Digitizing Millions of Banking Documents with Certified Workflows and Legal Archiving
Organization
A major national banking group operating across thousands of branches and business units. The institution aimed to digitally transform its document lifecycle, replacing physical archiving with certified digital processes and integrating dematerialization with its back-office, ERP, and compliance systems.
The initiative also included the acquisition of an internal business unit responsible for document archiving and processing, along with the complete redesign of physical storage and logistics infrastructure to optimize operations.
The Challenge
The bank faced the strategic need to:
- Eliminate dependence on physical archives for contractual, financial, and customer documentation
- Implement a certified scanning and archiving process in accordance with national and European regulations
- Ensure full integration with legacy systems (ERP, workflow engines, digital repositories)
- Reorganize the document lifecycle, including request, digitization, consultation, validation, and legal storage
- Absorb a full back-office business unit, including staff, systems, and processes
- Optimize the use of physical storage across sites, consolidating logistics operations and freeing premium space
The complexity of the challenge spanned not only technology and compliance, but also human resource integration, infrastructure relocation, and workflow reengineering across all customer document categories (mortgages, cards, insurance, finance, credit, profiling, etc.).
The Solution
The institution implemented a phased, enterprise-scale digital transformation leveraging Coopera’s full ECM and BPM suite, supported by a dematerialization center and integrated archive governance.
Key solution components included:
- Deployment of Coopera ECM with BPM-driven orchestration of back-office processes
- Creation of a central dematerialization hub, equipped for high-throughput, certified scanning
- Parameterized workflows for certified scanning and image validation, document classification, data extraction and reconciliation with ERP records and compliance controls (audit logs, signature validation, request history)
- Integration with internal banking systems such as document werhouse system, financial platform, DMS, and legal archiving platforms
- Multi-tier document processing from simple contracts to complex, verified contractual dossiers
- Digital consultation request management via a unified portal, accessible to business units and compliance officers
- Redesign and execution of logistics relocation plans to optimize cost and free high-value real estate
- Progressive digitization of APAC branches, following a structured onboarding and training plan
Coopera Modules Involved
Coopera provided the technological backbone for a large-scale transition from paper to certified digital processes, supporting compliant scanning, legal archiving, request orchestration, and integration with legacy banking systems.
Benefits & Results
Coopera enabled the bank to absorb an entire document management business unit, eliminating dependency on physical archives and consolidating document governance under a unified digital architecture. The solution offered end-to-end compliance, seamless integration with existing systems, and a scalable model for future banking digitization initiatives.
Results achieved:
- Processing of millions of pages of archival documentation into certified digital format
- Seamless orchestration of requests, validation, and consultation processes through Coopera workflows
- Absorption of a full business unit, including staff and processes, into a new digital operating model
- Consolidation of physical archives and reduction of operational costs via warehouse relocation
- Certified compliance with national dematerialization and legal storage standards
- Improved efficiency, transparency, and auditability across document types and departments
- Future-ready architecture integrated with both legacy and modern digital systems
