CLIENTS

Our clients include some of the world’s largest banks, asset managers, wealth managers and financial technology providers.

Our clients choose us based on our deep understanding of the forces that shape the financial services industry.

REGULATORY
CHANGES

COMPETITIVE
LANDSCAPE

TECHNOLOGY
DISRUPTION

SCALE &
EFFICIENCY

Regulatory Changes

Though post financial crisis (2007-2009) regulatory changes are beginning to taper off, regulatory driven challenges have not reduced – they have merely shifted, to areas that are equally demanding.
  • Regulatory Divergence (e.g. costing $780bn per year (IFAC and BIAC, 2018); GDPR driven by EU vs possible easing of regulation in US)
  • Culture and Governance (increased oversight of firms’ governance and risk management frameworks)
  • Operational Disruption (greater focus by regulators on operations, IT and cyber risks)
  • RegTech (disruptive new technology for regulatory monitoring, reporting and compliance)
CASE STUDY

Global Capital Markets Firm

Our client is a global capital markets firm that was under regulatory pressures due to a breakdown in controls which led to a significant increase in operational fails.

Client Challenge

Due to increased trading volumes from proprietary and client business, this global capital markets player had seen a very large increase in operational fails. The breakdown in controls, and a large outstanding number of settlement failures, had been acknowledged by business management, internal audit and regulators, who had requested action as a matter of urgency.

Cambrian Approach

We worked with the operations and technology groups from three regions (Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific) to create middle-office control policies and processes with appropriate metrics to monitor operational fails across its 28 countries and multiple product lines. We analyzed a number of cause-effect scenarios, including systems stability, data quality, training, product complexity and trading volumes to identify where the breakdowns were occurring in each region. We also identified short-term improvements to reduce the level of fails to a reasonable level within three months, and longer-term solutions which would be able to constrain the level of fails if volumes continued to increase.

Business Results

The proposed solution was presented to senior management from business, technology and operations groups before phased roll-out to the three main regions: Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. The fail levels decreased and met levels acceptable to the auditors, management and regulators.

HOW WE HELPED

Competitive Landscape

Regulation, technology and changing customer (consumer and institutional) behaviors are crossing competitive lines – in turn impacting the overall financial services ecosystem.
  • Asset Managers leveraging Robo-Advisors (e.g. BlackRock purchase of FutureAdvisor, Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolio offering)
  • RIA Consolidation (e.g. over 180 merger & acquisitions in 2018 vs 90 in 2013)
  • Bulge Bracket Retrenchment (e.g. Deutsche Bank exiting global equities)
  • FinTech Rollups & Acquisitions (e.g. State Street acquisition of Charles River, London Stock Exchange acquisition of Refinitiv)
CASE STUDY

Global Asset Manager

Our client is a global asset manager focused on increasing its market share in the insurance sector. The insurance market for asset management was estimated to be more than $7 billion, of which over 90% was managed in-house by the insurance companies themselves.

Client Challenge

Our client is a global asset manager focused on increasing its market share in the insurance sector. The insurance market for asset management was estimated to be more than $7 billion, of which over 90% was managed in-house by the insurance companies themselves. The CEO and management team of our client wanted to understand the opportunities and challenges in carving out a stand-alone insurance asset management business from its traditional institutional function, with its own P/L and supporting infrastructure, to compete effectively in the global market place.

Cambrian Approach

We worked closely with our client and performed a market and competitor analysis for the insurance asset management industry covering: market segmentation, voice of client analysis, product coverage, operations capabilities and technology support functions. A gap analysis was presented and detailed initiatives with business cases defined to address the geographic, product and technology capabilities. Each initiative was managed to a defined plan and coordinated globally with a centralized program office. We brought in subject matter experts from the insurance sector and specialist market research firms who could provide insights into the market dynamics.

Business Results

The analysis showed that each region had a different set of market dynamics and competitors, but a new super-segment was emerging of globally managed yet regionally focused players. This required higher levels of advisory services, trading experience, customer service, client reporting and operational quality. We analyzed the market trends and technology, client service and operational capabilities required to properly address focused market segments in a profitable manner. The result was a clearly defined business incorporating a shared service model leveraging the group's technology and operational functions where appropriate.

HOW WE HELPED

Technology Disruption

Emerging technologies continue to be a transformative force, disrupting and accelerating changes to business models and operating models.
  • Connected Data (both retail and wholesale financial institutions have more data on their customers than anyone else, and need to address data in silos, incompatible formats, privacy concerns, and more)
  • Blockchain (across all sectors, the potential from greater transparency, traceability and operational efficiency from Blockchain are evident, but significant challenges remain to get to critical mass)
  • Artificial Intelligence (currently in early adoption phases, but gaining traction especially in risk management, fraud prevention, trading, process automation)
  • Digital transformation (increased focus on the ability to connect the dots between new competitive pressures, increased regulatory complexity, emerging technologies and changing customer expectations)
CASE STUDY

Global Wealth Manager

Our client is a global wealth management firm that was establishing a digital platform to provide a better user experience for its clients to increase its mass affluent sector penetration.

Client Challenge

Our client, a global wealth management firm, was expanding its mass affluent sector penetration, and a key enabler for that was establishing a digital platform that would enable better client experience, additional capabilities for financial advisors to serve these clients, and best of breed client solutions. An external vendor solution had been selected as the core around which the digital platform was to be developed, and the following guiding principles were established for delivery of the platform:

  • High quality user experience – for both end clients and financial advisors, that had to be seamlessly consistent with existing solutions, and look and feel
  • Creation of new offerings – leveraging existing intellectual capital to develop additional services (e.g. financial planning and goals) and advisory products that could be better tailored for the mass affluent sector
  • Fully integrated with existing platforms – from all aspects: advice from financial advisors to trading and billing, to account management and custody, to reporting and analytics.

The goal was to implement this platform, as a pilot, for a selected business unit within 12 months.

Cambrian Approach

Given the high-profile nature of this initiative (within the organization, and on the street), and broad coverage of groups across the organization that needed to be engaged on this program, we adopted a “hub and spoke model” for our engagement:

  • The Hub - At the core of this model we provided a senior Partner who worked with the sponsoring executives to shape and manage the overall program. A program management office was also created and staffed by Cambrian, to work with the client Program Director.
  • The Spokes – for each group involved in the program (there seven, including product development, sales & marketing, legal & compliance, technology), we assigned a senior, experienced consultant who was familiar with the functions of the group, and became the ‘hub’ for that group. As a result, they were able to take on hands on responsibilities, while coordinating plans and activities within their groups.

Business Results

Through assigning a team of 10 experienced consultants, we were able to deliver the program on time while managing across multiple siloes in the organization. In addition, various skillsets were brought to bear on this engagement from Cambrian, including: business case and justification, high level solution architecture, definition of business requirements, definition of user experience / user interface (UX/UI), oversight of technical requirements, and definition of testing strategy and approach.

HOW WE HELPED

Scale & Efficiency

As financial firms aim to restore their return on equity to healthier levels, the cost reduction imperative will remain as revenue and margin pressures continue.

  • Business Process Optimization (through automation, simplification and operational innovation)
  • Location and Sourcing Strategy (driven by business strategy, the need to balance operational flexibility, talent availability, risks, tax, regulation and costs)
  • Improved Operating Models (e.g. enabled by emerging technologies, more efficient front to back operating models using shared services)
  • Partnerships for Scale (collaborative, strategic partnerships have become the new imperative to implement and scale digital strategies)
CASE STUDY

Global Universal Bank

Our client is a buy-side firm that needed to streamline its legacy technology stack which evolved over 20 years and included in-house, third-party, and hybrid solutions.

Client Challenge

Our client is a buy-side firm that had grown via acquisition with a complex set of technologies deployed to support its businesses — retail, institutional and alternative investments. The technologies deployed were a combination of third-party package solutions, in-house developed applications and a hybrid of code purchased from vendors that was now supported by the firm's internal technology staff. The technology architecture had evolved over 20+ years and involved an overcomplicated set of data feeds, interfaces and reconciliation processes.

Cambrian Approach

We worked with our client to evaluate the third-party providers for middle-office and back-office outsourcing. We defined a complete set of business requirements, operational scalability tests, data interfaces and process workflows. After down-selecting from a long list of ten potential partners, including global custodians and software providers, we invited two short-listed candidates to detailed joint design sessions. We then constructed financial models, engaged with legal reviews and undertook reference checks before choosing the finalist partner.

Business Results

The finalist partner engaged directly with the client and defined an implementation plan that would reduce total operating expenditure and achieve improved functionality and client service within 18 months.

HOW WE HELPED
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