CASE STUDIES A US financial services firm: enhancing the efficiency of a middle office EXPERTISE Business model innovation INDUSTRY Financial services LOCATION US Our client’s asset transfers function, which handles the movement of funds and accounts, needed to transform its operations and capabilities to drive more effective processing and improve customer service. Following an in-depth analysis of customer interactions, processing, forms and technology, we helped the firm identify opportunities to create and integrate intuitive, comprehensive and intelligent digital tools into their operations. This would help them to enhance experience, efficiency and capabilities. Outcome 1: One mobile app prototype designed for increased ease of asset transfers, drawing on inspiration from Mint money transfers and Amazon shopping & purchasing solutions Outcome 2: Identifying, rerouting and reprocessing external vendor processing errors, which were resulting in 1/3 to 1/2 of asset transfers being received in the wrong queue The Challenge User data, near ubiquity of mobile connectivity and increased competition have created a new type of consumer with new expectations. These expectations require financial services firms to have end-to-end transformation if they want to satisfy and retain customers. Our client, a financial services firm based in the Nebraska, wanted our expertise to improve its asset servicing operations, aligning it to changing business capabilities and market demands. The firm’s middle office, in both retail and institutional divisions, wanted to improve customer service capabilities by transforming current processes and technologies. Disjointed business units, complex processes and legacy technology divided the company’s front, middle and back-office operations, which prevented them from delivering a cohesive, best-in-class experience. The Approach Our challenge was to identify and reduce friction points within the middle office asset transfers function. Over a six-week sprint, our team analyzed how the function currently operated, conducted stakeholder interviews, led a targeted design thinking workshop, developed and iterated a digital wireframe solution, generated mobilization plans, and drafted roadmaps for the implementation of a minimum viable product (MVP). Our design thinking teams combined the solutions, creating one innovative, best-in-class mobile application that enabled more intuitive transfers. This meant that, upon log in, unfunded accounts were prompted with a short series of simple questions to initiate the transfer of cash or investments into their account, making it simple and easy for users. The Impact Inspired by the familiar design of Mint, and the transparent shopping experience of eCommerce websites like Amazon, our client’s new transfer portal will make moving assets faster, more straightforward and less error-prone. By changing the way clients initiate transfers, the root cause of processing backlogs, delays, manual tasks and errors that impact processors and specialists will be significantly reduced. This will boost the overall experience, delivering more value, more quickly to customers. Implementing more effective tooling, processing capabilities and resource utilization will create greater processing efficiency, reduce operating costs and errors, increase speed to execution and improve transparency for clients and the firm’s internal personnel. This transformation will help the organization deliver exceptional customer experiences which help them stay at the forefront of the market. You may also like Financial Services UK financial advisory firm: establishing a digital presence and brand identity Financial Services Leading retail bank: harnessing the potential of metaverse technologies Financial Services Mid-size retail bank: establishing a generative AI governance model View more Lets chat Not sure where to start? We can solve your toughest challenges. Whether it’s supercharging your customer experience, building platforms to fast forward your movement to digital, transforming your internal operations to boost efficiency and cut costs, or anything in between. We have the tools and expertise. Ready to get started? Fill in a few details and we’ll get in touch as soon as possible. Eric Rich Partner
