Case study · Financial Services
A single operating-excellence model for a regional bank
Innovative regional Australian bank
A process and operational-excellence strategy that brought process management, automation, operating risk and performance into one execution roadmap.
Challenge
The operations division had innovation underway but needed a more coherent model for process management, automation, risk controls and operational performance.
Lending change, core platform replacement, robotic process automation and risk programmes needed to work as one operating agenda.
Process management, automation, first- and second-line risk, operational metrics and pockets of business-analysis capability had developed separately. The next maturity horizon required one coherent model.
The client wanted a target state that balanced customer experience, efficiency and operating risk—and a roadmap detailed enough to execute.
Approach
Review the current operating model. Examined process architecture, tools, automation, risk deployment, lending and banking platforms, performance metrics and the influence of wider enterprise strategies.
Define a unified target state. Applied the Business Process eXcellence framework across process management, improvement and automation. Customer experience, operating efficiency and operating risk became three explicit design priorities within one model.
Design accountability. Defined process-owner and steward accountabilities, distinguished end-to-end value streams from corporate functions, and embedded the way risks, obligations and controls would align with process performance.
Build the execution roadmap. Sequenced six initiatives over an 18-month horizon, including capability uplift, role changes, restructuring, redeployment and targeted investment.
Strategy formation
Three stages to a single operating model
The engagement moved from an evidence-based review to a target-state design and then to a sequenced implementation agenda.- 01
Current-state review
Assess process, automation, risk, technology, performance and enterprise alignment.
- 02
Target-state formulation
Unify process management, improvement and automation around customer, efficiency and risk outcomes.
- 03
Execution roadmap
Sequence six initiatives, capability changes and investment across 18 months.
Outcomes
The strategy reshaped the alignment of tactical automation, core platform change, risk governance, process architecture and operating-model roles. It also made process information easier for frontline teams to find and use.
The strategy identified 25–45% lower transaction labour in selected processes, a five-day-or-less lending decision at more than 90% compliance, 45 additional risk controls and a 9% net FTE reduction in already optimised operations areas.
- Unified process, automation and risk model
- Six-initiative, 18-month roadmap
- Quantified improvement opportunities identified