Leading Financial Institution Positioned for Optimal Growth

Challenge

A leading financial institution found itself growing at an exceptional rate as clients were drawn to its in-depth product knowledge and white-glove service. But this exceptional service came at a cost, as the firm was hindered by a lack of efficiency stemming from highly manual processes and lagging digital capabilities. These challenges prohibited the firm from efficiently scaling, so closing new business meant always hiring more resources to service their clients.

Compounding the situation was the firm’s siloed operating model, where each product operated with different processes, roles, and technologies to perform the same core activities. The resulting lack of role clarity led to inconsistent responsibilities across the business and many instances of senior staff performing highly administrative tasks. Without standardized processes and a holistic control environment, the firm was exposed to increased regulatory scrutiny and an elevated risk of litigation. Therefore, Guidehouse was engaged to perform a current state assessment, design a future-state operating model, identify technology and automation recommendations, and develop a strategic implementation plan to help the client operate more efficiently and capitalize on its growth potential.

Solution

As part of our current state assessment, Guidehouse evaluated all of our client’s products by conducting more than 125 stakeholder interviews, documenting more than 150 process flows, identifying process and role inconsistencies, and flagging insufficient digital capabilities.

Based on our findings, we established programs to pilot core process centralization across two functions that would leverage redesigned and standardized processes. The pilot programs consisted of a specialized team to support client onboarding and a dedicated payments team responsible for inputting payment instructions into the system.

Our future-state organizational design recommendations included:

Capability focus — Enhancing the operating model to improve oversight and control of key capabilities while maintaining product expertise and focus.

Product alignment — Collapsing product silos to create a more flexible resource pool and realize product synergies.

Product focus — Creating a product development group to evaluate and prioritize new product opportunities; expanding the use of strategic relationship managers; and standardizing, enhancing, and digitizing pricing practices and methodologies.

Centralization — Driving efficiency, scale, and quality while minimizing operational risks and losses to common administrative processes.

Process and technology —Increasing investment in workflow automation and digital capabilities; using consistent processes to improve performance management, data, and reporting; and expanding digital client experience options to reduce reliance on paper and processing costs.

Organization and people — Establishing a rotational program for junior staff to promote employee engagement and development, and redefining managerial responsibilities to improve role clarity and transparency.

Innovation and growth — Instilling a renewed focus on developing and enhancing products, identifying strategic growth areas, and capturing additional market share.

Impact

Guidehouse helped implement the recommendations, by developing:

• Strategic roadmaps for expanding the pilot programs to other products and functions
• Project plans outlining the transition to a new organizational design that would consolidate business divisions and create targeted centers of excellence
• New process designs for client onboarding, payments, KYC, and general workflow alerts

Once the transition is complete, it is estimated that the financial institution will achieve a run-rate savings of more than $10 million, in addition to increased capacity, operating leverage, and business transparency. We also anticipate a more robust process for evaluating and prioritizing new product opportunities to sustain our client’s growth trajectory and continue capturing market share.