FinTech Client Case Studies – Erlang Solutions and Trifork

Financial services (FS) institutions are some of the biggest global spenders when it comes to software. The costs of ripping out legacy systems are substantial, so traditional FS firms have identified the use of specialist vendors as the most efficient way to approach the digitisation of their technology stacks. Similarly, FinTech startups are looking to leverage external expertise and leave themselves room to focus on the core of their business.

Erlang Solutions is part of the Trifork Group of tech companies that work closely together to deliver scalable and highly reliable systems. This blog summarises some of the latest projects we have completed for our FinTech clients across our Erlang Solutions and Trifork teams. You can also visit the dedicated area of our website for more information on our FinTech development solutions.
 

Creating a leading Open Banking platform

Client: Spar Nord

The enabling technology APIs associated with Open Banking which allows non-financial businesses to offer financial services to their clients based on customer banking data continues to pick up speed, particularly in instant payments, peer-to-peer lending, and credit scoring.

One of the major concerns for companies looking to leverage opportunities in this space concerns the safety and security of data. For Spar Nord, this was a fundamental principle in the development of their Open Banking platform.

The Challenge

The requirement was for a new secure platform to enable the easy onboarding of FinTech firms who could obtain user consent to access customer data. The platform also needed to allow them to provide services using the Spar Nord API.

The Solution

In just two months, the solution was launched and the first FinTech company was live with their subscription service. The platform is based on Trifork’s eMobility product for customer consent and focused on user-friendliness and robust security. Third parties can access over 400,000 customers, a banking licence, security platform with consent and dedicated business and tech contacts.

The Results

1. Spar Nord was first-to-market with their solution
2. Customers have an up-to-date and innovative digital solution
3. An Identity Management and Secure Service Gateway to allow Spar Nord’s API to be accessible on mobile devices

Robo Advisors for user investments

Client: Sparindex

Sparindex work with index investments, passively managed portfolios which are low cost, efficient and have a large spread of risk.

The Challenge

Sparindex had traditionally marketed its products through banks. They wanted to create a new digital platform that focused on index investments. The solution needed to:

1. Be more visible and available to everyone
2. Allow users to create virtual portfolios with their funds
3. Allow trading on Sparinvest’s platform

The Solution

Sparinvest and Trifork agreed to kick-off the new cooperation with a Trifork Accelerate® workshop. Following the five-day Accelerate design sprint, Sparindex and Trifork were able to prototype and test their ideas and concepts on real end-users. This led to a rapid proof of concept and ultimately the development of the robo based investment solution (using AI and machine learning processes) providing wealth management following algorithms based on user’s settings and requirements

The Results

Sparindex officially launched its new digital platform in January 2018. More than 20,000 users are already on the platform and with passive investing continuously evolving, Sparindex expects the number of users to grow remarkably in the coming years.
 

Innovative mobile payment solution

Client: Mobile Pay (Danske Bank)

Danske Bank and Trifork developed a market-leading mobile payment solution, MobilePay, in only 6 months. The advanced yet easy to use MobilePay app allows you to send and receive money via iPhone and Android.

Due to the success of MobilePay, Danske Bank wanted to expand the mobile payment landscape and asked Trifork to be a partner in the creation of WeShare.

The Challenge

The idea was to deliver a settlement solution providing one place where users can share expenses and communicate with groups of friends about it.

The Solution

It was important to build a highly secure platform, where scalability had the highest priority. Trifork’s role in the process was focused on native app development for iPhone and Android as well as implementing business and database logic in a .NET framework backend.

The Results

WeShare is an award winning app that makes it easy to keep track of outlays when a group of friends need to go on a trip or activity. It’s possible to share expenses, send pictures and chat in the same app. The app is responsive, visually appealing and easy to use.
 

Fast-tracking the mortgage loan process

Client: Bankdata Sydbank

Bankdata is owned by nine major Danish banks including Sydbank and is one of the largest financial technology companies in Denmark.

The Challenge

1. Eliminate the unnecessary systems and steps in the mortgage loan process
2. Produce a user-friendly interface for bank advisors
3. Provide an improved and more cost-efficient and transparent mortgage solution

The Solution

Bankdata decided to involve advisors and customers in the development of the new solution by joining the Trifork Accelerate® programme. The team prototyped and ran user tests before going to production. Trifork’s role as a full-stack technology partner involved taking an outdated legacy system and transforming it into the primary tool for bank advisors.

The Results

1. A flexible and scalable platform with seamless integration to Bankdata, Totalkredit and other third-party legacy systems
2. 2,400 bank advisors using the solution
3. 1,200 calculations made every week
4. 2.5 hours reduced time per case
    

Payroll solution raising the bar in user experience

Client: ProLøn

As one of Denmark’s oldest and most experienced payroll companies, ProLøn’s renowned customer service has helped them differentiate from their competitors along with their wide range of custom and standard solutions.

The Challenge

The existing outdated data entry system was to be replaced with a cohesive and user-friendly IT framework for more efficient processes, reduced risk of errors and a seamless data flow between different functions. This required:

1. A more advanced and user-friendly system
2. New APIs, enabling deep integration with other IT systems

The Solution

User insights were at the core of the process to ensure that the new solution would integrate intuitively into the user’s daily workflow. Trifork conducted a pre-project analysis based on interviews with ProLøn’s customers and employees. After completing a successful proof of concept project, the new payroll system successfully went to production.

The Results

1. Transparent, convenient and efficient user experience
2. Positive response from customers to the new user-interface
3. 5% increase in conversion rate
    

Cryptocurrency transactions with Microservices

Client: Blox

Blox was created to make cryptocurrencies easily and safely accessible to a wider audience through a platform that bridged the gap between banks’ traditional financial networks and blockchains’ distributed transaction networks.

The Challenge

Users of the existing platform had difficulty in securely self-storing their cryptocurrencies. A review of the existing software showed it wasn’t possible to extend the current software stack to scale to millions of transactions per day. The requirement was for a:

1. Solution that provides auditing out of the box
2. Platform to store and manage cryptocurrencies
3. Safe and accessible service to encourage investment

The Solution

Trifork built event-based applications able to capture every event that occurs in the application using Axon Framework and the Axon Server event store technology stack. Packaging the applications as containerised Microservices allowed quick deployment of new features and the scaling of services independently.

The Results

1. Event sourcing and Microservices to track every transaction in milliseconds
2. A solution for users to securely store their crypto-coins and make safe transactions
3. Production of a trading search engine
4. No delays as transactions take place
    

Concluding thoughts

As can be seen from our round-up of last month’s World Fintech Forum, two of the most challenging technology issues for FS firms involve; firstly the decision of whether to build or to buy tech solutions and secondly how to source technically skilled employees. These two factors combined make our work and that of Trifork an essential element of our current and future FinTech clients’ success.

Trifork has worked in the banking business for many years developing some of the very first mobile banking solutions, like MobilePay and WeShare. While headquartered in the Nordics, as a truly international company, Trifork is currently extending its innovative FinTech solutions into the UK with the help of Erlang Solutions and our expertise in building scalable and fault-tolerant systems.

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If you want to start a conversation about engaging us for your fintech project or talk about partnering and collaboration opportunities, please send our Fintech Lead, Michael Jaiyeola, an email or connect with him via Linkedin.