Bank Leumi USA Digital Transformation Initiatives

About the Customer

Bank Leumi is a relationship-driven boutique bank with global ties. They have been operating in the United States for more than 60 years. Headquartered in New York City, with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, and Aventura.

Leumi is part of the Leumi Group, one of Israel’s largest banks. The Leumi Group has been a driving force in Israel’s economic and industrial development since the bank’s establishment in 1902 — Bank Leumi even issued Israel’s first banknotes in 1948. Today, more than 60 percent of Israeli startups choose LeumiTech, the Leumi Group’s high-tech banking arm, as their financial provider.

Scope and Challenges

Avner Mendelson, president and CEO, Bank Leumi USA said his bank first embarked on a journey with FIS in 2014 to replace multiple banking applications and upgrade not only the core technology backbone but also client facing applications, core processes and workflows, all in order to improve their client experience.

In the summer of 2017, Leumi anounced the completion of the unique digital transformation project they underwent together with Fis. The bank replaced its technology platform with FIS banking and payment solutions, including core processing, branch, digital and mobile banking, compliance, risk, and back-office systems. For sure this was quite a big deal for a mid-sized bank.

Outcome and Implications

The newly implemented FIS core platform provides client onboarding improvements, tighter integration between Bank Leumi’s private and commercial banks, and a new CRM platform to better enable cross and upsell. The upgrade went live in May of 2017 and the bank sunset its legacy core platform the next day.

Michael Fegan, executive vice president, chief operations and technology officer, Bank Leumi USA, added, “At its core, this transformation project was not just about new technology, but about people and processes. In order to effectively transform our systems, we had to first transform our culture into one that was enabled to adapt to new technology and embrace change. The FIS team understood the specific needs of our bank and worked collaboratively with us to make sure those needs were met.”

Quotes

“Realizing the benefits of transformational change requires vision, innovation and the expert ability to deliver,” said Anthony Jabbour, chief operating officer, Banking & Payments at FIS, in a prepared statement. “While daunting for some, both FIS and Bank Leumi embraced the size and magnitude of this project. We’re proud of this partnership and view it as an excellent example of how we can deliver innovation and value to institutions of all sizes – regardless of how they approach their growth journey.”