable counterpart.”

Laying the foundation for even further implementation

More than seven years since the first O365 implementation, Raiffeisen Bank Serbia and Dilov are still nowhere near finished with their digital transformation plans. 

So far, the initiative has already proved crucial for the organization, across various different areas – from talent attraction to customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. This has persuaded the  Raiffeisen Bank Serbia board to take matters even further.

“We’re currently developing a strategy for cloud acceleration that we hope will lead us to more and better use of Microsoft solutions,” says Divlov. “The goal is to make sure that everyone in the  Raiffeisen Bank network is comfortable using these products and can take ownership of them.”

Having established a Center of Excellence for Power Platform in 2022 at a group level, the Serbian bank is now looking into greater collaboration with the Austrian headquarter and all other CEE entities within the RBI network. 

This, he claims, is helping to both retain and attract new customers, but also increase loyalty and satisfaction among both customers and employees.

“I believe that digital transformation can only succeed if everyone is involved and sees its benefits from the beginning,” concludes Dilov.  

“That’s what I love about our collaboration with Microsoft: our employees see that these solutions are dynamic, constantly evolving to meet their needs – and understand that this technology is here to truly help them do a better job and provide ever better services.”