What does Confero do?

WELCOME TO CONFERO GROUP

We are pleased to welcome Damla Demirhan as a new Senior Consultant:

Damla successfully completed her Bachelor's degree in Business Informatics with a focus on International Management at Kiel University of Applied Sciences. She then started her career as a business analyst at a medium-sized consulting company, where she learned a great deal over many years - particularly in the areas of banking, migration and transformation and test management. Damla is characterized by her strong communication skills and her solution-oriented way of working.

She enjoys spending her free time with family and friends, cooking and traveling. She enjoys discovering new cultures and organizing her free time with many activities.

ECON CUSTOMER CONFERENCE 2024

As a consulting partner of ECON Application, we attended the ECON Customer Conference 2024 in the Balloni Halls in Cologne for the first time last Thursday - in particular our CEO Christian Kistler as a panelist on the partner panel. It was an entertaining and very interesting day with customer presentations on implemented use cases, a rather cheerful “Schlag den Raabe” and of course a lot of net(t)working. Many thanks for the invitation!

PRINCE2 FOR THE SECOND TIME

The second internal PRINCE 2 Foundation course took place at the end of August this year with Manfred Sauer as the instructor. And as you can see - everyone learned a lot and had fun too!

PRINCE2 training is part of the Confero Group's training program and is run as a three-part in-house course (Foundation, Practitioner and Agile Practitioner). PRINCE2 Foundation is the introduction to the method, principles, terms and topics for prospective project managers and/or project leaders. It is also relevant if you are involved in the design, development and implementation of projects, for example as a PMO.

WELCOME TO CONFERO GROUP

We are pleased to welcome Sebastian Kind as a new Consultant:
Sebastian started his professional career in 2014 with an apprenticeship as a bank clerk at Sparkasse Krefeld. After successfully completing his training, he went on to complete a part-time business administration degree (B.A.) specialising in banking/finance and international business. Until July 2024, Sebastian worked in various positions at Sparkasse Krefeld, primarily advising private customers. He also completed various training courses there, such as his Sparkassenfachwirt and certification as a registered securities advisor. Most recently, he worked as an individual customer advisor and looked after wealthy customers with a focus on investment advice and asset structuring. Along the way, he also gained experience in projects relating to the savings bank of the future and digitalisation.

In his free time, Sebastian enjoys various sporting activities. He is also passionate about travelling and discovering new countries and cultures.

NEW WORK PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED AT HAMBURGER SPARKASSE

After almost two years of preparation and implementation, the NewWork project ‘HaspaONE’ was successfully completed at Hamburger Sparkasse. Our Confero Group AG team advised Haspa in the project management office and during the roll-out over the entire project period (Haspa.de).

Several Haspa head office locations and, at the same time, Germany's largest neighbourhood branch in the new Deutschlandhaus (Deutschlandhaus.com), on Gänsemarkt in the heart of Hamburg were brought together in state-of-the-art working environments. Around 1,700 employees on 30,000 square metres of office space will find ideal conditions for modern forms of collaborative working and exchange between employees, customers and business partners based on the activity-based working principle - plus 50 employees on 1,600 square metres of branch space on the ground floor. The first few days after moving in have already shown that the HaspaONE project was not just a relocation, but offers completely new opportunities for effective work and also brings a lot of joy to the users. Integrated into an overall concept of flexible working, the Deutschlandhaus has been the central point of contact for all Haspa employees from day one.

WELCOME TO CONFERO GROUP

We are pleased to welcome Bastian Liewig as Managing Director: Bastian started his professional career as a management consultant in 2009 after successfully completing his studies in general computer science and most recently worked for five years as a partner at a medium-sized consulting company. For 15 years, he has been successfully managing projects in the field of compliance with a focus on anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC). Bastian is characterized by excellent teamwork and a structured approach - he has already proven his ability to lead teams successfully in many projects.

Since July 2024, Bastian has been Managing Director at Confero Group AG, where he is responsible for the development and expansion of the compliance advisory service.

He prefers to spend his free time with family and friends. As an ambitious runner and triathlete, he finds a balance to work there. He is convinced that if something is to be good and successful, it must be tackled with passion and that applies to all situations in life.

WELCOME TO CONFERO GROUP

We are pleased to welcome Xuan-Ky Trinh as a Consultant: Ky started his professional life in 2011 with an apprenticeship as a banker at Deutsche Bank. He then completed a bachelor's and master's degree in business administration (B.Sc and M.Sc) with a focus on finance at the University of Münster. During his studies, Ky already gained practical experience in internships and as a working student in the field of investor relations and asset management.

This was followed by a period as a trainee at a Cologne-based insurance company, where he learned a lot about reinsurance, product management, sustainability management and, above all, asset management. He then worked as a pricing analyst at an automotive bank before joining the Confero Group to gain even more diverse experience.

In his free time, Ky likes to travel to get to know new cultures and, above all, to try out the regional cuisines.

Recently, Ky can also be found more often on the Rhine, where he likes to ride his racing bike. If the weather doesn't play along, he can be found in the bouldering hall.

CONSULTING EXPERTISE COMPLIANCE

We are pleased to welcome Petar Danilov as a new Manager in the Confero Group's consulting field.

Petar has 25 years of professional experience in the banking business - his consulting focus is on money laundering, anti-fraud, payment, crypto trading, quality assurance, controlling and process analysis. After training as a banker, Petar worked at a savings bank for many years. From 2016 to 2023, he held various management positions at Deutsche Handelsbank in Munich and then moved to Bankhaus von der Heydt, also in Munich, as Head of Regulatory Services and Head of Operations. Petar has been supporting the Confero Group as a manager in consulting since July 2024. Petar has managed numerous projects in his career, including BaFin audits and process optimization in KYC and payment transactions. He is fluent in German, English, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian and has extensive IT knowledge as well as certificates as ISTQB Certified Tester and Money Laundering, Fraud and Compliance Officer. Petar lives with his family in Berg on the beautiful Lake Starnberg.

SUMMER FEST 2024 IN REGENSBURG

After a cozy start on Friday evening with pasta and wine, we successfully kept our fingers crossed together in the beer garden for the opening game of this year's European Football Championship. On Saturday, we started with a professional exchange and in the afternoon, city guide Irene von Stadtmaus (www.stadtmaus.de) and her two fellow actors gave us a brilliant tour of Regensburg and provided us with lots of interesting historical information about the city.

At the Kneitinger brewery (www.kneitinger.de), we learned how beer is made in Regensburg and after an intensive tasting of various beers, we were all proud to hold our beer diplomas in our hands. The tour continued in the brewery pub.

What we were particularly pleased about: 3 new colleagues who will be joining us in the coming weeks were also present at the summer party. An "onboarding" in a relaxed atmosphere.

Conclusion: an all-round successful weekend!

Partnership for digital process lines

In April, ECON Applications GmbH and Confero Group AG agreed to strengthen their cooperation - the ECON Application Suite is Germany's leading no-code software for digital processes at banks and insurance companies and Confero Group will now be able to develop and implement digital sales and service processes as a consulting partner with consultants specifically trained for this purpose. The partnership will focus on projects at banks that use Atruvia's core banking system agree21 and where there is a high demand for improving the digital customer experience while reducing process costs. The ECON Application Suite enables these banks to very quickly implement individual process routes in a completely digitalized way.

Sustainable success: Confero Group achieves EcoVadis Bronze

Integrity, responsibility, respect and diversity are the core values of the Confero Group.

As a medium-sized consulting company, we consider our responsibility towards our clients, employees, business partners, society and our environment not only as a duty, but also as an opportunity to develop further and make our contribution to a more sustainable, inclusive and diverse world. We are therefore that our efforts have been recognized by EcoVadis with the bronze medal for the best 35% of all companies assessed.

READY FOR DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY BY 2025?

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) sets clear deadlines: banks and financial service providers must also be digitally accessible by 2025. The Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) already transposed the EAA into national law in July 2021.

Confero Group has developed a goal-oriented project approach to accompany companies from the financial services industry on this path. We understand the requirements of the BFSG and develop solutions that not only meet the legal requirements, but also identify and exploit potential opportunities.