“Aegon will be able to connect with the Amsterdam-based company’s system, without having to worry about internal silos.”

Aegon Bank will work with an innovative newcomer to cope with the rapid changes affecting the financial industry. Ohpen, a technology company, will be responsible for administering Aegon’s savings, investment and pension products.

This is the second FinTech company Aegon cooperates with. Earlier, they worked with Utrecht-based Five Degrees for workflow management purposes. Ohpen is specialized in core banking applications, which are centralized cloud-based environments that penetrate the core of the bank. The startup offers these apps for consumer banks, focusing on the products mentioned above.

Aegon’s insurance, loan and mortgage products fall outside of the announced system mutation. The business bank of Aegon’s insurance branch is also not part of the project. According to Aegon, more and more parts of Aegon N.V. work together to bring new propositions to market. “We see this development increasingly in the savings market,” says a spokesperson. “With Ohpen, we can unlock shared data for our customers more easily.”

A Dutch touch

“Our focus on retail banks and our knowledge of the Dutch market were decisive factors for Aegon’s decision to grant us this assignment,” says Matthijs Aler, Commercial Director at Ohpen. The FinTech company engaged with Aegon for more than a year before the project was launched.  “We know everything about Dutch banking – from savings products to tax rules, box 3 savings, life-cycle arrangements, and regulations. International competitors like Temenos and Oracle are less knowledgeable about this.”

The implementation is already under way. Aegon Bank and its subsidiary Knab, are the first to adopt Ohpen’s products. The entire system will be migrated to the new software solution by the end of the year.

Project duration

Ohpen has already built and delivered similar systems for clients like the Dutch National Bank and Robeco. Volksbank, formerly SNS, will also start using Ohpen’s solution by the end of this year.

“Ohpen allows us to manage our savings and investment products in a single platform. The system gives us more flexibility and ensures that there is synergy between Aegon’s different banks and entities, says Aegon’s spokesperson.

Less silos

The new vendor will have access to the relationship administration and accounting administration, but will not process basic administration. Only products that are purchased by the client will be processed by Ohpen. Address details and other personal data will not be handled by Ohpen.

Aegon: “We are going to integrate data and functionality in a new platform.” An API will ensure communication between the two. Using this open software standard, Aegon will be able to connect with the Amsterdam-based company’s system, without having to worry about internal silos.

Aegon is free to develop new products with other parties and integrate them into Ohpen’s systems. “By running the application in three data centres simultaneously, we minimize the risk of malfunctions or downtime, says Ohpen’s Matthijs Aler.

Van Lanschot

Aegon is not the only one adopting FinTech products. Van Lanschot, the asset bank, recently announced that it will migrate its entire payment system to Fidor, a German provider of digital banking services. In so doing, this wealth management bank will not only save costs, it will also be able to catch up with competitors.

Written by Rutger Betlem, originally published in Dutch, on the FD Website.