Organization of board meetings at Oldenburgische Landesbank AG

Exclusive interview with Christian Weber and Rabea Ahlers

Optimize the organization of meetings and efficiently meet compliance requirements

The company

Oldenburgische Landesbank AG (OLB) is a profitably growing universal bank for customers in Germany and selected neighboring European countries.

The bank offers private customers a wide range of financial products, advisory services and services and also has a high level of expertise in supporting companies and special financing such as acquisition financing, commercial real estate financing or the financing of football transfers, funds, wind farms and other international projects.

Following the takeover of Degussa Bank, OLB expects its balance sheet total to soon exceed the 30 billion euro mark and thus the transition to direct supervision by the European Central Bank as one of around 100 significant banks in Europe.

OLB combines its more than 150-year tradition with the expansion of digital contact channels and the use of modern technologies and applications - such as Boardwise.

The challenge

In our conversation with Christian Weber, executive director and head of the OLB board of directors, and Rabea Ahlers, management assistant to the board, we explored how they have optimized the organization of their meetings and complied with Bundesbank, BaFin and ECB regulations using Boardwise.

How did you find out about Boardwise?

Christian Weber:

A colleague of ours was made aware of Boardwise. Since the topic was interesting to us, we looked at the tool and decided after internal discussions - it's a good thing, it will help us move forward.

What helped you make this decision?

Christian Weber:

This decision had several dimensions. Firstly, we expect the transition to direct supervision by the ECB with correspondingly more extensive supervisory requirements. One of the criteria that convinced us of Boardwise was that the entire process from submission to minutes in Boardwise meets the highest standards from an audit perspective.

Secondly, it was the perfect time to adapt our tried and tested structures to meet the growing requirements and to support them with an ideally suited tool. This not only enabled us to standardise, but also further strengthened the compliance culture within our own ranks.

And thirdly, Boardwise creates an immense ease of work. We often have to react to last-minute changes. Before Boardwise, we had to manually adjust the agenda, adapt the invitations, and update the documents. Now, this happens automatically.

The solution

What exactly does this work relief look like?

Rabea Ahlers:

With Boardwise there is a clear submission standard for all participants. This standardization is already a relief. But the optimizations add up, especially in detailed questions: Up until now I manually created cover sheets for the documents of the individual TOPs (agenda items), with Boardwise this can be done with one click through the briefing document. At the same time, the documents are filed and correctly labeled automatically. With twenty agenda items, this saves a lot of time. Both calendar management and inviting additional participants can be done with a mouse click. And by introducing Boardwise there are also clear and transparent deadlines, which helps all colleagues in their work structure. This is well received.

Christian Weber:

We must not forget to send out minutes sections here. Before, we had to manually identify and send the relevant sections, but Boardwise now takes care of this and makes this work easier with both the stored mailing lists and the automatic assignment.

What was the reaction to the introduction of Boardwise?

Christian Weber:

Our entire team is extremely impressed with the system. Because the TOP submitters can also see the status of their TOPs in Boardwise, Boardwise creates transparency that benefits everyone. The feedback from the OLB team involved is correspondingly positive. We are particularly praised for the simplicity and intuitiveness of the system. It is extremely rare for an IT system to be introduced in a company and no one complains!

Do you have a personal favorite feature?

Rabea Ahlers:

My favorite function is the circular resolution. It makes it very easy for the board members to vote. They click on the link, cast their vote, and the resolution is then dealt with.

Christian Weber:

Another positive thing our board members reported is that the app is also user-friendly on iPads. You can open and edit the documents on all devices. This is easy and practical to use, especially if you are on the move a lot.

The results

How do you use Boardwise?

Christian Weber:

We have been organizing our board meetings with Boardwise since March 2024. We are also currently exploring additional requests for other committee meetings.

How would you measure the time savings in a quantitative number?

Rabea Ahlers:

Boardwise actually saves me more than 50% of the time. The entire preparation and follow-up of the meetings can now be done in two days, which means you have more time for other activities.

Top 3 Reasons for Boardwise

1. Reporting obligations

Audit-proof protocols, processes, decision lists and search functions facilitate reporting obligations to auditors, BaFin, Bundesbank and ECB.

2. Work relief

With the introduction of Boardwise, the Board Office saves over 50% of time in the preparation and follow-up of their board meetings.

3. Implementation

Thanks to the technological integration in MS365, there are no interfaces to external servers. The implementation effort was minimal for either IT or the data protection officers.