Nordea is transforming from a traditional "brick and mortar" bank to a leading digital relationship bank. The bank has adopted an agile approach using SAFe and has established hubs for semi-stable development organizations. Nordea's architecture framework takes a federated approach to define common practices while allowing capability teams flexibility. Simplifying business processes, digitalizing the core banking system, and establishing consistent service APIs and customer data models are keys to enabling faster delivery of new digital services. However, challenges remain from country differences, legacy systems, and transforming culture from a physical to digital focus.

1. Agile Enterprise Architecture @ Nordea
Mikkel H Brahm, PhD, Head of Customer Experience EA
Slides available at slideshare.net/mikkelbrahm

2. Architecture is an aspect of a building – all buildings have one
Enterprise is intentional process of doing and organizing business

3. MechanismsPeople
Action
Structure
A multi-perspectival approach is much more likely to succeed
Leavitt’s diamond (1965) – slightly modified
$

4. Agenda
Nordea’s Vision for the Future
Agile @ Nordea
Nordea Architecture Framework
Some Practical Experience

5. CHALLENGERS
NICHE PLAYERS
LEADERS
VISIONARIES
Completeness of Vision
AbilitytoExecute
Nordea is the leading Brick & Mortar bank
in the Nordic region
Is that good, given that what we want to be is
the leading Digital Relationship Bank?
Gartner, Magic Quadrant

6. 6
Completeness
of Vision

8. Our customer vision is our North star
and our purpose and values our inner compass
Safe and trusted
Anywhere and
anytime
Relevant and
competent
Easy to deal with
Personal and digital
relationship

9. Customers are welcome to visit us in the branch, but not required to
9
Partner
Ecosystem
3rd-party-
branded Banking
Digital Banking
Anywhere & Anytime
Nordea Banking
@ Your place
Nordea
Open Banking
Physical
@ Nordea Banking
Classical Banking Business Model:
Financial Services
in exchange for
Money (margins & fees)
Ecosystem Business Model:
Financial Services and Access to Customers
in exchange for
Money (margins & fees), Information,
Augmenting Services, Branding/exposure, …

10. 10
Ability
to Execute

11. Brick
&
Mortar
From mid-2014 to April 2018
Digital
From April 2018…
We chose a group-wide culture, business, and technology transformation

12. We attempt to erase the IT – Business divide, and operate Nordicly
People who understand IT
People who understand Banking
People who Change the Bank People who Run the Bank

13. 13
Staff
Time
Projects is a temporary organisation to solve a temporary issue
Assigned to Line Assigned to Project(s)
Project Project

14. Time
When issues become permanent, it’s time to change the model
Assigned to Line Assigned to Products / Solutions
Portfolio of
Investments
in Change
Staff

15. Agile @ Nordea = based on SAFe, but also sized by investment level
15
Nordea has introduced the term Hub, which is a semi-stable development organization
• responsible for some Solution (products, services, systems)
• organized according to the variant of SAFe which matches the investment level
= burn rate ≈ number of teams.

16. 16

17. 17
Nordea
Architecture Framework

18. Gartner
Enable
Business
Outcomes
>
Fill in the
Framework

19. From
Enterprise Architects are the people
who put ‘no’ in innovation
Perception
To
Enterprise Architects are the people
who enable Technology Driven Business Development

20. Simplified organisational chart
Group
Functions
Personal Wholesale
BUSINESS CAPABILITIESCHANGETHEBANK
Group Func.
Portfolio
Banking Technology Trading TechnologyPersonal
Portfolio
Commercial
Portfolio
CEO & COO
Commercial &
Business
Wealth
Group
Architecture
Wealth
Portfolio
Wholesale
Portfolio
Change Execution Initiatives funded by Portfolios
Product (not Project) funding i.e. ≈ Stable Burn Rate
Architectural Governance is a mix of Investment Gates
and Solution Architects assigned into Hubs
Group Data
Portfolio
Group Tech
Portfolio

21. ARCHITECT AND
PORTFOLIO /
PRODUCT
MGMT. JOINT
PRIORITIZATION

22. Nordea Architecture Framework = Federated
Nordea Architecture Framework was created in 2017 to define a
common architecture practice for the Nordea group and is
encapsulated within the Group CEO Instructions on IT Governance
Group level processes and
bodies facilitate enterprise
level alignment and manage
escalations.
Capability level processes
develop architecture content
in Capability Architecture
Teams (CATs) from a group-
wide perspective.
Initiative level processes
develop targeted architecture
content to support a specific
business or initiative / solution
scope.Source: Nordea Architecture Framework

23. 23
Practical experience
…so far

24. Simplified 2-layer Application Model
Flexible Front-Ends
Enable differentiated
services, and coherent
superior experiences
across channels
Digitized Factory
Enable simplified
automated (“no paper, no
people”) banking exposed
through domain services

25. The facade of a Digital Bank is the lesser effort
• UI & UX that customers can love
• Coherent RESTful banking Service API
• Alignment of national Customer and User models
• Alignment of national & segment Agreement solutions
• Authentication & Signing integrated to
national and industry standards e.g. NemID and OAuth
• New communication infrastructure for digital signing, chat,
online meetings, notifications, call recording, …
• New ways of working for customer service staff to cope
with spontaneous chat and online meetings (e-Branches)
• Aggregate data across own back-ends and 3rd-parties
• Integrate with market infrastructure solutions

26. Coping with sins and omissions of the past is the greater effort
Our Core Banking Replacement Program
is not only about consolidating IT
It is perhaps not even primarily about that
It is about ensuring an operating core
that can support changes to the business
that we cannot even forsee yet

27. 27
Who is
the business?

28. Requirements work time-boxed to a PI per PI, and test included in Dev

29. 29

30. The Digital Foundation enables faster delivery of new services
30

31. Mechanisms
 Culture Transformation Programme
 Combo: Training & Staff Changes
 ”Brick & Mortar” Corporate Culture
 Too few people with Digital skills
Summary
Is Nordea in a good position to become the Leading Digital Bank?
CONs PROs
People
Action
Structure
$
 Country differences complicate
business processes and IT solutions
 Face-2-Face servicing model
outdated
 Harmonize country units’ business
models, services & processes
 Fast Build-Test-Learn loops
 Cost/Income ratio unsustainable
 Autonomous Segments threaten
Simplification Journey
 Significant cost-savings
 Centralization/Strengthening of
Business & IT Development
 Vast legacy IT portfolio with
high degree of local variation
and Technical Debt
 Significant investment
in modernizing Operational Core
(Group Simplification)

32. Thank you!
Mikkel H Brahm, PhD, Head of Customer Experience EA
mikkel.brahm@nordea.com