Introduced in March, the system has already improved back-office performance and reduced loan application review time frames.

An existing SAS customer, Otkrytie reviewed several solutions before choosing SAS Real-Time Decision Manager. The bank will use SAS to further develop retail business and speed responses to loan applications. The bank will also integrate SAS Real-Time Decision Manager with its recent SAS Marketing Automation implementation to incorporate risk-level considerations into marketing offers and make better cross-selling decisions.

"In addition to flexible licensing, the SAS Real-Time Decision Manager architecture offers an advantage," explained Vyacheslav Blagirev, Business Partner of the Risk Department at Otkrytie Bank. "It's not a 'black box.' The flexible platform provides many options for supporting loan decisions, such as integration with credit bureau services and their routing option. Also, SAS Real-Time Decision Manager can easily be replicated in other business areas, including small and middle-sized business lending."

"Our previous system no longer met performance or fault tolerance objectives, causing additional operational risks," said Igor Michurin, Head of Risk Management Infrastructure at Otkrytie Bank. "We implemented SAS Real-Time Decision Manager quickly, thanks to the efficient interactions between the SAS team and the bank's units for risk and IT teams."

"With SAS, we have lowered risks associated with the performance and fault tolerance of our IT infrastructure," said Blagirev. "We reduced the average time to review a loan application to two minutes. We also expect to decrease credit bureau inquiries and speed the processing of high-priority loan applications."

The transition to the new system took just four months, including testing and transitioning into commercial operation.

A particular challenge was switching the loan pipeline over to the new platform without interrupting operations. "Jointly with the SAS Russia/CIS team, our professionals planned a SAS Real-Time Decision Manager introduction that considered specific bank requirements," said Alexander Volkov, Project Manager at Otkrytie Bank. "As a result, the transition took place almost imperceptibly. The professionalism and project management level of our SAS associates allowed us to complete the project in record time."

During the implementation, the existing strategies for express products (POS) and cash loans (CASH) were transferred to SAS Real-Time Decision Manager. Near-term plans include optimizing the system logic and migrating remaining loan pipeline functions, such as card product strategies.