CIMB Group Enhances Operations with Fuji Xerox Technology

Project Wins CIMB Group 2008 Financial Insights Innovation Asia Award(From L to R) Maria Wen Vice President, Business Operations Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (Malaysia Operations), Iswaraan Suppiah Head, Group Information and Operations Division, Sulaiman Tahir Head of Consumer Sales and Distribution CIMB Bank Berhad.

Wednesday, 7 May 2008. Petaling Jaya: CIMB Group’s collaboration with Fuji Xerox to automate account opening processes at CIMB Bank branches nationwide has won the Group the 2008 Financial Insights Innovation Asia Award. The Accounts Services Automation (ASA) project was initiated 9 months ago to introduce a paperless processing system, using Fuji Xerox’s cutting-edge Documentum Imaging technology.

This project has been recognised by the Financial Insights Award as one of the most innovative uses of technology in Asia. CIMB Group competed against top-tier banks in Asia-Pacific for this prestigious award that attracted over 120 applicants in various categories.

Iswaraan Suppiah, Head of Group Information and Operations, CIMB Group, explained that the ASA project will greatly improve the Bank’s delivery of products and services to its customers. He said: “The ASA project aims to improve the Bank’s operational and process efficiencies in an economical way. It also provides a platform for us to undertake ‘regional hubbing’.”

By automating the account opening process, the average branch queue time has fallen by over 60%. The average cost of opening an account has also fallen by 40%, resulting in substantial cost savings. “Our branches have recorded significant growth in the number of new accounts since the phased implementation of the ASA project,” said Iswaraan. Further, the paperless processing system is environmentally-friendly and has reduced the need for physical storage space.

“Previously, much time and effort was spent on re-processing incomplete forms, causing delays to the customer and higher costs. This is less of an issue today, as the entire process from branch to back-end has been re-engineered and automated,” said Iswaraan. He added that the Bank has benefited from better controls and enhanced data quality.

Fuji Xerox’s document imaging system captures, classifies and indexes relevant images for easy storage and retrieval. Documents can be created, reviewed, approved, shared and re-used across CIMB Bank branches, and potentially across CIMB Group’s regional network.

“Over the last 9 months, Fuji Xerox and CIMB Group have raised each other’s understanding of and commitment towards a whole new standard of document processing. We are honoured that we were given the opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of our capabilities in architecture design, and technical and solution development, to the banking industry”, said Maria Wen, Vice President of Business Operations, Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. “It is truly exciting to work with one of the most dynamic universal banks in this region as their total document solutions partner,” she added.