By  Stephen Chadwick, Managing Director EuroNorth, Dassault Systèmes.

Hard hit by the 2008 economic crisis, financial institutions are competing in a world where traditional business practices are quickly becoming out-dated. Increasingly stringent regulations, loss of customer confidence and the quest for inventive investment opportunities all contribute to banks’ needs to reduce operating costs, awaken their employees’ innovative spirit and provide more transparency to regulators.

BNP Paribas launched its “Simple and Efficient” cost reduction program to address these challenges. Currently, 2,500 projects are underway, aimed at increasing productivity at all levels of operations, from improving the employee review process to implementing creative initiatives, such as its “Hello Bank” 100% digital bank. “Simple and Efficient” aims to streamline processes and promote innovation that will ultimately help BNP Paribas stay ahead of market changes and provide its clients with creative financial solutions. “

At BNP Paribas

Securities Services we are adopting and deploying product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies for the end-to end development of new products and innovations,” said Sébastien Messean, head of Product Lifecycle Management at BNP Paribas Securities Services. “We need to develop products that comply with new regulations and meet customer expectations. A PLM approach helps us structure our offering while keeping operating costs in check.”

BNP Paribas Securities Services chose Dassault Systèmes’ 3D EXPERIENCE platform and its Innovation Factory industry solution experience to accelerate product development and enhance end-to-end product management. “Innovation Factory addresses the specific concerns of the banking industry and Dassault Systèmes brings over three decades of product management expertise along with its powerful collaborative and social networking features to the table,” Messean said.

“We are pioneering the use of the PLM technology that has been so successful in traditional industries, such as the aerospace or automotive sectors, to design and market new, across-the-line financial instruments.”

LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE

Banking and the more industrially-oriented sectors all face the same regulatory and globalization-related challenges. “We accompany our clients by providing products that comply with new standards and regulations, such as the AIFM directive [Alternative Investment Fund Managers] which sets up a new regulatory framework for alternative investments, and assist them in their international investments,” said Philippe Ruault, Head of clearing, settlement & custody products, BNP Paribas Securities Services. “We have established local presence in 34 countries to be closer to our clients and we need to bring these globally-dispersed teams ‘together’ on projects and new product developments. We must leverage the right expertise to channel and capitalize on the ideas and initiatives of technical as well as non-technical people, in our risk, operations and marketing departments, for example. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform provides us with a collaborative platform that helps us capture information and make it available. It makes working together as a team easier and eliminates the need for time consuming and not-so-secure email. The platform provides better visibility and access to ideas and product information. This promotes innovation between our global teams and gives management full visibility on all on-going projects, in every country, including their status and potential as well as their compliance with our banking strategy,” Ruault said.

BNP Paribas Securities Services’ product catalogue is another example. “With Innovation Factory, we can digitize our product catalogue down to the smallest component and reuse these components to tailor new solutions for our clients. This considerably shortens our overall development cycle. It helps us bring our solutions to market faster and ahead of our competition. We now expect to reduce our time to market by 20%,” Ruault said.

Innovation Factory supports three BNP Paribas Securities Services processes. “First, we use it to collect and federate ideas from all stakeholders and to examine each case to decide whether or not we should invest in a particular product,” Messean said. “Then there’s the product development phase with the design, development and validation of a new product. The third phase is product management, including support, maintenance and future development.”

TAILORED DASHBOARDS FOR A 360° VIEW

Innovation Factory provides BNP Paribas Securities Services with its own tailored dashboard to display the internal and external data needed to pilot its business. This includes product ideas from its clients, partners and employees around the world, market, competition and regulatory data, up- to-date product data, client proposals and associated RFPs [Request for Proposal], along with profitability, billing and contractual information. “We have a consolidated, instantaneous view of each project and its evolution over time. We have 360° traceability,” Ruault said.

Like every global player, navigating the rough seas of a perilous economy, BNP Paribas needs reliable technology and the right partner to help it manage complexity: configuring new solutions, promoting collaboration, designing products that comply with new and changing regulations, shortening development time and delivering to market on time.

Implementation and collaborative approach are sticking points in these kinds of projects. “Dassault Systèmes services team provided us with a clear direction based on our requirements,” Ruault said. “And Innovation Factory is definitely an important part of how we work. This is why we will continue to expand its use in the future as our needs and challenges evolve.” The relationship forged between the Dassault Systèmes teams and BNP Paribas Securities Services is, therefore, based on trust and a common vision. “The Dassault Systèmes teams we have worked with up till now are extremely skilled and passionate about their work,” Messean said.

“Their collaborative approach was a key factor for us as we strive to stay ahead of market changes and better support our customers. We have just begun to reap the benefits of Innovation Factory’s PLM approach to finance. With this solution, Dassault Systèmes is driving transformation in the financial service sector and we are excited about continuing this adventure together with a partner that understands and supports us,” Messean concluded.