Mortgage Society of Finland chose Evitec Solutions for the mortgage bank’s business management
Automated collateral management streamlines financial institution operations.
The strategic development project at Mortgage Society of Finland, Finland’s only credit institution specializing in mortgages, culminated in the IT solution delivered by Evitec Solutions. With the new system, the Mortgage Society of Finland is now prepared for more flexible fundraising options, including the addition of covered bonds.
The IT solution plays an important role in the mortgage bank’s daily business operations and in obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals and international credit ratings. The project was implemented with an ambitious schedule and required intensive cooperation between the client and Evitec Solutions.
Mortgage Society of Finland’s long history, which dates to 1860, gets a new chapter when Mortgage Society of Finland starts issuing covered bonds for the first time. The need to diversify fundraising stems from the rapid changes in the financial sector both in Finland and internationally.
— The availability and price of funding is significantly better for covered bonds than unsecured bonds, both now and in the future. We therefore launched a development project, an important part of which was the acquisition of an IT solution suitable for our needs, says Mortgage Society of Finland’s CFO Aija Kontinen.
With the support of the new IT solution, Mortgage Society of Finland can start issuing covered bonds. The core of the system is the management of collateral pools and reporting. The covered bonds business means that Mortgage Society of Finland can borrow capital from the market at a more favorable price (lower interest rate), which in turn is reflected in a more competitive interest rate also for end customers.
In addition to producing information for the management of the day-to-day business operations of the mortgage bank, the system is also used for various forms of business, rating agency and regulatory reporting. A functioning IT system was also a prerequisite for obtaining a license from the Financial Supervisory Authority.
Mortgage Society of Finland selected Evitec’s offer through a tender procedure:
— We were already convinced of Evitec’s business and domain expertise at the tender stage. They understood banking as an industry in general and especially the management of collateral and bonds in our sector. They also demonstrated their ability to adapt their solution to our needs; for example, no problems with complicated integrations with Samlink’s other systems, Kontinen says.
Ambitious timetable and smooth cooperation
We had set aside about one year to build the data system, which is an ambitious timetable in the industry. Both the vendor and the customer must be fully committed to the cooperation.
— We avoided trivialities and always concentrated on the essentials. Evitec’s project manager and experts were always aware of the schedule and goals we had set. Their drive and smooth cooperation played a key role in the successful outcome of the project. Special thanks go to the project manager, who was able to listen and understand our needs and successfully translate them into technical solutions, Kontinen says.
— Our team includes a significant concentration of financial IT expertise by Nordic standards, which allowed the project to be implemented so smoothly, and the team deserves a big thank you for that. We also found the cooperation with Mortgage Society of Finland to be uncomplicated and efficient throughout the project, says Evitec’s Project Manager Tino Silfver.
The experience with similar systems in the financial sector was very helpful and a success factor for the successful outcome of the project:
— Although we have previous experience with similar systems and our solution can be replicated to some extent for our customers, financial industry systems are always special projects; the solution must be adapted to the customer’s specific business! In addition, designing the industry’s system in compliance with legislative requirements carries a significant responsibility to ensure that the system operates effectively for both the customer and the customer’s own clients – us ordinary Finns, Silfver continues.
— We are very pleased with both the cooperation and the end result and are eager to start mortgage operations, Kontinen concludes.
