Financial Services

Financial Services companies are at the advent of global restructuring and consolidation

Global Restructuring and Consolidation
Global financial markets are fragmented, while economies of scale and risk diversification benefits are increasingly important. The financial services industry is becoming increasingly global while players in mature markets are seeking to expand in emerging economies beyond their home territory. The growth will likely lead to commoditized products and thinner margins shifting realization of economies of scale and efficient global operating models into the centre of attention.
Customer Experience and (mass) Customization
Leading integrated financial services providers are able to see their customer across their lines of business. Knowledge of customer context, behaviours and preferences increasingly become a main source of competitive advantage. This in turn will drive modular product and service designs and mass customization. Financial service providers are challenged to deliver enhanced customer experience while managing the associated costs. Successful institutions will look at redirecting savings gained by optimizing the back-office costs into premium service offerings for high value customer and market segments.

Regulatory Pressure
Regulatory pressures (e.g. IFRS / Basel II/ Solvency II, SOX) will be an accelerator for Financial Services institutions to rethink processes and systems. The amount of financial regulations and compliance being demanded on international firms is significant. The task to comply with all these regulations is enormous and requires resources but also expertise. Building transparency in processes related to accounting, financial, tax and risk reporting will determine success of global players.

Lodestone has built expertise in key areas to help Financial Services companies deal with these challenges

Operating Models, Shared Service Centres, Sourcing Strategies

• Definition of Operating Models to address the market challenges
• Preparation of business cases
• Organizational redesign
• Assessment and definition of optimal sourcing strategies for the various functions (e.g. outsourcing strategies, SSC strategies, captive centre design)
• Governance and Service Management concepts
• Implementation of Shared Service Centres
• SAP implementation to support best in class service operations

• Definition of process architectures
• Process re-engineering (for finance and reporting functions, support and operation functions, product design and portfolio rationalization, underwriting process design and risk pricing, claims and leakage management, multi-channel distribution management)

• Management Reporting
• Strategic Enterprise Management
• Value Based Management
• Balanced Scorecard
• Risk Adjusted Performance Management
• Asset-Liability Management
• At corporate, business unit and operational level

• Implementation of SAP solutions to master tomorrows challenges (finance function, core support functions, Business Intelligence)
• Definition and implementation of (global) SAP strategies