Íslandsbanki and Backbase team for credit card management app
Backbase gains live site in Iceland
Icelandic bank Íslandsbanki has gone live with a new credit card management app, built with digital banking tech vendor Backbase.
“The project was completed to deadline and acceptance rates have so far exceeded expectations,” Backbase states.
“Íslandsbanki faced the challenge of migrating data, including loyalty offerings, from American Express to Mastercard,” the vendor continues. “This project had a very ambitious timeline, as implementation had to dovetail with the closure of American Express’ operations in Iceland.”
Amongst the functionalities required were real-time status, real-time transactions, card activation, PIN retrieval and freeze/unfreeze card. Airline loyalty points earned on the American Express platform also had to be migrated over.
The 20-people project team accomplished the go-live in six months.
Training of the bank’s staff was done internally, with a workshop for developers in Ukraine. Backbase says it provided onsite support for the first month, along with further training and support through to completion. There was some remote Q&A following the project wrap-up, which the vendor also provided.
Within the first six weeks, over 7,500 customers came on board, over 4,000 cards were activated and the PIN was retrieved over 12,000 times, according to Jóhann Friðgeir Haraldsson, digital business partner, Íslandsbanki.
The two parties say they will continue their collaboration going forward, with commercial banking and a new website on the roadmap.
Íslandsbanki has a market share of 20-40% across all domestic franchise areas, including retail and corporate banking, wealth management, money markets, treasury and equity investments. It has total assets of over ISK 1 trillion ($10.2 billion) and employs 860 people.
