Case Studies
Retail Banking Roadmap -- West Coast Asian-American Bank
This highly profitable bank serving the Asian-American community in 5 states saw “storm clouds on the horizon” when major competitors entered its core and previously uncontested markets. While the bank would continue to benefit from continued growth of the immigrant population, its new competitors were cherry picking the bank’s most profitable customers and targeting younger and more affluent Asian-Americans. The bank saw the need to develop and execute a comprehensive strategic marketing business plan.
Database Marketing Review & Implementation Plan -- Major Brazilian Commercial Bank
The CEO of a major Brazilian commercial bank challenged his executive team to develop a true leadership position and sustainable competitive advantage through advanced marketing database and CRM capabilities and to develop marketing campaigns and programs to effectively dominate its high priority retail market segments.
Hispanic Market Expansion Business Plan -- Southwestern U.S. Credit Union
This forward-thinking institution’s board of directors requested a shift in focus to target their local market’s fast growing, underserved Hispanic population. In addition to providing non-traditional banking services, the board was interested in broadening the ten-branch-network by expanding the Hispanic-focused branch into a "community service center." However, the executive and management teams had little prior experience with this market segment.
Case Study: Hispanic Market Expansion Plan
Brand Development to Support Entry Into New Markets
A $700 million Midwestern regional bank with 14 branches based in an area dominated by manufacturing was experiencing declining population and slow deposit growth. Their strategic plan identified two new markets that were
more diversified and growing. One market was the home of a major public university and the other was a rapidly growing Chicago suburban area. In order to effectively target these new markets and gain leadership, the bank needed to build strong brand awareness and credibility.
e-Commerce Strategic Business Plan -- West Coast Mutual Savings Bank
A west-coast-based mutual savings bank was considerably behind its key competitors online banking and bill payment offerings and, as a result, the company was perceived among its most profitable, technology-savvy customers as an “old-fashioned bank.” As a result, the bank’s attrition rate was escalating at an alarming rate especially among the youngest, most affluent customers.
Read our e-Commerce Strategic Business Plan Case Study
Alternate Delivery Systems, Internet Banking --Security First Network Bank
The Chairman of a multi-bank holding company and a technology venture capitalist needed help bringing to life their idea of creating the world’s first Internet bank. Align FSC’s electronic banking professional was engaged and worked with a select group of IT specialists to design and develop a totally virtual bank -- taking it from concept to live and fully functional on the Internet in less than nine months.
Read our Internet Banking Case Study
Alternative Delivery Systems, Decision Support System -- Major Money Center Bank
The Dealer Finance Division of a major money center bank wanted to acquire a larger market share from the automobile dealers through which it brought in installment loans. To support this growth, the bank was planning to make a substantial investment in infrastructure by installing its own proprietary PC’s in these dealerships to funnel loans to the bank.
Management wanted to know: What level of investment Is appropriate in hardware and software to effectively capture a larger portion of the automobile loans?
Read our Alternative Delivery Systems, Decision Support System Case Study
Alternate Delivery Systems -- Community Bank Multi-Channel Delivery System
The Executive Management of a large family-owned, privately held community bank was concerned that the bank had an extremely low loan to deposit ratio.
The bank had up to 90% deposit market share in some of its markets, yet the economic conditions of these markets did not make them good credit markets.
The management team needed to find a cost effective means to penetrate new markets where the credit quality would be much better, resulting in more loan opportunities.
Management wanted to know: How can we effectively and efficiently enter new markets to leverage the desired loan opportunities?
Read our Alternate Delivery Systems -- Community Bank Multi-Channel Delivery System Case Study
Cross Training for Delivery of Products –
Large U.S. Payment Systems Transaction Processing Company
Align FSC’s client organization had a long list of new products it wanted to develop to reach targeted financial goals. The product development group was specialized -- so much so that they often had to wait on a single person with a special skill set for any project to be completed. This specialized job design created a delay in most projects and left many resources idle, waiting for “their turn” in the production schedule.
Management wanted to know: How do we deliver multiple projects simultaneously? How do we prevent valuable human resources from sitting idle?
Read our Cross Training for Delivery of Products Case Study
Retail Banking Fee Income and Expense Efficiency Project --
$50 Billion Asset Size U.S. Consumer-Oriented Bank
A $50 billion consumer-oriented bank was well behind competitors in their efficiency ratio, which is the relationship of cost to revenue. Efficiency ratios measure non-interest expenses as a proportion of operating revenue. Costs include salaries, technology, buildings, supplies and administrative expenses. Revenue includes net interest income (interest revenue less interest expenses) plus fee income. As a result, the bank’s return on assets (ROA) lagged competitors and that constrained their ability to make productive acquisitions. The retail banking division represented the major fee and expense organization within the bank.
Management wanted to know:
- How do we bring our efficiency ratio into line with that of similar organizations?
- How to we quickly bring about improvements in fees and expenses without sacrificing customer satisfaction?
- What was the divisional management’s process and deliverables?
Read our Retail Banking Fee Income and Expense Efficiency Project Case Study
Service Delivery/Customer Experience -- $7B U.S. Virtual Bank
A $7 billion direct bank was experiencing stalled deposit growth, account closings and customer attrition despite highly competitive interest rates on insured savings products. The telephone customer service center, which was the single point of contact for customers, was experiencing a high rate of attrition and morale was low in the unit. Bank management was aware of customer dissatisfaction but had no real information as to the exact cause of the customer and employee “noise.”
Management wanted to know:
- Do we really know what our customers are thinking and saying when our only communication with them is through our telephone customer service representatives?
- How do we better utilize the customer service reps’ direct customer knowledge in the planning process for product launches, technology developments and policy and procedure changes?
- How do we retain our knowledgeable service reps to minimize recruiting and training costs?
Read our Service Delivery/Customer Experience Case Study
Alternative Delivery Systems, Telephone Banking -- Southeast Community Bank
A Community Bank CEO realized that his bank was at a competitive disadvantage due to its lack of a telephone banking program. When it became apparent that the current staff did not have the expertise to implement a solution in-house, the CEO decided to turn to a veteran Align FSC consultant with a long track record in Alternative Delivery Channels to make his vision of a robust and service-oriented telephone banking program a reality.
Read our Telephone Banking Case Study
More detailed case studies can be provided for certain client studies, where authorized. Please contact us directly if you would like this information.