S-Bank

1. Quick facts

Location: Finland
Industry: Banking and financial services
Company size: approx. 1,200 employees
Contracts in Zefort: approx. 1,200
Use case: Centralized management of supplier and contract portfolios, regulatory reporting

S-Bank is a Finnish bank owned by the S Group. Its mission is to make everyday life easier for its customers by providing simple, useful banking services. The bank operates in a highly regulated environment, where contracts play a central role in ensuring business continuity and meeting regulatory requirements.

The contract portfolio in Zefort covers supplier and external partner agreements, managed across several teams within S-Bank. The importance of contract management is particularly pronounced in risk management, information security, and regulatory compliance.

2. The challenge: When tightening regulation outpaces existing tools

S-Bank decided to run a competitive tendering process for a new contract management system because the previously used tool no longer met the bank’s growing requirements, particularly for metadata and regulatory reporting.

A key limitation was the system’s lack of flexibility in customizing metadata fields, which made it difficult to respond to new regulatory requirements such as DORA.

These challenges were also visible in day-to-day work.

“Finding contracts was difficult, and retrieving information required separate instructions. Archiving contracts and maintaining metadata was largely the responsibility of one designated team, which slowed down operations and increased dependencies,” Anne Ruuskanen, IT Manager (Supplier Relationship Management) at S-Bank, says.

3. The requirements: Visibility, metadata, and regulatory support as top priorities

“When we were evaluating new tools, the most important factor was their ability to meet regulatory requirements. DORA was not the only regulatory framework to consider; requirements related to EBA and crisis management also needed to be addressed,” Ruuskanen continues.

The solution needed to provide:

• A highly customizable metadata model, as no ready-made metadata structures were available to meet new regulatory requirements
• Strong information security and compliance with banking sector standards
• Full visibility across the entire contract portfolio, particularly to identify critical suppliers and concentration risks
• An API (Application Programming Interface) for reporting

Usability and cost efficiency were also key selection criteria. In addition, S-Bank conducted thorough reference checks within the banking sector and interviewed other banks already using Zefort before making the decision.

4. The solution: A flexible platform to support reporting

Zefort was selected primarily due to its flexible metadata model, open API, and ease of use. S-Bank was able to independently define metadata fields for DORA and other regulatory requirements and use them for regulatory reporting without extensive, vendor-dependent customization.

Today, all supplier- and contract-related information is available through the API. S-Bank has built an integration that enables contract data to be transferred to DORA reports and Power BI reporting alongside other data sources. Active Directory integration and Single Sign-On (SSO) are also in use.

Zefort was implemented in 2024. The main challenge was insufficient metadata in the legacy system, which required significant effort in data preparation. The implementation itself proceeded well, and the Zefort team was actively involved in supporting the transition.

“Customer support has responded quickly, and development suggestions have been approached constructively. Regulatory requirements in the banking sector place significant demands on the product as well, and this is exactly where flexibility has been critical,” summarizes Ruuskanen.

5. The results: Better visibility, stronger regulatory readiness, and easier day-to-day work

With Zefort, S-Bank has ensured both the timeliness and quality of regulatory reporting. Implementing a comparable solution with another vendor would have been significantly more expensive, particularly in onboarding and customization.

The qualitative benefits are clear: contracts are easy to find, information is up to date, and supplier management and related monitoring are well organized. Different parts of the organization can now manage their own contracts independently, removing bottlenecks and improving overall visibility.

S-bank is also interested in exploring further AI possibilities. While not all AI features are yet in active use, they are expected to increasingly support expert work in the future, especially in analyzing large contract volumes and monitoring compliance.

🔑 Key takeaways

• Challenge: Regulatory requirements intensified, and the previous contract management system lacked sufficient metadata and reporting capabilities.
• Requirement: Full visibility across the contract portfolio, customizable metadata, and support for DORA and other regulatory reporting.
• Solution: Zefort’s flexible metadata model and open API enabled S-Bank to tailor metadata to regulatory requirements and support regulatory reporting accordingly.
• Benefits: Stronger control, higher-quality contract and supplier management, and confidence that operations align with both agreements and regulatory expectations.
• Looking ahead: The platform also lays the foundation for broader use of AI in contract analysis and risk management.