Comarch Pricing & Billing

Competition on the banking market has increased significantly in recent years. Among others, this was caused by the crisis on financial markets. In effect we have witnessed numerous mergers and takeovers. The institutions which did the taking over where mostly economically stable and technologically advanced banks. Their good situation was often the result of high profitability as well as due to a fast reaction to market changes. The advantage they gained was also possible owing to the use of advanced IT solutions which allowed the exact identification of client needs as well as an apt valuation of their potential. The modern IT systems support the maintenance and segmentation of clients as well as allowing the individualization of relations with key clients.

The tendency to individualize relations with key clients is reflected in changes to the offer. Banks are increasingly deciding to introduce charges and commissions packages, adapted to the client segment or profile and which represent an acceptable level of costs for the client and profit for the bank.

The client usually uses various types of products, looks into offers from many banks, and chooses the most attractive one. Nevertheless, if a bank is able to present a ‘tailor made’ offer, which contains a whole range of products expected by the client, then it may expect to increase the level of interaction with the client which will be reflected in an increase in the sales of the wider product range.

Another possibility is to develop the offer for existing clients through the segmentation of specific groups of clients, who could benefit from becoming familiar with an individual offer. For example, the bank selects clients who keep a low account balance and suggests free products within the package under the condition that they maintain a set sum on the account.

Comarch Pricing & Billing is a flexible tool which allows for the speedy design, testing and implementation of charges and commissions packages.

A parameterization of programs which calculate charges and commissions

The configuration model answers for the key area of the charge calculation system, thus, for the complex management of the policy which calculates charges and commissions. It gathers rules, rates and the logic behind the selection and calculation of the charges and commissions. It has a lot of references to product and client data repositories.

The module supports the following business processes:

• the addition of new and modification of existing rules and charge rates,
• the creation of individual rules and charge rates for specific products and chosen fragments of the client portfolio,
• bringing together a full history of the changes in the charge rate calculation policy,
• a simulation of the effects  of changes made in the charge rate calculation policy.

Business and Operational Advantages

The benefits that the bank sees following the implementation of the billing system, which integrates the calculation of charges and commissions:

• an increase in sales to high revenue, demanding clients,
• a competitive advantage gained through widening the loyal client group (calculating charges in accord with individually set guidelines within the contract creates added value for the client),
• increased client satisfaction and access to information on client activity which especially allows maintaining a high client retention rate,
• adapting the service portfolio to client needs and their profile (a possibility to divide the clients into segments and to make the charges and commissions package more elastic),
• the possibility to observe cost models which allow the optimal configuration of packages in order to maximize profit while at the same time guaranteeing an attractive offer from the point of view of the clients,
• creating a market image of the company as an organization which concentrates on the client, made possible by the attractive packaging of charges and commissions.