the diginomica network podcast - CIO Subhash Chandra Jose takes EBRD beyond the sunset

Not many organizations, let alone banks, plan to operate for only 20 years. That, however, was the case with the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which was founded as a financial services response to the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

EBRD continues to operate, 35 years after its founding in 1991. The initial aim, to sunset the business after 20 years of operation, had a significant impact on the technology estate of the organization. CIO Subhash Chandra Jose has been leading the digital modernization and transformation of the bank since 2023, and joined the diginomica network podcast to describe the impact of that initial strategy to only operate for 20 years, the digital transformation, the culture of the bank, and politics.

EBRD counts the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank as peers. The multilateral development banks are a rare breed, with the EBRD being slightly rarer as it concentrates on investing in entrepreneurship and the private sector. Three-quarters of the EBRD’s investments are with the private sector. Initially, the founders thought that within 20 years there would be less need for banks as democracy and private enterprise spread across the former Soviet Bloc, but as Chandra Jose tells the podcast:

Multiple challenges in the world, from the Balkan Wars, Arab Spring, the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the war in Ukraine, have made the role of the bank more important than ever.

Tackling these geopolitical challenges drives the culture of EBRD CIO Chandra Jose says, as the staff is driven by what he calls a mission to change lives.

The initial sunset strategy led to technology falling behind the rapid advancements it has made in financial services. Chandra Jose says:

An unintended consequence of being a sunset bank was that the initial leadership invested in their projects; they had a startup mentality, but not so much investment into IT.

In 2019, my predecessor said if EBRD didn’t invest in IT, it could not be guaranteed that the bank could operate, and then Covid hit.

EBRD launched on a five-year transformation to modernize its technology and operations, he says:

It started as a risk mitigation process. There are three themes: fix the IT so it is inline with the modern world, invest in new capabilities, and innovate a new benchmark for the multilateral banking world.

This programme was launched in 2021 and included moving off the Lotus Notes platform.

Tune in for the full discussion, where normally our network avoids politics, but in the case of this CIO, who began their career in politics, we do break our own rules.