30 years of legacy. Built for another era, NLB’s central client register still sat behind critical banking processes. Client onboarding, KYC, risk checks, document workflows, digital channels and core banking integrations all depended on its data.
In early 2025, NLB and Agilcon began transforming the bank’s client data foundation. Salesforce has since replaced the 30-year-old register as the master system for client data. Sales, custody, client enrollment and account opening now run on the same connected foundation.
When one legacy system holds critical client processes together
NLB Group is Slovenia’s largest banking and financial group and the largest financial group headquartered in Southeast Europe. At this scale, client data sits behind far more than one application.
When a client opens an account, KYC and risk checks start, and documents are generated. Digital channels and core systems need the same information. Every step leads back to the client record.
Replacing the central register meant changing this entire chain while the bank continued to operate. Years of dependencies had grown around it, blocking earlier replacement attempts and making it difficult to upgrade the banking processes built on it.
With Agilcon, NLB began by defining how client data should be structured and moved between systems. The platform and new processes were built from there.
BEFORE the transformation
- A critical system with years of dependencies. Replacing it while the bank remained operational left little room for error.
- Client data crossed a complex system landscape. The replacement had to support real-time, event-driven and batch integrations.
- New banking processes needed a stronger base. Sales, custody and onboarding could move forward only when the underlying data was ready for production.
Build the foundation before moving the processes
This was one of the most complex CRM projects in the region. NLB trusted us to modernise a system that much of its business relied on. There are no shortcuts or room for error in projects like this. I am proud of how our teams carried that responsibility from the first blueprint through to production.
Marko Perme
Director, Agilcon Group
NLB and Agilcon built the operational CRM on Salesforce Financial Services Cloud and designed MuleSoft as the integration backbone. Operational CRM does not communicate directly with core banking systems. That was a deliberate architecture decision.
Information moves through MuleSoft using real-time APIs, Event Hub and batch. More than 60 integrations now run through this architecture. Over 200 flows orchestrate more than two million messages every month.
The shift to Salesforce as the master system for client data happened in stages. NLB moved that responsibility only after real-time synchronisation, and after the first live modules proved the full chain worked in production.
The order mattered
For me, the real milestone was reaching the point where we knew the data and integration chain was strong enough for Salesforce to take over as the master system. That was the moment the architecture had to prove itself in the real world.
Žiga Makuc
Solution Architect, Agilcon
From client data to working banking processes
The client data foundation was the first major release. Custody Management and Opportunity Management followed. Client enrollment and account opening then went live in production.
With a transformation this large, it is easy to keep focusing on what comes next. What matters today is that the next banking process no longer starts from zero. We now have a shared data and integration foundation already working in production. We got there as one team; even when we had different views, we worked through them together and shared responsibility for the outcome.
Mirija Maja Žarki
Senior CRM Project Manager, NLB
NLB can now add further processes without rebuilding the client data and integration logic each time. The starting point is already working at scale.
AFTER the transformation
- The 30-year-old central register has been replaced and retired from production.
- Salesforce has replaced the 30-year-old register as the master system for client data, with real-time synchronisation across the connected environment.
- MuleSoft provides a governed integration backbone between Salesforce and NLB’s core systems.
- Opportunity Management, Custody Management, and client enrollment and account opening run on the same foundation.
Getting to production meant keeping the whole transformation journey together
Agilcon orchestrated the transformation end to end, from the first blueprint and data model through architecture, integrations and Salesforce implementation to production go-live.
A reliable client database was the prerequisite for moving sales, servicing, and account management to Salesforce. Prioritising the right sequence is key, as every added process triggers new integrations, core system changes, and a shift in operations. Our role was to keep those dependencies visible and keep the whole project moving.
Mateja Celcer
Project Lead, Agilcon
On a project this connected, a decision about one process quickly reaches the data and systems around it. NLB’s business and IT representatives, project owners and the integration team worked alongside Agilcon throughout the journey.
Agilcon was part of our team from the first blueprint through to go-live and helped us navigate the most difficult decisions. In a transformation this complex, you need teams that challenge each other constructively, solve problems together and take shared ownership of the outcome, regardless of organisational boundaries.
Matej Urbanc
Head of Customer Engagement Platform Department in IT, NLB
A blueprint for the wider NLB Group
The operational CRM implemented in Slovenia provides a blueprint for gradual expansion across the wider NLB Group in Southeast Europe.
Each market has its own systems and regulatory reality. The work already completed in Slovenia gives those teams a tested starting point, backed by real experience of taking a critical client system into production.
Legacy systems survive because everything depends on them
The difficult part of replacing a legacy system is doing so without disrupting the daily work built around it.
NLB has now removed that constraint. Further processes can start from a client data foundation and integration architecture already working in production.
Modernising a critical CRM or legacy system? Talk to Agilcon about getting your project from blueprint to production reliably, with the critical dependencies under control.
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