Frequently asked questions

The SBS Banking Platform is trusted by hundreds of retail, corporate, and neobanks, and powers the financial journey of over 500 million consumers and businesses every day. From accounts to payments to lending and compliance, our platform enables banks to compose a new digital banking and core experience with a fully componentized, API-first, and cloud-agnostic solution.

The SBS Asset Finance is trusted by hundreds of retail, corporate, and neobanks, powering the financial journey of over 500 million consumers and businesses every day. Our advanced, modular, real-time core banking system provides the broadest range of capabilities, covering deposits, payments, lending, compliance, and regulatory reporting. Designed for financial institutions of all sizes, SBP offers a wide catalog of fine-grained business components and over 400 APIs, ensuring seamless integration and high performance.

The platform supports a comprehensive ‘front-to-back’ digital banking experience by connecting the Digital Banking Processing Platform and the Digital Banking Engagement Platform, facilitating progressive transformation and modernization. SBS Asset Finance fosters digital innovation and openness, enhancing connectivity and flexibility through an API-first approach and Gartner-leading API management. Delivered as a fully cloud-native SaaS solution, it ensures cost-effectiveness, superior security, and continuous innovation.

SBS is highly acclaimed by top analysts such as Forrester, Gartner, IBS Intelligence, Omdia, Chartis, and NelsonHall. Our Digital Banking Suite is recognized as a strong performer in “The Forrester Wave™ – Digital Banking Engagement Platforms, Q3 2021” and “Forrester Wave™: Digital Banking Processing Platforms (Retail Banking), Q3 2020”, praised for its rich engagement infrastructure and microservices-based architecture.

We lead in the “Omdia Universe: Digital Banking Platforms 2023” for our SBS Digital Banking Suite. NelsonHall recognized our parent company, Sopra Steria, as a leader in Digital Banking Services in their “NEAT analysis, Digital Banking 2022.”

In 2021, Forrester ranked us among the top regional sellers in Western Europe and top three for global banking platform deals. IBS Intelligence named us the #1 Global Lending System and highly ranked us in Retail Banking – Core Solutions and Risk Management.

In 2023, we were named a Leader in Chartis’ “RiskTech Regulatory Reporting Solutions 2023 Quadrant.” and in 2020, we earned strong recognition in Forrester’s Digital Banking Processing Platforms report while maintaining our top position for the Global Lending System according to IBS Intelligence.

These accolades highlight our dedication to innovation and client success, solidifying our leadership in the global banking industry.

SBS is a proud member of several prestigious trade associations, demonstrating our commitment to excellence in the financial industry. We are a featured sponsor of the American Financial Services Association (AFSA), sliver sponsors of Asset Finance Connect and an active participant in the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA).

Additionally, we are members of the Payment Association Europe and the Open Finance Africa Group, both of which foster innovation and collaboration to drive, on one hand, the advancement of improved payments systems in Europe, and on the other hand, the transformation of the African financial sector by harnessing the power of data sharing.

In today’s digital age, customer expectations are shaped by modern tools and apps, making digitalization and future-proofing crucial for banks. With a deep understanding of both banking operations and cutting-edge digital technologies, SBS helps clients modernize their solutions and operations, enabling them to harness new technologies and achieve future goals.

Our modular solutions seamlessly integrate with your existing infrastructure and partner services, ensuring a cohesive approach to digital evolution without disruption. You have the flexibility to implement changes at your own pace, enhancing operational efficiency while adapting to market demands swiftly.

Our micro-services architecture enables agile development and enhances security and compliance. Our AI-driven solutions personalize customer interactions, fostering trust and satisfaction in a digital-first banking environment.

As banking shifts to API-driven ecosystems and open banking, SBS equips you to capitalize on these changes. Our strategies monetize APIs and create value-driven ecosystems, ensuring competitiveness in the digital era. We also integrate advanced technologies like AI and blockchain for enhanced security, efficiency, and to meet evolving customer needs.

Mission

We build and design software for leading financial institutions, making financial services accessible to everyone, everywhere, anytime. Our community of 3,400 people and experts from various backgrounds, geographies, and cultures is dedicated to create tailored financial solutions for each individual need. Operating in over 50 countries, we respect local laws and cultures. Guided by our core values—people, entrepreneurship, and diversity—we’re building an inclusive, innovative banking future.

Values

At SBS, people inspire us, diversity enriches us, and a passion for entrepreneurship drives us forward. These principles guide our daily actions, allowing us to build a more inclusive and innovative banking future for all.

Our Brand Center is a unique place to learn about SBS brand, go through our graphical chart and download logos.

At SBS, we recognize that everything we’ve achieved is a reflection of the effort, ambition, and skill of our 3,400+ employees. People are our greatest asset, and we’ve worked hard to foster an open, collaborative, and rewarding work environment. We have local teams with a global reach. To view current openings and explore possibilities, visit our career page.

We are a community of 3,400 people from various backgrounds, geographies, and cultures, operating in over 50 countries. We have a significant footprint in Europe and the MEA region, as well as offices around the world, including in North and South America, and Asia.

Yes. SBS’s Offer Management is particularly appealing to banks experiencing issues such as a lack of agility in product and pricing personalization, difficulty managing and selling partner products and services, a long time-to-market new products, or inefficient marketing operations.

Offer Management helps banks create tailored offers to meet specific customer needs. It provides a system to centralize and manage a bank’s products and services, as well as those coming from their partners. Banks can customize products and services based on profile, price, duration or channel. These can then be sold separately or as neatly packaged bundles.

The Customer Onboarding module allows you to shape the process for your specific customer onboarding flow; it contains all the services and tools to create a digitized and frictionless customer onboarding process with optimal conversion rates. In terms of functional services, in addition to the processing engine, you can choose to activate facial ID recognition, e-signature, document upload/OCR, a chat bot for customer service, 2-step verification, and anti-fraud tools. These functionalities – which are all offered out- of-the-box, via a partner or our Platform – support a quick, frictionless onboarding process.

Onboarding is not just about pushing customers through to the end of the signup process. The onboarding process is key as it sets the scene for the entire customer journey, and the relationship a customer will have with their bank. Customer Onboarding allows banks to adapt the onboarding process based on customer profile and products purchased. But onboarding is just the initial step. The ultimate objective is to follow customers throughout their journey, gaining their trust, loyalty and satisfaction; all while securing digital cross-sells and upsells along the way.

Yes, SBS can provide a native mobile frontend or presentation layer. This mobile frontend can be designed together with marketing or design teams and also can be extended to add more features and components. The apps for iOS and Android are natively integrated into our Digital Banking Engagement Platform.

Today, banks are forced to carve out a space for themselves in a crowded, fast-evolving digital market. Rising costs, disintegrated experiences, weighty legacy systems and increasing customer expectations make this a challenging task. Digital banking — and Digital Banking Engagement Platforms in particular — give banks the flexibility needed to continuously provide a best-in-class user experience. This helps them deliver the smooth, personalized, innovative experiences their customers expect. Moreover, digital banks can give customers tools and features they may not have access to through traditional banking methods. Customers get a secure, convenient way to view and manage their finances, as well as options tailored to their needs. Digital banking makes it easier for customers to take control of their finances, improve financial literacy, and ultimately better their lives.

The SBS Digital Banking Suitehelps banks stay relevant, satisfy customers, and reduce costs with an open ecosystem that lowers TCO, avoids vendor lock-in, and meets customer expectations swiftly. Digital banks can tap into innovative revenue streams and leverage cost-saving cloud-native solutions delivered on SaaS, enabling them to compete effectively with traditional banks, challenger banks, and big tech. It enables banks to go-to-market quickly with new products with best-in-class UX, improves employee satisfaction, and maintains high-security standards, all within a single contract. These benefits further help banks improve operational efficiency and enhance customer acquisition, satisfaction, and retention.

Online banking involves the use of the Internet to conduct day-to-day banking activities, this usually involves tasks such as viewing account balances, transferring money, and paying utility bills via your bank’s website or app.

Digital banking goes beyond the basics of online banking. It encompasses all the features of online banking while also integrating additional tools and services, such as personal finance management, virtual assistant, digital wallets, p2p transfer via social app, customer self-service features like card lock/unlock, personalization, loyalty & rewards, and much more, which enhances your customer experience and makes your life convenient and easy.

Open banking enables ecosystem engagement by allowing banks, mandated by PSD3 regulation to share customer information, to act as third-party providers (TPPs) and benefit from open data themselves. By partnering with various service providers, banks can enrich their portfolios and offer unique, value-added services to their customers. This approach not only broadens the business ecosystem but also enhances interconnectivity within the developer community, fostering innovation and collaboration.

AISP (Account Information Service Provider) — provides account information services as an online service to provide consolidated information on one or more payment accounts held by a payment service user with one or more payment service provider(s).

PISP (Payment Initiation Services Provider) — A Payment Initiation Services Provider provides an online service to initiate a payment order at the request of the payment service user with respect to a payment account held at another payment service provider.

TPP (Third Party Provider) — are organizations or natural persons that use APIs developer portal.

ASPSP (Account Servicing Payment Service Provider) — Account Servicing Payment Service Providers provide and maintain a payment account for a payer as defined by the PSRs. In the context of the open banking ecosystem, they are entities that publish Read/Write APIs to permit, with customer consent, payments initiated by third-party providers and/or make their customers’ account transaction data available to third-party providers via their API endpoints.

Open banking offers numerous advantages for market participants, stakeholders, and consumers.

For banks, it acts as a digital transformation catalyst, expanding their consumer reach and enabling collaboration with third-party providers (TPPs) to offer data-driven products and services. This not only reduces costs but also enhances competitiveness and service personalization. Banks also serve as gatekeepers, ensuring Payment Service Users (PSUs) have secure access to their data via interfaces and APIs, while gaining valuable insights into customer behavior.

For customers, open banking provides easier and faster access to financial services, with tailored journeys and personalized offers, ensuring their data is securely protected.

For third-party providers, it grants access to an established customer base and financial data, fostering innovative services and new revenue opportunities.

The Marketplace was created with a simple goal in mind: position our customers to profit from the collective power of Fintech.
Thanks to the DBEP concept, our banking customers can easily combine all the available services (Sopra Banking and partners) and benefit from the DBEP foundational services. Services like the Authentication Brokerage, Authorization Management, and API Portal to build a streamlined and secure combination of services.

It is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; there are no cut-off times. The maximum execution time for SCT Inst payment processing is 10 seconds, and the funds are immediately available to the beneficiary. 

SEPA transfers are processed within two business days, and the Instant Payments processing is done within 10 seconds of sending and receiving.

Our solutions are compatible with the most significant CSM and ACH schemes. This includes Visa, Mastercard, STET, EBA Clearing, and equensWorldline, thus simplifying connectivity. Our experience in steering end-to-end clearing projects helps banks ensure a timely roll-out and ongoing compliance.

Our solutions are compatible with the most significant CSM and ACH schemes. This includes Visa, Mastercard, STET, EBA Clearing, and SCL, thus simplifying connectivity. Our experience in steering end-to-end clearing projects helps banks ensure a timely roll-out and ongoing compliance.

Yes. Our solutions take into account PCI DSS rules and will be compliant with the forthcoming PCI SSF security requirements.

The instant payment regulation in the EU (Regulation (EU) 2024/886) is a comprehensive framework designed to promote using instant credit transfers in euros. It includes four key measures: mandate to send and receive IP, pricing, verification of payee, and transaction screening. These measures aim to encourage the availability and adoption of instant payment processing in less than 10 seconds within the same country and across other EU member states while also considering the needs of non-euro area entities.

As a pioneer in Instant Payments and Request to Pay, SBS leverages 30 years of experience with payments and cards to offer a new generation of solutions — ones capable of meeting EPI’s challenges for the two payment instruments relying on SCT Inst: EPI card and End-to-end SCT Inst.
For more information about Instant Payments solution from SBS >>

Our solutions are designed to be implemented quickly with a range of pre-integrated third-party solutions. Ourcustomers can choose to implement components one-by-one, at their own pace, and benefit from the efficiency and best practice of pre-integrated solutions.

Yes, a single installation can be used to manage financing activity in several countries or regions. The local specificities, such as language, currency, and local requirements, can be managed independently but have the benefit of full transparency across the full book of business in one centralized location.

Our lending solution empowers customers operating in commercial, equipment, mortgage, consumer, and syndicated loans and leasing to manage the full lifecycle of their lending products. Our solution also meets the requirements of Islamic banking.

To improve the regulatory reporting process, organizations should focus on integrating advanced data management tools with existing systems to convert raw data into actionable insights. Leveraging business intelligence capabilities can help identify patterns, trends, and potential risks, supporting informed decision-making. Real-time dashboards provide visibility into compliance status, ensuring timely reporting and adherence to deadlines. Additionally, automating repetitive tasks can enhance efficiency and accuracy, while robust risk management practices ensure proactive handling of potential issues. These strategies collectively transform regulatory reporting into a more strategic and efficient process.

We provide and maintain the granular and consolidated synthesis regulatory reporting that’s required by EMEA regulators. More precisely, we support:

● National reporting — NCB: BDF/ACPR, NBB, BCL/CSSF, BDE, BOE/FCA, BUBA, UEMOA, CEMAC, BAM, etc.
● European reporting — financial & prudential (EBA, ECB), resolution (SRB)
● Tax fraud reporting — AEoI/CRS, FATCA

Among the regulations covered are Anacredit, SHSG, COREP, FINREP, Liquidity ratio and ALMM, RUBA, Schéma A, MIR, Monetary Statistics & BSI, Balance Of Payment, Resolution (Resolution plan, LDR, CFR, FMI), MREL, TLAC, REMUNER and payment statistics (Oscamps, PST, etc.). Our solution makes it possible to produce synthetic and granular regulatory reporting in XBRL and XML format.

Our solutions can be utilized independently of our Core Banking Solution, but they offer the highest level of service when implemented with it.

Yes, it does. Basel IV is the latest version of the bank capital requirements agreed to in 2017 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. But banking regulators, especially in Europe, rejected the term Basel IV and prefer to talk about the finalization of Basel III to minimize the apparent impact on banks. The Basel Committee is now talking about Basel III finalization to allow a better appropriation by regulators and banks.

In Europe, the finalization of Basel III will be implemented in two lots. The first lot led to the CRR 2 regulation adoption on June 7, 2019, and will make the CRD 5 directive applicable from mid-2021, and the second lot (CRR 3 and CRD 6) will apply from 2023.

BIRD stands for the “Banks’ Integrated Reporting Dictionary.”
It’s a standard dictionary created by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the banking industry to provide a common description of data and transformation rules that banks must adhere to for generating the regulatory reports expected by authorities across the EU.

IReF stands for “Integrated Reporting Framework.”
It’s an integrated system currently under development by the European System of Central Banks, with a projected start date slated for 2024. IReF aims to collect statistical data at a granular level, avoiding data overlaps and heterogeneous data definitions across the EU. It’s a follow-on to the Anacredit project. And thus, it will allow the ECB to specify the statistical data requirements for deposit-taking corporations in the euro area without translating them into national collection frameworks.

Both BIRD and IReF are linked to article 430c of the CRR2 area in the feasibility report published by the European Banking Authority (EBA). The end goal of both is to alleviate the reporting burden on the banking industry.

Legacy systems struggle to handle increasing data volumes, leading to delays, bottlenecks, and a negative impact on customer experience and operational costs. Outdated systems are more susceptible to cyberattacks, putting sensitive data at risk. Siloed systems make it challenging to access audit trails, potentially leading to hefty fines or reputational damage. Constant patching and updates for legacy applications consume valuable IT resources and limit the bank’s agility to adapt to changing business needs.

Additionally, the lack of automation in application deployment and management slows down innovation and increases the risk of errors. Difficulty getting timely insights from data due to legacy systems and siloed information hinders effective decision-making and the ability to personalize customer experiences.

In the current context, it’s clear that regulatory changes are advancing swiftly and are projected to persist for years to come. Financial Institutions are fully experiencing the consequences of this accelerated pace:

• CRR2 came into effect in June 2021, with CRR3 scheduled for January 2025… less than 3 years apart for 2 major texts.

• The Green Asset Ratio is now mandatory… imposed within a short timeframe.

• Several upcoming changes are in progress for implementation soon (2026/27), including a complete overhaul of European statistical reporting (IReF) and efforts to align data requirements for statistical, prudential, and resolution reporting.

SBS Freehand offers exceptional flexibility, supporting a wide range of financial models with numerous input and output variables. SBS Freehand also offers extensive customization options, including custom branding, the ability to hide unnecessary features, and adjustable controls and parameters tailored to specific user groups.

SBS Freehand’s cloud-based API provides robust engine access from any location, ensuring seamless integration into any system. This integration supports complex asset finance models, delivering accurate financial data for brokers and lenders.

Each SBS Freehand Web license is designated for a single user. The Freehand Connect API can be accessed with a one-time purchase, with payment tiers based on the monthly number of API calls.

SBS Freehand handles a wide range of financial agreements, including finance leases, operating leases, hire-purchase agreements, loans, pre/post-tax considerations, structured repayments, commissions, early settlements, and refinancing.

Asset finance software enables banks, OEM, captives and other specialized finance lenders to track stock held at their various locations. Some functions of this software include navigation of risk, onboarding, servicing, and auditing.

Asset financing applies to various assets such as commercial vehicles, machinery, medical equipment, and more. The eligibility of an asset for financing is determined by the lender and the agreement negotiated between the parties involved.

The SBS Asset Finance is an evergreen, modular platform designed with financial institutions of all sizes in mind. Providing a world-class commercial lending experience to automotive and equipment dealers, while achieving low touch execution thanks to automated workflows and processes.

Delivered with a tailored market package with third-party APIs, this cloud-native platform can be rapidly rolled out across markets with agility to scale globally. The clear cost model provides maximum value for money and low total cost of ownership.

The SBS Asset Finance is designed to service the lifecycle of the lender journey with capabilities that range from initial onboarding, credit decisioning, risk identification, servicing, and digital audit.

DIGITAL FINANCIAL PROCESSING COMPONENTS

SBS Wholesale Finance

Our wholesale software empowers dealers to finance new, used, and demo stock inventories.

DIGITAL FINANCIAL ENGAGEMENT COMPONENTS

SBS Portfolio Management

Seamless digital onboarding facilitated by advanced API integrations with bureau and open banking services. This includes e-ID verification, document management, eSignature capabilities, advanced dashboards, and review management.

SBS Digital Audit

An environmentally conscious digital asset audit solution with offline capabilities. SFP Digital Audit offers five validation options, compatibility with multiple wholesale systems, integrated reporting, AI-powered data intelligence, and analysis. It acts as a complementary partner to physical audits.

SBS Asset Finance is suitable for all types of lenders, including banks, captives, other specialist lenders, as well as automotive & equipment dealers.

Green finance refers to any structured finance product that’s intended to support an environmentally-friendly outcome.

Loan servicing software helps banks and asset finance lenders manage their book of loans during their lifecycle. Typically, this software would include information about the customer, loan agreement, and repayment and would flag the financial institution to instances where a repayment has been missed. Here, automation can be used to adjust repayment information as well depending on the workflows and requirements of the organization, can change payment amounts and dates.

Digilytics is a powerful AI-based solution integrated into the SBS Financing Platform. Specifically designed for the Portfolio Management module, Digilytics excels in validating and extracting data from a variety of submitted documents. Leveraging advanced machine learning and AI technologies, Digilytics specializes in extracting financial data from scanned documents like bank statements and tax returns.

Yes, the SBS Asset Finance seamlessly integrates embedded solutions to enhance its functionalities. Our collaboration with leading partners, including Plaid, Digilytics, Equifax, IDnow, and Flowcast, enriches the platform with diverse capabilities. For a complete list of our partners and their contributions, please visit our Partners Page.

Yes, the SBS Asset Finance adheres to rigorous standards, including MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication), SSO (Single Sign-On), ISO (International Organization for Standardization), GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), and Data Protection. Our commitment to these standards ensures a secure and compliant environment for our users.

SBS Digital Audit offers secure and diverse digital audit options, resulting in time savings of over 40% and cost savings of up to 50% compared to the traditional audit approach.

SBS Digital Audit offers five interchangeable methods including live video streaming, NFC tag, video ‘snapshot’, image, or image. The methods used can be specified by the organization for the dealers to complete.

The SBS Asset Finance offers solutions for a range of industries, including wholesale and dealer finance, fleet finance, auto finance, consumer finance, commercial lending, equipment finance. We work with industry leading banks, captives, finance companies and other specialized lenders.

With the SBS Asset Finance, lenders can finance any type of asset. Historically this is predominantly this focuses on floorplan, vehicles (passenger & LCV), agricultural equipment, trucks, HGV, bus, two wheels (motorcycle, scooter, bicycle, etc), marine equipment or garden equipment.

The advantages of the system encompass a complete digitalized process, faster credit decision-making, harnessing the capabilities of Open Banking, lowered operational expenses, a unified overview of all credit outcomes, and the digitization of credit analytics.

SBS Wholesale Finance is a scalable and fully compliant solution offered on a subscription basis, designed for managing the financing of automotive and equipment assets. Our wholesale software simplifies transactions among the asset buyer, the asset seller, and the lender.

Retail lending and wholesale lending provide services to different segments of the market and have distinct characteristics tailored to the needs of their respective borrowers. Retail lending focuses on individual consumers and small businesses with smaller loan amounts and fixed repayment terms. Wholesale lending provides services to larger businesses that requires substantial financing to purchase inventory or large assets, offering more flexible repayment options and generally lower interest rates.