Established in 1999, Nations Trust Bank (NTB) is rated in the top fifteen business establishments in Sri Lanka, offering world class financial products and services for individual, corporate and institutional clients. NTB launched Sri Lanka’s first digital banking experience, FriMi, and was the first to adopt Open Banking. The Bank operates over 90 branches across the country and is the issuer and sole acquirer for American Express® Cards in Sri Lanka.
Mitra use their Migration Framework to upgrade Integration and Connectivity for Nations Trust Bank
ABOUT NATIONS TRUST BANK
THE CHALLENGE
As a pioneer of Open Banking in Sri Lanka, NTB was an early adopter of WSO2 middleware so was running on older versions. WSO2 does not support any product version older than three years, so to ensure their infrastructure continues to be supported and has the latest security updates and product features, NTB needed a migration path. The upgrade would also ensure continued collaboration and data sharing with financial services providers across the country, while adding new functionality and products to the bank’s existing digital offering. NTB offers a vast range of services to their customers, and a major consideration was ensuring no downtime was experienced at any stage of the upgrade. NTB was also looking to extend their services through secure APIs to bring in new revenue streams.
THE SOLUTION
Mitra used its Migration Framework to determine the safest and shortest route to upgrade for NTB. Mitra developed a digital upgrade plan for the WSO2 middleware layer, migrating to WSO2 API Manager 4.0.0 and WSO2 Identity Server 5.11.0. The upgrade spanned multiple systems, and included all the features of WSO2 APIM version 4.0 below:
- Merging of integration capabilities along with API Management
- Support for Asynchronous APIs (AsyncAPI)
- Introduction of service registry
- Support for API revisions (on top of versions)
- Support for external Identity Providers as key managers
The upgrade allows multiple integrated systems to be exposed as managed APIs providing an omnichannel experience for users. Prior to this version of the API Manager, integration and API management capabilities were offered separately. Mitra built a highly available cluster setup for both WSO2 APIM and IS products and deployment was done across development (DEV), user acceptance testing (UAT) and production (PROD) environments.
API Management
The upgraded API Manager allows for the rapid design, deployment, testing, and implementation of APIs using the in-built tools, without interrupting existing customer services.
Identity Access Manager
Mitra upgraded the Identity Server used for authentication and identity management, ensuring customers have only one set of credentials across all services offered by NTB, providing an omnichannel experience.
Leading Edge
Mitra delivered a digital upgrade plan for the latest version of the WSO2 product stack. This Open Source, feature-rich, enterprise-ready API Management and Integration solution offers leading edge technology for NTB’s digital journey.
THE RESULT
The upgraded version of WSO2 was successfully and seamlessly deployed by Mitra for NTB using the Mitra Migration Framework. Mitra streamlined identity and access management for NTB managed APIs and Apps, both internally and externally. User data and policies were centralised enabling Single Sign On(SSO) for the multiple services offered by NTB (FriMi E-Wallet, NTB Online Banking, NTB Mobile Banking, Internal Operational Portal, etc…), streamlining the entire customer experience. Mitra were also able to capture extra user data via APIs and Apps improving analytics for customer behaviour predictions.
BUSINESS BENEFITS
Use of The Migration Framework means NTB remain fully supported by WSO2 going forward
Single Sign On for multiple services provides an omnichannel experience for NTB’s customers
The latest version of WSO2 provides a more secure, feature-rich platform
Continuity of service during migration ensured customer and market confidence
Migration to an API-centric WSO2 stack has increased business agility with faster market responses
Data gathering from APIs and Apps has enhanced business analytics leading to improved data backed decision making