The WORM has turned. Meet the new intelligent data solution for banks

In an information age data is king. When it comes to banking, it’s vital we can trust that our information and money is safe and secure, while being able to access our data freely and easily. Given that with every transaction new information is being added to our personal files, the pressure is on banks to manage this data as it proliferates - without having to rely on a sprawling storage solution.

Not only this, but in the European Union, regulations state that firms must be able to provide certain pieces of information to their clients in writing, either on paper, or in another durable medium. According to EU rules, a durable medium needs to allow information to be addressed personally to the recipient, enable them to store it in a way that’s accessible for future reference, and allow for the information to be reproduced without the risk of it being changed in the process. As many people choose to be paper-free in their banking, keeping people’s data safe at the same time as making it accessible within the EU’s regulatory framework is a challenge.

Thus far banks have largely relied on trusted third parties (TTPs) to provide tamper-free data storage for them. But this adds in a layer of complexity when retrieving that information to be able to share it with a customer.

In our data-drenched, instant access times, banks need a durable, long-term, cloud-based, write-once-read-many (WORM) response. Hitachi Europe, in cooperation with Hitachi Vantara, created such a solution, tackling the technological, legal and functional challenges to create the first WORM solution on a durable medium in December 2017, for the Polish bank Bank Pekao S.A. They were quickly followed in taking up the technology by Bank Zachodni WBK S.A. (currently Santander Bank Polska) in March 2018 and many other financial institutions in Poland including SGB-Bank and Getin Bank.

Hitachi’s WORM storage allows customers’ information to be held within the bank’s infrastructure or TTP, integrating it with online banking systems as well as external web portals. This means clients can access their information 24/7 without the risk of it being stolen or changed.

It’s based on Hitachi Content Platform (HCP), which is already used by banks like Rabobank for regulatory and ‘paperless’ projects, as well as for creating a private cloud within the organisation itself. It can also be used by banks for safe data storage, allowing them to fulfil the law mandating that all email communication and phone records must be archived and accessible on demand for a five-year period.

“WORM storage is safe and reliable,” explains Tadeusz Woszczyński, Hitachi Europe’s Country Manager for Poland. “What’s more, it allows the banks to solve the durable medium issue in a quick and adequate way. We’re happy that the biggest players in the Polish banking market appreciate the functionality and advantages of our solution.”