Results > Integration of Portugal
A pioneering experience
In 2016 Bankinter undertook the process of integrating into its structures Barclays' retail business in Portugal, which is a business with 84 offices, 930 employees and 173,000 customers. It was the first time in history that the bank undertook an operation of this nature. The project, which will be completed in 2017, therefore constitutes a pioneering experience with multiple personal, logistical, technological and cultural ramifications that will test the organisation's capacity to manage complex change scenarios.
The integration plan was organised around an opening date for the branch: 1 April 2016. The purchase transaction was formally concluded on 31 March, at which point the Bank began to identify and segregate the operations of Barclays Portugal in order to prepare for the definitive merger process. The segregation plan included aspects such as launching a temporary website, creating an independent salary management system and processing the necessary legal authorisations, as well as a temporary training environment to comply with legal requirements. A large-scale rollout also had to be undertaken in order to ensure all offices in Portugal, as well as all other channels for communicating with customers (websites, mobile apps) and even stationary, displayed the Bank's corporate image as of 1 April.
Although this process was arduous and complex, as of 1 April the Bank took on the main and most difficult objective: ensuring everything works correctly. With this goal in mind, the necessary support was provided to ensure that areas such as the treasury, accounting or international activity departments could continue working, which up until that point had been received from Barclays, and the central computer, the IT servers and other communication infrastructure were gradually transferred from the United Kingdom to Spain.
With regard to operations, an in-depth review was carried out on the various procedures (from taking on new customers to processing mortgages), in order to bring them into line with procedures in Spain, reduce terms and drive business.
The technological and operational transformation was completed in 2016 with a plan to integrate employees, which included two complementary lines of action:
In 2016 the Portuguese business adopted the Bank's remuneration policy, including the system of sales bonuses and other variable incentives.
There is still much more work to be done in 2017. The programmes for making employees aware of Bankinter's way of working need to be extended to specialists in investment products and business centres, as well as the risk and operations teams. A new leadership model and an engagement programme also need to be implemented this year in order to identify and work on tangible integration matters.
The computer renovation, which was completed at the end of 2016 for all branches in the network, must also reach central services, and web environments must also be unified. Another of the Bank's objectives is to revamp the supplier policy, bringing it into line with the review carried out in Spain in order to improve services and facilitate economic savings.
In order to conclude the integration process, in 2017 the headquarters currently in Lisbon will be relocated, although a portion of the offices (those that do not have contact with customers) will remain at their current location. This is more than just a spatial or geographical change in location, it is about adapting the work area to a new, more open and horizontal corporate culture. The message is clear: Bankinter is here to stay and build a successful model.
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