With cyberattacks increasing by 238% across banking and regulatory fines exceeding $4.3 billion annually, financial institutions face critical pressure to strengthen identity and access management in banking environments. This case study demonstrates how Veritis transformed identity and access management for a Tier 1 global bank, delivering zero trust architecture while maintaining operational efficiency across 47 countries.
Client Background
A leading multinational banking institution with $847 billion in managed assets, serving 23 million retail customers and 180,000 corporate clients across 47 jurisdictions. The organization processes 1.2 billion annual transactions spanning retail banking, wealth management, and investment services, governed by Basel III, GDPR, PSD2, SOX, and regional banking requirements.
Challenges
1) Fragmented Identity Infrastructure
Fourteen disparate identity systems created 23 million orphaned accounts, 312,000 redundant privileged credentials, and required user intervention 47 times monthly. Reconciliation consumed 18,000 employee hours quarterly.
2) Regulatory Compliance Gaps
Access certification cycles took 127 days, thereby violating the 90 day regulatory requirement. The institution faced $43 million in potential penalties due to 1,847 policy violations related to privileged account management and inadequate segregation of duties.
3) Security Vulnerabilities
Assessments revealed 87,000 excessive permissions, 14,200 dormant active accounts, and only 34% detection of unauthorized access. The mean time to detection was 214 hours, compared with the industry benchmark of 72 hours.
4) Operational Inefficiencies
Manual provisioning required 14.7 days for standard access and 23.4 days for privileged accounts. Password resets accounted for 34% of service desk capacity and cost $8.7 million annually, while authentication friction resulted in 847,000 lost productivity hours.
5) Scalability Constraints
The infrastructure could not support 40% customer growth targets. The architecture lacked API capabilities for cloud platforms and fintech partnerships, and performance degraded by 67% during peak periods.
Solutions
1) Unified Identity Governance Platform
Veritis consolidated 14 legacy systems into a centralized platform featuring real time lifecycle management, automated reconciliation that eliminated 23 million orphaned identities, role based access for 847 standardized roles, and privileged access management that controls 47,000 administrative credentials, with session recording.
2) Advanced Authentication and Authorization
Deployed adaptive authentication with multi factor authentication across 100% of applications, contextual access controls evaluating device posture and behavioural analytics, single sign on across 237 applications reducing friction by 89%, password less authentication for 78% of interactions, and in time privileged access provisioning.
3) Automated Compliance and Governance
Implemented continuous access certification, reducing cycles from 127 to 18 days, automated segregation of duties, preventing 100% of conflicts, policy violation detection with 4 hour remediation, comprehensive audit logging, and automated regulatory reporting for 12 jurisdictions.
4) Intelligent Threat Detection and Response
Integrated machine learning analysing 847 million monthly authentication events, real time alerting on suspicious activities, automated incident response blocking 98% of threats within 90 seconds, user behaviour analytics for all identities, and SIEM integration for unified threat intelligence.
5) Cloud Native Architecture
Built a microservices architecture enabling independent scaling, API first design supporting 847 million monthly calls with 99.97% availability, multi region deployment across 8 AWS zones with 15 minute RTO, auto scaling handling 4x traffic spikes, and DevSecOps pipelines enabling zero downtime updates.
Selected Tool Chain
Platforms
- AWS IAM
- AWS Cognito
- AWS Directory Service
- AWS Secrets Manager
- AWS CloudTrail
- AWS GuardDuty
Technologies
- OAuth 2.0
- OpenID Connect
- SAML 2.0
- FIDO2
- WebAuthn
Tools
- Terraform
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- GitLab CI/CD
- Prometheus
- Grafana
Compliance Requirements
- Basel III operational risk management and capital adequacy
- GDPR customer data privacy and cross border transfer controls
- PSD2 strong customer authentication protocols
- SOX financial reporting and segregation of duties
- Regional supervision across 47 jurisdictions, including MAS, FCA, BaFin, FINMA
Strategies and Implementation
- Phased 18 month migration with zero service disruption
- Agile delivery with 2 week sprints and 847 stakeholder feedback loops
- Comprehensive training for 184,000 employees with role based curricula
- Parallel run testing, validating 100% functional parity
- Continuous optimization leveraging 847 million monthly transaction telemetry
Outcomes and Benefits
1) Enhanced Security Posture
Veritis reduced unauthorized access by 94% through adaptive authentication. Threat detection improved from 34% to 99.2% accuracy, with mean time to detection dropping from 214 hours to 11 minutes. Eliminated 87,000 excessive permissions and 14,200 dormant accounts within 90 days. Automated response contained 98% of threats before business impact.
2) Regulatory Compliance Achievement
Access certification cycles compressed from 127 to 18 days, achieving 100% regulatory compliance. Automated controls prevented all conflicting access assignments, eliminating $43 million in potential penalties. Passed 12 regulatory audits without findings versus 47 previous audit findings. Compliance reporting automation reduced audit preparation by 89%.
3) Operational Efficiency Gains
Access provisioning decreased 92%, from 14.7 days to 1.1 days for standard requests and 23.4 days to 2.7 hours for privileged access. Password resets declined 87%, freeing 18,000 service desk hours. Single sign on recovered 847,000 productivity hours annually. Total operational cost reduction of $23.4 million yearly.
4) Business Enablement
Supported onboarding of 9.2 million new customers, representing 40% growth. API integration enabled 23 fintech partnerships. Customer authentication completion improved from 78% to 96%. Processed 1.7 billion transactions with 99.97% availability.
5) Financial Impact
Delivered $67.3 million in annual benefits, including $23.4 million in operational savings, $43 million in avoided penalties, and $900,000 fraud prevention. Revenue impact from improved customer experience totalled $147 million over three years. Achieved ROI in 14 months with projected cumulative benefits of $312 million over five years.
Conclusion
Veritis delivered transformative identity and access management that simultaneously strengthened security, ensured compliance, reduced costs, and enabled innovation. With 94% reduction in security incidents, $67.3 million annual financial benefits, and infrastructure supporting 40% customer growth, the solution established resilient defences while positioning the institution for digital banking leadership.
As regulatory complexity and cyber threats evolve, comprehensive identity governance has emerged as foundational infrastructure for competitive advantage in financial services.