Nordea

The bank's credit decision timing improved by color graphics

Finance, in all its glory, can even cause bankers to suffer numerical fatigue. Bonanza color graphics can provide a cure.  Assets and Liabilities, capital structure, and cash flow trends emerge with greater clarity through the visual language. Nordea developed a streamlined credit function using the software BonanzaGraf also used by UC for the visualization of financial information.

 

Bank credit decisions were either too conservative or too generous.  Ten credit controllers at Nordea support branch operations with constructive feedback on the extension and renewal of credit lines.

 

"We use BonanzaGraf to speed up the examination and to illustrate the credits to the offices and what they should be reviewing in particular," says Matts Back, Country Credit Controller. "As we examine around 3,000 credits per year, the graphs are a great help in saving time and help to improve the clarity of analysis, especially when we go back to the office with our comments."

 

Aha Experiences Increasing Engagement

"My colleagues and I have been working with graphics over half a year," continues Back. "It took only a few hours of introduction for us to take hold of the methodology. The program is easily worked and very educational.  When we go to the offices, it often creates that aha-experience for those who formulate the credit decisions. For lenders, graphs are simply a great learning tool."

 

"We compare our interpretation of the base credit with the local offices' analysis and have a constructive dialog on what could or should have been done differently. For lenders, graphs are simply great learning tools for the development of the relationships with clients.  It is essential that credit decisions are made with as much accuracy as possible. I see that commitment increases significantly when we compare color bars instead of the numeric columns in the Excel spreadsheet," says Back, "and I think that moment of understanding is very important in this context."

 

Better Quality of Credit Assessments

"Nordea has recognized that the BonanzaGraf software is a competitive advantage that leads to a better understanding of what client companies are actually profitable and what their development over time really shows. The program also allows transparent simulations of cash flows. The risk of erroneous decisions is minimized and the quality of credit assessments increases markedly. That is why BonanzaGraf is an integral part of UC's services and enables easy input to update."

 

Matts Back, Country Credit Controller