BMW Financial Services in major tech overhaul with Sword Apak
Axel Frank, IT-project lead, BMW FS
BMW Group Financial Services (BMW FS) has selected UK-based fintech vendor Sword Apak to support the planned harmonisation of its European core operating systems.
Called the Ideal Programme (integrated delivery of a European application landscape), it was launched in November 2016. It is designed to integrate three key modules: commercial finance, dealer front-end and the contract management system (retail lease and loan).
The first component has been the delivery of Sword Apak’s Wholesale Floorplan Finance System (WFS) for the bank’s commercial finance business.
Axel Frank, IT-project lead, BMW FS for commercial finance, says: “The fact that WFS has a proven track record across different geographies made it a natural candidate to select it and kick start with WFS the wider Ideal Programme.”
Sword Apak says it delivered the project “on time and on budget”.
The project required the migration of 354 retailers, 1,416 credit lines and 63,415 existing loans. The entire process was “facilitated” by Sword Apak’s API integration layer, which allows connection to 13 surrounding systems.
Since the launch of WFS for both the UK and the Republic of Ireland markets of BMW FS, WFS is now being used by 1,143 BMW FS users and has been made available to over 260 BMW Group and Alphera retailers and dealer partners.
