Nexent Bank Romania, formerly known as Credit Europe Bank Romania, embraces a digital-first strategy focused on modernization and exceptional customer service. By streamlining credit approvals and credit limit increases, it reduces the need for branch visits and meets customers where they are – on their devices, anytime, anywhere.

That commitment made the stakes even higher when Nexent Bank’s real-time decision engine – critical for approving loans and managing customer interactions – neared end-of-life. The bank received a notification from its previous software vendor that updates, patches and enhancements would cease within a year. While a cloud-based replacement was offered, this option might be a long, uncertain process that could take months or even years. That left Nexent Bank with one viable option: Build a new, compliant on-premises platform – and move fast.

A comprehensive solution emerges

Florentin Codin, Head of Risk Modeling at Nexent Bank, leads teams responsible for designing automated approval processes, including credit scoring and behavioral models. According to Codin, Nexent Bank sought a platform that could meet three key criteria:

• Powers rules and models in seconds.
• Runs on-premises for faster implementation.
• Provides risk teams with both drag-and-drop simplicity and full-code flexibility.

SAS Credit Origination met all those needs and more. The solution combines SAS Intelligent Decisioning for real-time credit strategy decisioning workflows with SAS Visual Analytics for data visualization and dashboards, while enabling model development and monitoring within the same environment.

“SAS offered – in a comprehensive, integrated platform – a solution that far exceeded our initial requirements for a real-time decision agent,” Codin says. “We found a complete analytical ecosystem, one that we could rely on to optimize bank processes and ultimately meet our customers’ needs quickly and sufficiently.”

Key components that influenced the decision included:

• Real-time decision solution – essential for processing numerous rules in seconds and automating approval processes.
• Model design – a dedicated module for internally designing predictive models like scorecards and decision trees.
• Database manipulation – the ability to use SAS code within the platform for data manipulation.
• Management dashboards – a tool for creating visual dashboards and reports for monitoring performance.
• Model monitoring – a component for automated model monitoring, which was previously done manually.

In addition to top-tier analytics and automation, on-premises deployment and asset-based pricing proved pivotal.

“We were able to avoid the lengthy approval process required for cloud solutions by installing the SAS platform on-premises,” Codin says. “And the SAS pricing model will help with budgeting as we scale because it is based on bank assets – not the number of users – so future team expansion won’t increase licensing costs.”

An agile approach to change management

The real constraint wasn’t vision; it was time. With roughly six months available for implementation after vendor selection and internal approvals, Nexent Bank adopted an intensive, agile approach. The team partnered with Data2Knowledge, a local SAS partner recommended for its financial sector expertise.

The implementation required close collaboration across departments. Codin emphasizes the importance of communication: “I sent a clear message to bank management that this was critical; we had to implement a new system or start approving loans with a pen.”

They set a structured cadence – two working sessions a week, incremental testing of every subflow and clear cross-functional alignment between IT and project management. No surprises. Build, validate, advance. “We tested every development as it was completed,” Codin recounts. Soon they knew every component – hundreds of decline rules, warning rules and scoring models – behaved as expected because it had already been proven in place.

Transformative results and growing confidence

Just three months after going live, the results speak for themselves.

“The bank now automatically approves 70% of credit card limits without human intervention,” Codin says. “This automated review system operates 24/7. Even weekends – when we’re watching TV, talking with our kids, going to the park – I know the system is working, approving applications and transforming the customer experience.”

At the beginning of each week, Nexent Bank focuses on performance and profile reviews, not backlogs. Customers get decisions in minutes. The bank gains productivity and consistency.

“On Monday, I see how many credit cards were approved over the weekend,” Codin says.

“I’m proud because my team succeeded in understanding the system, the features and how to use it,” he adds. The platform’s dual nature – offering both drag-and-drop interfaces for nontechnical users and advanced coding capabilities for technical teams – has made it accessible across skill levels.

Next steps: Continued innovation for a customer-centric, digital future

With decisioning at speed in production, Nexent Bank is expanding how the platform informs the business daily. Visual dashboards will provide managers with near-real-time insights into approvals, declines and trends, and automated model monitoring will shift validation from manual to systematic. The roadmap includes extending SAS Intelligent Decisioning to additional products, including mortgages.

The vision is clear: mobile-first experiences backed by on-prem, real-time intelligence.

“The world is changing, and we need to meet evolving customer expectations in an increasingly competitive landscape,” Codin concludes. “People – especially younger generations – are becoming increasingly tech savvy. They’re asking: ‘Why lose time going to a branch when I have a computer, tablet or mobile phone in front of me?’ Now, more than ever, we are equipped to meet them where they are, through the channels they prefer, to ensure they can get the loans and services they need.”