RBS takes SAP off-the-shelf

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is replacing an in-house legacy core banking system with an off-the-shelf system from SAP.

RBS is implementing an SAP corporate savings system, known as a deposits liquidity engine, which is used by corporates to hold capital. This is a module in SAP’s banking services platform, which RBS is now plugged into. 

The bank can add modules over-time. Laurence Leyden, head of transaction banking at SAP, says the adoption of the SAP banking services platform meets RBS’s business need now and gives it a roadmap for future changes.

Large banks are heavy IT users and many of their systems are decades old. Changing business pressures are encouraging the take up of off-the-shelf software which costs less to run and makes it easier to change to meet business requirements.

Nationwide for example is part way through a five year project to replace legacy systems in its front and back offices. SAP is being implemented in the back office to replace core banking systems for savings, mortgages and current accounts, while Microsoft technology will be implemented in the from office.

Earlier this year Deutsche Bank began replacing multiple IT systems with core banking software from SAP to standardise payments, account management and savings applications.