Customer Executive
The challenge
As a local Norwegian bank with a strong footprint in Bergen, Fana Sparebank wanted to grow and attract new customers on a national level, focusing on mortgages.
The solution
Using their own banking licence, Fana launched Himla as a nationwide digital-only banking services’ brand. Himla was built on TietoEVRY’s internet and mobile banking solutions - core banking, payment, security, cards and customer channels.
More about TietoEVRY Financial Services Solutions Discover more about how our services can enable business transformationAbout the customer
Fana Sparebank was established in 1878 and ranks at the 12th largest bank in Norway. Its 135 employees are mostly located in the Bergen region of western Norway. Fana launched Himla in June 2020, an independent brand with a complete internet and mobile bank, designed for the digital age with a distinct look & feel.
Easy to onboard, easy to understand
Himla offers low rates, a simple price list and easy onboarding where users can apply for a loan before entering the actual onboarding process, preventing users from becoming customers unnecessarily.
National expansion
The highly automated lending solution has enabled Himla to quickly scale up and expand Fana’s footprint across Norway. 84% of Himla customers live outside Fana’s traditional regional market in Bergen.
Fast time to market and cost efficiency
By leveraging TietoEVRY’s existing core systems, Fana was able to launch Himla within months, at a very competitive cost.
Lisbet K. Nerø, CEO of Fana Sparebank, has reasons to be proud of herself and of the 135 people working in Fana Sparebank. They are one of the fastest growing banks in Norway, and in spite of their small size, they’ve managed to launch innovative products and pilots. Himla Banking Services is their latest achievement.
Lisbet K. Nerø, CEO of Fana Sparebank
We’re just the right size to do successful pilots.
Lisbet K. Nerø
CEO, Fana Sparebank
Based on the success of launching Himla Real Estate in 2018, Fana Sparebank aimed at creating Himla Banking Services two short years later. In an already crowded banking market, they had to think outside of the box, not to mention work extremely fast.
The solution was to build on the same concept as Himla Real Estate, going fully digital, thereby offering the customers simple and “easy to understand” products.
Our goal was to create the world’s “easiest to understand pricing list” for bank customers. We see that banking customers are diverse and by launching Himla, we expand our list of products even further, so that all our customers get offerings suitable for their needs.
Lisbet K. Nerø
CEO, Fana Sparebank
Success, however, was dependent on getting the solution out in the market rapidly. This is where their strategic partnership with TietoEVRY came into play.
TietoEVRY already delivers our banking solutions for Fana, so naturally they know us and have an interest in us succeeding with Himla. As we’ve experienced, they’re good at optimizing existing solutions, which in this case allowed us to get to market fast.
Lisbet K. Nerø
CEO, Fana Sparebank
As for the goals set out by Himla at its start, Nerø can gladly announce that they’ve surpassed them already. The ambition for Himla was to lend approximately 50 million euros. At present, they’ve already signed more than 350 new customers and are lending out 80 million euros. In Q3 2020, Fana announced the highest growth recorded in the bank's history, with much attributed to Himla Banking Services contributing just over half of the volume.
Silje Kolbenstvedt has been the customer contact for Fana Sparebank from TietoEVRY’s side. She is thrilled to see Himla succeed in the market.
Silje Kolbenstvedt, Customer Executive, Financial Services at TietoEVRY
We had a couple of hectic months. We were basically racing against the clock. Being able to reuse and tweak existing technology is one of our greatest assets.
Silje Kolbenstvedt
Customer Executive, Financial Services, TietoEVRY
She stresses that most of TietoEVRY’s solutions are “plug and play”, which makes it easy for a bank like Fana to leverage them into new pilots like Himla. Silje also emphasizes that going with this kind of option is far more cost and time efficient than building an online bank completely from scratch. The lending solution is also highly automated, making Himla extremely cost efficient to run.
Silje thinks the successful launch of Himla busts two myths about the banking market.
One myth is that small, traditional banks like Fana are struggling in today’s competitive market. Nevertheless, look at what Fana accomplished by being bold and open-minded! Sometimes I also hear that large companies like TietoEVRY “can’t be innovative” in the same way small FinTechs can. In this case our extensive banking portfolio and massive competence proved to be key to help Fana succeed.
Silje Kolbenstvedt
Customer Executive, Financial Services, TietoEVRY
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