Ensuring data quality & regulatory compliance in banking
Case study with Citadele

THE CUSTOMER

Citadele is a universal bank offering a wide range of banking products to retail, SME, and corporate customer base. The bank also provides wealth management, asset management, life insurance, pension, leasing, and factoring products. In addition to traditional banking services, Citadele offers a range of services based on next-generation financial technology, including a modern mobile application, contactless and instant payments, modern client onboarding practices, and technologically-enabled customer service. Citadele Group’s main market is the Baltics (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia).

CHALLENGES

Before adopting SelectZero’s data observability platform, the bank’s validation processes relied on manual solutions that were managed by various departments, leading to loss of efficiency in processes. This inefficiency underscored the need for a more reliable, scalable, and automated data observability solution.

DATABASE SYSTEMS

  • Oracle
  • SAP IQ
  • Databricks

INDUSTRY

  • Banking

LOCATION

  • Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

USERS

  • Data warehouse teams
  • IT and non-IT users in Risk and Finance areas

WHAT IMPACT DOES SELECTZERO HAVE?

Citadele has realized significant benefits of the platform from early stages of the implementation. One of the key improvements has been the ability to conduct regular data quality checks throughout the month, particularly for financial data. This proactive approach has streamlined the end-of-month (EoM) process by identifying and resolving data issues in advance, rather than during the critical EoM period. Additionally, SelectZero has helped the bank meet regulatory requirements by providing clear evidence of data quality levels for a specific compliance use case.

Citadele is currently working on improving its compliance with BCBS239 using SelectZero, which requires banks to maintain stringent data quality, data ownership, and data lineage capabilities. Additionally, multiple regulations from the European Central Bank and local regulators govern various aspects of data governance, and the SelectZero platform helps Citadele meet these requirements. These regulations include the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the European Union AI Act, GDPR, the Guide to Internal Models, and more. Failure to comply with BCBS239 or other regulations could result in penalties, additional capital requirements, reputational damage, or increased regulatory scrutiny.

WHY SELECTZERO?

After evaluating and testing multiple data observability platforms, including an in-house solution, Citadele ultimately chose SelectZero due to its simplicity, intuitive user interface, and ability to meet key data quality requirements without unnecessary complexity.

The platform is user-friendly, and its intuitive way of creating data validations, which simplifies data quality management without requiring extensive IT involvement, is a very welcoming feature. The platform offers strong value with a flexible pricing model, along with a highly responsive support team that actively considers Citadele’s needs and improvement suggestions. A major advantage is SelectZero’s use of SQL for data quality tests, avoiding the need to learn a proprietary scripting language. Additionally, the platform demonstrated rapid development and continuous enhancement, further solidifying its appeal. The installation process was easy and smooth with no complications.

Positive references from other financial institutions also reinforced Citadele’s confidence in its decision. The bank recognizes the value of key features such as data quality monitoring, AI-assisted insights, automated data lineage, technical metadata analysis, and a customizable business glossary. As adoption grows, these capabilities will continue to enhance data management and governance. The combination of these factors made SelectZero the ideal choice for Citadele’s data governance and compliance needs.

The SelectZero platform, while simple and user-friendly, offers the most crucial data quality monitoring capabilities. It is developing rapidly, with new features being added constantly. As a client, we appreciate having a say in development to ensure it aligns with our needs. Additionally, the responsive support provided by the SelectZero Team has been invaluable. Overall, it offers the best value for money that we have been able to find in the market.

Anastasija Kravceva, Head of Data Architecture and Delivery at Citadele

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