Thurgauer Kantonalbank
‘Open Business Hub creates completely new opportunities for us.’
Marcel Stauch, Member of the Executive Board of Thurgauer Kantonalbank, responsible for brokermarket.ch
The story in brief:
Swisscom’s Open Business Hub has been giving new impetus to online platform brokermarket.ch since November 2021. Brokers can now make real-time mortgage enquiries and receive instant financing options.
Thurgauer Kantonalbank (TKB) is the leading bank in the canton of Thurgau. It provides financial services for individuals and companies. With Swisscom’s Open Business Hub, it has minimised the administrative effort involved in mortgage applications and opened up its platform to other banks.
Initial situation
The process from mortgage application to completion was traditionally complex and time-consuming. The client would approach a broker, who would compare suitable offers from different banks and advise the client on these. An application would then be made and the broker would have to provide the bank with all of the client’s documents, including proof of income, copies of identity cards and land register extracts – either in person, via post or, in exceptional cases, by e-mail. A credit check would be conducted, after which the broker would inform the client of the offer and the contract could be concluded.
‘Open Business Hub creates completely new opportunities for us.’
Marcel Stauch, Member of the Executive Board of Thurgauer Kantonalbank, responsible for brokermarket.ch
Laborious process
‘Bank A would issue its offer but this may then have already expired by the time Bank B did the same. This led to confusion and a great deal of red tape. The whole process was laborious and cumbersome. With brokermarket.ch, brokers can view all interest rates on offer immediately in real time,’ says Marcel Stauch, who is responsible for brokermarket on the Thurgauer Kantonalbank Executive Board.
Objective
In addition to reducing the administrative burden involved in transactions with mortgage brokers, the bank also wanted to increase its mortgage book. This meant simplifying and automating processes. TKB has also opened the platform up to other banks. Registered banks pay TKB a commission, or a kind of user fee, for every transaction concluded via brokermarket.ch.
One step at a time
When brokermarket.ch was launched, it was unclear whether the added value of an instant, digital loan decision would be sufficiently important for brokers. After all, they would have to fill in around 200 data fields. In the end, the cooperation with all parties involved worked extremely well and five brokers quickly became more. It was time to move to complete automation. Up to that point, TKB had still been transferring data manually from brokermarket to its core banking system. This would be changed with the connection to Swisscom’s Open Business Hub.
Solution
TKB was looking for a solution that could act as a gateway to a business ecosystem, and it found it at Swisscom. Open Business Hub was not entirely new to TKB, as it was already using it effectively for online appointments. This new collaboration was also a success: the highly secure integration platform from Swisscom serves as the ideal connection to the ecosystem, which has thus been expanded and is facilitating dynamic growth. With its sophistication and endless possibilities, the system is a stellar performer in the background but also provides an extremely user-friendly platform that can be scaled quickly, easily and securely. Cooperation between TKB, the other banks on brokermarket.ch and brokers has been simplified by connecting brokermarket to Swisscom’s Open Business Hub. Brokers no longer have to sign a contract with each individual affiliated bank. Efficiency is the name of the game. Swisscom’s close support throughout the process and quick responses to questions, challenges and requests for changes also contributed to this success story.
All parties benefit from brokermarket.ch. The pioneering feature of this platform is that the data is entered by brokers and automatically transferred to the core banking system of the financing bank. All of this is made possible by Swisscom’s Open Business Hub. Swisscom enables protected, encrypted data exchange in a highly secure environment. brokermarket.ch is the first exchange developed exclusively for brokers and banks. Data security on the platform is comparable to that of an e-banking system – the maximum is a must. Files can also be uploaded within this protected system.
