The Role of Business Intelligence in the Future Development of Iran’s Monetary and Banking System

Seyed Mohsen Tabatabaei Mozdabadi, Secretary General of the Iranian Urban Economics Scientific Association: In today’s world, monetary and banking systems are at the forefront of economic developments. With the increasing acceleration of technological changes, data analysis and intelligent decision-making have become one of the pillars of economic stability and growth.

In the meantime, Business Intelligence and Lean Thinking are two complementary approaches that can illuminate the path of future development and transformation of Iran’s banking system.

Lean thinking, as a management philosophy, emphasizes eliminating waste, focusing on real value, and continuous improvement; and when combined with business intelligence, the monetary system transforms from a traditional and reactive state to a predictive, dynamic, and data-driven system. In other words, lean thinking defines what is value and what is waste, and business intelligence provides the tools to see and measure it.

The experience of advanced countries shows that business intelligence has become the backbone of the modern banking system. In Switzerland, UBS Bank uses business intelligence systems to analyze customer behavior and capital market changes in real time and prevent credit crises. In South Korea, KEB Hana Bank has redesigned its internal processes and increased the speed of decision-making by combining lean thinking and business intelligence, which has resulted in a 35% reduction in operating costs and increased customer satisfaction.

Also in Singapore, DBS Bank, as the most advanced digital bank in Asia, has reduced loan review time from several weeks to less than five minutes by implementing data-based lean projects.

The move towards smart banking is also expanding in Islamic countries. Malaysia has been able to identify liquidity risk and financial fluctuations before they occur by implementing a business intelligence system based on lean thinking principles. In the United Arab Emirates, large banks such as Emirates NBD have transformed the customer experience with data mining and a lean approach, bringing credit decision-making to a level of accuracy that is unprecedented in the region.

These examples confirm that the development of an Islamic monetary system can also be based on business intelligence and lean thinking, as both approaches emphasize transparency, efficiency, and social value creation — principles that are fully aligned with the foundations of Islamic economics.

In Iran, despite its extensive infrastructure, the banking system still faces challenges such as lack of data transparency, insular decision-making, waste of resources, and weakness in predicting financial crises.

Overcoming this situation requires institutionalizing lean thinking at management levels and intelligent use of business intelligence; so that decision-making is based on data facts, not guesswork and experience.

The application of business intelligence in Iran's data-driven banking can strengthen the foresight of the monetary system: • Increasing the transparency of decisions: By displaying data in the form of smart and evaluable dashboards. • Predicting financial crises: Through predictive analytics and rapid response before the crisis occurs. • Reducing operating costs: By eliminating redundant processes and inefficient decision-making. • Improving the customer experience: By providing services tailored to each individual's needs at the right time. • Strengthening public trust and credibility of the banking system: By creating accountability mechanisms and data transparency. • Supporting macroeconomic policymaking: By providing comprehensive and accurate data to the Central Bank and financial institutions.

On the other hand, ignoring these capacities can be dangerous: continuing unscientific and emotional decision-making, widespread waste of financial resources, inability to identify crises early, reducing public trust, and lagging behind the global trend of digital banking. In such circumstances, banks will turn from a development factor into an obstacle to economic growth.

The combination of lean thinking and business intelligence is the driving force behind foresight in Iran’s banking system. Lean thinking teaches managers how to navigate complexity and focus on real value, and business intelligence provides the tools to see and measure that value.

Countries that have adopted these two approaches simultaneously have been able to transform their banking system from a traditional institution to a learning and anticipatory economic organization.

In this way, lean thinking outlines the development vision, business intelligence designs the roadmap for its realization, and foresight is the natural result of the synergy of these two intelligent approaches.

Contemporary Economy