Innovate to compete

The FLEXCUBE digital core banking system is now available for the Italian market. The event held on June 15th this year at Salone dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, formalized the completion of the localization project stemming from the collaboration between Cabel and Oracle, and also, the launch of the product on the Italian market.
It happens that, in modern times, David and Goliath are no longer rivals. Based on what has been going on in Empoli over the past few years, we can see two entities, which, despite the great differences between each other in terms of size, culture and education, are capable of creating a unique synergy by sharing their specificities under a sort of minimum common denominator that adds value to both while facilitating the attainment of the set objective. We are speaking about Oracle and Cabel, the former being a giant with the most advanced banking system at the international level, not to mention an extremely high number of installations and bank transactions processed every year, and the latter being a versatile and streamlined partner, whose key strength is a team highly specialized in IT and banking from both the operational and regulatory standpoint.
In unity, there is strength, and this was exactly the case.
Over twenty two months of hard work plus a great investment in terms of economic and human resources (a team of ten Indian engineers moved to Empoli for the entire period to work alongside the large team of Cabel technicians and experts) led to the first significant result, that is, the activation of the new system in the first bank within the agreed timescale.

 
That is why the Florence event, besides being an excellent opportunity to introduce FLEXCUBE’s underlying philosophy and features to the entire banking and financial world, marked the celebration of the company’s renewed and significant awareness. In fact, by making its project known to an audience formed by top players of the banking industry at both the national and international level, Cabel was able to convey the validity of its innovative business model, of which inclusion and opening up to new horizons is the leitmotiv for all of its business activities. Cabel’ model relies on:
– a strong human component, made up of specialized and highly motivated professionals;
– a highly performing and flexible network of companies to provide specific products and services to the banking and financial world;
– a constant drive towards technological and process innovation.

For this reason, and also due to its solidity, Cabel was chosen by Oracle to become its business partner with the aim of localizing FLEXCUBE for the Italian banking sector. Such joint approach is characterized by advantageous discontinuity and disruption which, for the first time in Italy, has made core banking actually flexible and modular.
The product, perfectly integrable by banks into their own information system, offers high levels of performance in terms of flexibility, efficiency and time to market without affecting the existing legacy system core logic.
 
The platform can be adopted by any bank irrespective of size and scope, and can be provided either in full outsourcing or on-premise. It is designed to face future challenges, which are becoming more complex due to new regulations that have recently come into effect, such as MiFID, PSD2 and GDPR.
 
The event called “Incipit, premises for the beginning”, hosted at Palazzo Vecchio, the splendid, world famous example of Renaissance architecture, saw the attendance of the representatives of the project’s promoter companies.
During his speech, Chet Kamat, managing director & CEO of Oracle Financial Services Software, highlighted how the banking business is being severely challenged by new competitors, from tacos to start-ups. “PSD2 and other regulations have removed the barriers at the entrance, while traditional banks are facing competition from enterprises that are more agile in terms of organization and technology. Through our partnership with Cabel, we are able to offer Italian banks a solution for tackling the digital transformation challenge. It is worth noting that FLEXCUBE, already adopted by six hundred banks, integrates best practices deriving from business models that differ greatly from one another. Also, a team of a thousand engineers from our R & D department are in charge of updating the solution”.
Fabio Giuliani, CEO of Cabel Industry SpA, made it clear that the set of technological solutions offered by a great vendor such as Oracle are now available to Italian companies, thanks to Cabel’s years-long experience in the market and its deep acquaintance with the Italian regulations, not to mention its ability to collaborate in adapting enormous potentials to the actual needs of virtuous but often jagged and complex economies.

Parole queste avvalorate anche da Francesco Bosio, Presidnete di Cabel Holding S.p.A. che ha sottolineato come la soluzione si presenti radicalmente innovativa, in quanto consente la realizzazione di prodotti e servizi dalla struttura tecnologica snella, indipendenti e svincolati dai cliché del sistema bancario.

“E infatti – prosegue Stefano Tana, Amministratore Delegato di Cabel Holding S.p.A. e Presidente di Cabel Industry S.p.A. – le banche devono chiaramente organizzarsi per cambiare core banking. Noi abbiamo un’esperienza di oltre cento migrazioni nei quaranta anni della nostra storia. Possiamo contare su un team composto non solo da tecnici ma da esperti che possono aiutare la banca a conoscere un sistema informativo a loro sconosciuto. Abbiamo competenze specifiche sulla situazione italiana che consentono di fare andare a buon fine le migrazioni”.
E proprio sull’argomento migrazioni, durante l’evento è stato presentato anche il primo go live di FLEXCUBE in Italia, avvenuto con Invest Banca. Come ha illustrato Stefano Sardelli, Direttore Generale della banca, “con il nuovo core banking siamo finalmente sullo stesso piano competitivo del FinTech, almeno dal punto di vista dell’agilità dei sistemi informativi, e possiamo finalmente ragionare in termini di collaborazione con i nuovi player, di apertura dei sistemi, di API, di blockchain, di roboadvisory.

INCIPIT. Premises for the beginning

Per la città di Firenze, gli onori di casa li ha tenuti il Sindaco Dario Nardella, a cui sono seguiti i rappresentanti delle società partner Francesco Bosio, Presidente Cabel Holding S.p.A. e Vice Presidente Cabel Industry S.p.A. e Chet Kamat, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officier Oracle Financial Services Sofware Ltd.
Vittorio Meloni ha condotto e moderato i numerosi interventi nel corso dell’evento, in cui si è parlato di tecnologia e di un nuovo modo di approcciare al futuro.
 
Sono intervenuti:
Gaetano Correnti, partner KPMG Advisory e CEO Nolan Norton Italia S.r.l.
Riccardo Luna, direttore AGI
Anna Amati, Vice-Presidente Meta Group S.r.l.
Marco Folcia, partner Financial Services PWC
Fabio Giuliani, A.D. Cabel Industry S.p.A.
Gerrard Mahony, Sales Director Oracle
Stefano Sardelli, Direttore Generale Invest Banca S.p.A.
Massimo Tomasi, partner FSI Deloitte Consulting
Stefano Tana, A.D. Cabel Holding S.p.A. e Presidente Cabel Industry S.p.A.