The fallout of the financial crash that caused chaos around the world was a much more stringent regulatory environment on the banks. One international banking group wanted to overhaul its risk division to make sure its operations were robust, and it could easily draw on consistent and accurate risk and financial data. It had created a new risk group to improve management, analysis and risk reporting but it was not operating as an effective, single, global division largely because of legacy processes and practices that continued.
We carried out a six-week review of the risk division: its shape, size, configuration and set up. This involved interviewing a broad range of stakeholders to establish how it performed from the management team’s perspective, as well as from the point of view of its consumers and suppliers. We also performed a detailed analysis of the different teams and locations as well as what resource was assigned to which activity.
The resulting data and analysis was used during a five-day “lock in” workshop with the global management team in London. The session teased out what the risk division needed to do in the future to meet the needs of the regulators and the bank, and how it should be shaped to become a competitive advantage, rather than simply a drag on costs.
