ARTICLE
Transforming lending in the Benelux region: key trends, challenges, and opportunities
11 June 2025
In a recent webinar with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Deloitte, we explored how banks in the Benelux region can build resilience in a rapidly changing lending landscape. Teun van der Veeken (Mambu) was joined by David Ruis (Deloitte Netherlands) and Julien Defosse (AWS) to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities for banks as they navigate digital transformation, regulatory change, and evolving customer expectations.
This is an edited transcript of the conversation. You can watch or listen to the full webinar on demand.
What are the biggest challenges facing traditional lenders or banks in today’s environment? What’s slowing them down compared to other market players?
David Ruis (Deloitte): One of the main obstacles still is legacy technology. Many large banks have developed their systems over decades, which makes it difficult to quickly adopt the latest innovations or achieve hyper-personalisation at scale which requires commitment to significant change. Overcoming this requires not just new technology, but also a clear strategy and strong motivation to drive meaningful transformation and possibly even a number of incentives which really push for this change.
Julien Defosse (AWS): Regulation is another significant challenge and is becoming increasingly complex, especially in Europe. New rules such as GDPR, DORA, and the upcoming EU AI Act are raising standards for data privacy, cybersecurity, and operational resilience. Banks need to develop unified compliance strategies while also adapting to local requirements. Additionally, initiatives like open finance and the upcoming FIDA framework will help standardise data sharing and create a more integrated and competitive ecosystem. While this also adds another layer of complexity for banks to manage –overall it’s a good thing.
Given these challenges, what other opportunities can banks take advantage of right now?
David Ruis (Deloitte): Banks have a great opportunity to make use of the vast amount of validated external data now available to them. Moving away from manual validation and integrating this data into everyday operations can lead to significant time and cost savings. There’s also a chance to experiment with AI-driven tools for credit scoring and portfolio management, especially as new regulations come into play.
Julien Defosse (AWS): By building a solid data foundation and adopting composable, cloud-based architectures, banks can become much more agile. Secure and scalable cloud environments allow for rapid innovation, enabling banks to test and launch new products in days instead of months. Leveraging data in this way also supports hyper-personalisation, more effective cross-selling, and ultimately, a better customer experience.
Are you seeing these new technologies—like those used in loan origination and credit scoring—being fully integrated into traditional banks’ legacy processes, or are they still mostly happening as pilots on the side? What’s the real impact today?
David Ruis (Deloitte): It’s a mix. Integrating new technology directly into legacy systems is tough and requires significant change, so the most successful examples often start as side projects or pilots. These initiatives can then grow and be scaled up, but it’s important to communicate clearly from the start that this is a valid path for the whole organisation. Careful planning and change management are crucial for wider adoption.
Julien Defosse (AWS): I agree—it’s not easy. Most core loan data and general ledger systems are still deeply embedded in banks’ legacy infrastructure. What we often see is banks making “cosmetic” updates on the front end—creating something that looks modern, but without transforming the end-to-end loan journey. True transformation requires courage, because lending is a complex process, much more so than daily banking.
The best approach is to break down the lending journey into smaller, manageable sub-use cases, as David mentioned. Starting with side projects helps build the right foundations, especially around data. Automating document processing, for example, is a great place to begin, since there’s still a lot of paper involved in lending. By digitising these processes, banks can move faster and set themselves up for more comprehensive transformation down the line.
David Ruis (Deloitte): Another important factor is the role of intermediaries, especially in SME and larger-ticket lending. Right now, banks are mainly focused on using AI to improve their own processes, but they’re not yet thinking about how AI could change the way they interact with advisers or intermediaries. In the future, we could see AI agents taking on the role of advisers, directly interacting with customers to find the best offers. Banks will need to adapt their propositions to work with these new AI-driven interaction patterns, which is a key area to watch moving forward.
We’re seeing a shift toward an ecosystem approach, what we refer to as composable banking, where different capabilities and solutions are integrated together. Do you see this trend as well, and how can banks or lenders successfully make this transition?
David Ruis (Deloitte): Composable banking is a practical way to manage legacy transformation, since replacing everything at once rarely works. The step-by-step approach, where systems are updated piece by piece, lets banks deliver value quickly and reduce risk.
Mambu and Deloitte have designed a transformation strategy that reflects this. It is called Converge™ by Deloitte and it leverages our software assets, many powered by AWS to help clients move to a composable architecture by replacing parts of their systems incrementally and delivering value quickly.
This approach has worked well for us and our partners in several use cases, helping clients de-risk transformation and see results quickly.
Watch the full webinar
Explore how banks are evolving their lending approach and embracing innovative technologies to unlock new revenue opportunities.