HBOS Group
HBOS Plc, now part of the Lloyds Banking Group, was formed in 2001 through the merger of the Bank of Scotland and Halifax. HBOS Group was a leading provider of banking, mortgage and insurance services in the UK, operating under well-known brands such as Halifax and Bank of Scotland.
Client/Employer
HBOS Goup/Cognizant
Year
2007-2008
Category
Banking Technology
Payments Technology
Type of Work
Relationship Management
Account Management
Faster Payments Services
Regulatory Change
P&L Management
The HBOS Group was at the forefront of leveraging technology as a key differentiator, with Cognizant serving as a preferred Information Technology partner.
Cognizant had previously supported the HBOS Group in numerous IT Change and Run initiatives, accelerating product innovation and driving operational efficiencies.
HBOS Plc played a pivotal role as one of the initial payment system participants and founding members during the planning and launch of the Faster Payments Service (FPS) in the UK.
Achieving the ambitious target of enabling payments to be processed within a couple of hours and ensuring 24/7 availability required participating banks to undertake significant technology and operational transformations. These included implementing real-time payment capabilities and adhering to stringent new standards for compliance and system integration.
In 2007, Cognizant appointed the founding Partner at Concinnity as a management hire to lead the HBOS Group account and portfolio from Edinburgh. The primary focus was ensuring the timely and incident-free rollout of the Faster Payments Service (FPS) at HBOS.
The newly appointed Account Leader embarked on a whistlestop tour of key locations, meeting management team members and technology consultants in Chennai, Pune, London, Halifax and Belfast before assuming responsibilities in Edinburgh.
Upon review of the book of work, project plans, key milestones for major programs (including FPS), risks and dependencies, opportunities were identified to accelerate delivery across projects and work orders.
This review highlighted four critical areas of intervention to mitigate the risk of schedule overruns for the FPS rollout:
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Core Banking System Enhancements
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Integration with the FPS Infrastructure
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Enhancements to Support the Adoption of the Messaging Standard
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Collaboration with Other Stakeholders
The team diligently addressed these areas, executing the necessary actions to ensure the success of the FPS rollout in 2008.
As the lead Systems Integration (SI) Partner to the bank, ensuring readiness to connect with the FPS infrastructure was critical. To achieve this, an alliance was established with ACI Worldwide, the provider of real-time payment processing solutions for the bank.
This partnership resulted in the creation of a Managed Test Center (MTC) specifically for the FPS program. The FPS MTC, developed in collaboration with ACI Worldwide, delivered simulation environments for end-to-end integration and acceptance testing of the bank's systems with the FPS infrastructure.
The alliance also fostered a collaborative approach to proactively address dependencies and resolve delays, ensuring a seamless and timely integration with the FPS ecosystem.
In addition to ensuring timely integration with the FPS infrastructure, key platforms and processes within the bank were prepared, optimized, and rigorously tested for FPS readiness.
This included critical areas such as:
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Reconciliations to ensure accurate tracking and settlement of payments.
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Fails Management to address and resolve transaction failures efficiently.
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Fraud Detection and Prevention systems to safeguard real-time payments against fraudulent activities.
The success of the FPS program had a significant positive impact on the overall relationship.
The account experienced improvements in customer satisfaction, top-line growth, and margin enhancement, strengthening the partnership further.
