VTB implements ML platform to protect customer data

By Robin Amlot

VTB has implemented a depersonalisation platform based on Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. The fully automated platform will classify and depersonalise customer data, as well as banking and commercial information. Based on Open-Source Solutions such as Extract, Transform, Load (ETL), User Interface (UI), and ML, the platform allows users to perform an automated search for attributes that contain personal data and depersonalise them, with the accuracy of data classification being more than 96%. Following implementation, the labour costs of depersonalising data were reduced by more than 50 times, and the speed of searching for critical data increased by 10 times.

This allows the bank to create an even more secure environment for development and testing in the shortest possible time to bring the bank’s products and services to market. Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB Bank, claimed: “This solution is unique. There are no ready-made boxed industrial solutions for the classification of customers’ personal data on the Russian market. VTB specialists analysed vendor solutions and found that none allowed customers to fully automate the full cycle of creating a secure environment for development and testing. With remote work becoming more frequent during the pandemic, this project has allowed us to create a completely secure environment, strengthen protection against leaks and unauthorized access to our customers’ personal data, and minimise the reputational risks associated with protecting VTB’s banking and commercial data.”

As part of its strategic development, VTB is implementing a large-scale digital transformation programme between 2019 and 2022, during which IT infrastructure has been completely rebuild. The model of work for creating the bank’s technology products has changed, and technology platforms have been created which, among other things, are the basis for the development of the bank’s open ecosystem.

Over 18 months, VTB has completed more than half of its planned digital transformation work. In particular, 14 separate programmes were launched which directly or indirectly reduced the time to market for products and services. The bank estimates the financial impact of its digital transformation programme at the end of 2020 was $150 million (11 billion roubles), which is twice the amount VTB previously forecast.

VTB mobile app monitors IT systems online 

VTB has also recently launched a mobile application which will allow the bank’s employees to monitor the operation of all VTB IT systems online, track the workload, and instantly respond to any emergency situations. The application is the next stage in improving the reliability and quality of VTB customer services and will make it more convenient for employees to carry out their work.

If emergency situations occur, employees will receive a push notification with information about the presence of an incident, after which they can follow the app for further details. In future, there are plans to expand the application’s functionality, specifically around warnings against potential emergency situations.

VTB has expanded the capabilities of the situation centre, which provides round-the-clock monitoring of the bank’s critical processes in real time with instant response and allows for the prevention of emergency situations and reduces their impact on operations. Following this period of modernisation, IT specialists, information security experts, and the bank’s engineering teams will work together in a single space. By the end of 2021, the situation centre also expects to implement solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI).