BCC Iccrea Group partnered with IBM to integrate external services, saving 65% of their application integration effort
Gruppo BCC ICCREA (ICCREA), Italy’s leading cooperative banking group, manages over EUR 164 billion in assets and serves more than 5.2 million customers nationwide.
ICCREA is deeply committed to delivering accessible, community-focused financial services. They needed to integrate external services delivered by third parties with their mainframe core banking applications to realize new business opportunities. Because there was no seamless way to implement, connect and monitor interactions with these external services, challenges arose in terms of auditing, performance monitoring and standard application monitoring practices.
Previously, mainframe system administrators were required to monitor these interactions, leading to potential inefficiencies and resource strain. This inability to efficiently integrate and monitor external services impacted ICCREA’s ability to innovate, maintain a competitive edge and ensure smooth operations, potentially impacting customer satisfaction and business growth.
using IBM z/OS Connect, accelerating time to market
through simplified incident management with IBM IZLDA
by streamlining monitoring with existing Elasticsearch processes
To overcome the challenge of integrating external services into their mainframe core banking applications, Gruppo BCC ICCREA partnered with IBM Consulting®, leveraging their application migration and modernization offering to design a hybrid cloud solution that connected existing systems with modern third-party services.
IBM Technology helped ICCREA identify the best solutions to solve their business challenges and supported ICCREA throughout the implementation process.
At the core of the solution was the IBM Z® infrastructure, the bank’s mainframe infrastructure, enhanced with IBM® z/OS® Connect to provide secured invocation of external REST APIs directly from core banking applications. The architecture also incorporated IBM WebSphere® Liberty, which supports IBM z/OS Connect, and is aligned with ICCREA’s strategy for their cloud applications. Together, these technologies created a robust, scalable hybrid architecture that gives the bank seamless integration, improved visibility and laid the foundation for future innovation.
To help ensure full observability, the team implemented IBM Z® Operational Log and Data Analytics (IZLDA), which exports operational data and logs from the mainframe to the bank’s Elasticsearch-based monitoring stack. This implementation gave ICCREA real-time visibility into transactions involving third-party services and unified monitoring across both established and cloud environments. By aligning with existing monitoring practices, IZLDA reduced operational complexity and eliminated the need for specialized mainframe administrators to oversee these interactions. The result was a scalable, integrated observability framework that supports auditing, performance optimization and faster incident resolution—freeing up critical resources and improving operational agility.
Following the successful implementation of IBM z/OS Connect and IBM Z Operational Log and Data Analytics, ICCREA transformed their ability to innovate and operate efficiently. By integrating third-party services into their mainframe core banking applications, the bank unlocked new business opportunities while maintaining the reliability of their existing systems.
The ability to monitor these interactions through the existing Elasticsearch framework brought significant operational benefits:
- 65% reduction in integration effort compared to alternative technologies, accelerating time to value
- 0.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) resource savings by aligning monitoring with existing processes, reducing reliance on critical mainframe specialists
- 40 man-days saved annually in incident management thanks to improved observability and faster troubleshooting
With a unified view of their hybrid environment, ICCREA is now better equipped to scale, innovate and respond to market demands. IBM remains a trusted partner in the bank’s ongoing digital transformation, supporting its journey toward a more agile and connected future.
Gruppo BCC ICCREA (link resides outside of ibm.com) is Italy’s leading cooperative banking group and 100% Italian-owned. Established in 2019 through the Italian Cooperative Credit Reform, they comprise 113 cooperative banks BCCs across more than 1,700 municipalities, with over 2,500 branches. The group manages EUR 93.4 billion in net loan and EUR 137 billion in direct funding, serves over 5.2 million customers and has over 900,000 shareholders. Gruppo BCC ICCREA focuses on providing financial services to individuals, businesses and local communities, leveraging its extensive network and deep understanding of regional markets.
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Examples presented as illustrative only. Actual results will vary based on client configurations and conditions and, therefore, generally expected results cannot be provided.