UBI Banca Group

Research & Development
Research & Development activity was performed centrally by the Group’s service company.
The main project work carried out in 2011 involved in some cases the continuation of projects
already initiated in the previous year and in others the development of new opportunities
offered by technological progress to support corporate processes and customer relationships.
The first cases included the “new work station” project designed as its initial area of
application to simplify and increase the efficiency of mortgage processing activities for retail
customers. Once the first stage was completed with the introduction of a document
management platform with a view to paperless processing, digitalised communication to
notary firms was commenced in June with the combined use of digital signatures, certified
electronic email and legally valid electronic storage.
In the mobile internet sector, where clear potential exists for the use of mobile telephones to
deliver and use banking information and services – the upgrade for the main existing devices
and terminals (iPhones, Androids, BlackBerrys) of the application for the use of home banking
services was completed. At the same time new evolved functions were developed which will be
released shortly: extension of functions to include securities trading and a version dedicated
specifically for tablets.
Following the success achieved with the introduction of the iPad platform for the management
and sharing of documents by top management in board and committee meetings, wifi
networks are currently being introduced in the management departments of the Parent. Based
on careful user profile information they will allow, in total security, optimum use of the service
as a result of integration with the corporate document management system.
New R&D activity has been undertaken with specific reference to new market trends and
technological advances, on the one hand in the paperless document sector, especially with
regard to branch procedures and on the other with the launch of the “enterprise services 2.0”
web project (blog and forum).
The line of research into paperless documents involved the analysis and testing of
biometric/graphometric signatures 1 for the production of digital signatures right from the
outset, thereby eliminating as a consequence the need to print and store hardcopy documents.
Following successful testing, this solution was adopted in five Banca Popolare di Bergamo
branches in the last quarter of the year for numerically frequent transactions (paying in and
withdrawals performed through cashier desks) with the objective of extending the use in 2012
to other types of transaction such as bank transfers.
As concerns web 2.0 blog and forum tools, since they are now widely used in numerous
contexts due to their ease of use and effectiveness, possible applications are currently being
studied to improve corporate processes and to make the diffusion of information in the Group
more effective and rapid.
Continuous testing of enterprise 2.0 solutions and technologies is currently in progress in the
IT Systems unit at UBI Sistemi e Servizi. This has already led to the development of concrete
solutions in this area and also in the new Group corporate portal in the last quarter of 2011
within which blogs and areas for corporate initiatives (“YOUBI live”) have been activated
together with true and genuine forums (“The ideas box”).
1 Biometric/graphometric technology can be used to place a naturally produced digital signature on documents and that is the placing
of a graphics stroke on a special tablet that is able to “capture” its five characteristic traits: the rhythm, speed, pressure, acceleration
and movement.
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