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Financial Services

The US Financial Services industry is comprised of many different kinds of firms in one or more of the following disciplines: asset management, custodial banking, investment banking, brokerage, insurance, mortgage lending, credit rating, credit unions, recordkeeping (transfer agents, custodial processors, etc.) and others.

The 1990s saw unprecedented growth in stock market assets and personal wealth. The industry exploded with new products and services. Regulatory change - such as the fall of the Glass-Steagall Act - allowed firms to diversify their offerings across the entire financial services spectrum. Trends began in areas like consolidations, insurer de-mutualizations, and mergers & acquisitions. Profits soared and market caps reached new highs.

Since 9/11, the industry has been less fortunate. The resultant stock market collapse has barely been reversed in the last 3 years. Consumers became more educated about investment options and underlying issues like expenses. Assets flowed from stocks and stock-based mutual funds into lower-yield, 'safer,' more liquid vehicles. Overall, revenues and profits have been depressed. Regulator scrutiny into Board oversight, selling methods and management fees has created both investor concerns and competitive advantage for firms not yet in the spotlight.

In this new decade, the industry has important challenges to undertake and overcome, among them:

  • Grow earnings - driven by stock market appreciation, attracting the return of assets into all investment classes and adding clientele (consumers and institutions), while growing expenses at a controlled rate if at all
  • Redefine the basis of competition - especially important for niche firms harmed by recent asset flight to diversified entities
  • Reduce management fees - due to competition from low-expense companies (e.g., Vanguard, e*Trade, etc.), exchange-traded funds and consumers' new regard for how expenses affect overall yields
  • Overcome lower levels of investment income on firms' own bottom lines due to lower bond yields as interest rates inevitably rise
  • Aggressively reduce expenses and become more efficient to make financial results accretive after de-mutualizations (those yet to be done) and mergers/ acquisitions
  • Shift products and services to help retiring Baby Boomers use and manage their retirement savings and to underpin a new Social Security program if passed

Questas Consulting is uniquely positioned to help financial services firms realize their transformational objectives because we understand this industry and how to effectively plan and manage the transitional activities that produce the results that count.

Services We Offer for Financial Services

  • Top-Line Growth
  • Business & market strategies
  • Wealth Management - product development
  • Customer loyalty strategies
  • Distribution channel effectiveness assessments
  • M&A and M&A defense strategies
  • Pre- and Post-Merger/Acquisition planning - due diligence, synergy opportunity analysis, transition and integration planning
  • Change Management
  • Executive coaching and succession planning
  • Strategic Alignment
  • People - Process - Technology Alignment
  • Strategic Intent Confirmation and Commitment
  • Leadership Capability Aligned and Developed
  • Goal Translation Facilitated
  • Performance Objectives and Measures Established
  • Reward Practices Aligned
  • Defining the Customer Experience
  • Organization design and behavior assessments
  • Large-scale Program Management
  • Transition management
  • Process & Service Excellence
  • Diagnostic assessments
  • Service modeling
  • Portfolio rationalization
  • Strategic IT & E-commerce/E-business strategies
  • Effective Enterprise-level Transformations - operational, cultural, organizational, technological
  • Process-focused organizational model
  • In- and out-sourcing - process (BPO) and IT (ITO)
  • Consolidations & intra- and inter-company Shared Services models
  • Merger & acquisition implementations
  • Turnarounds & divestitures
  • Adaptation to new business models
  • Effective Process-level Transformations
  • Processing engineering & management
  • Metrics development
  • Staff modeling
  • Cost Management
  • ABC/ABM and unit cost allocations
  • Outsourcing - BPO and ITO
  • Intra- and Inter-company shared services
  • Process engineering and automation
  • Overhead cost reduction programs
  • Staff modeling
  • Technology
  • Strategy
  • Application assessment and selection
  • Evaluation and application of BPM tools
  • Developing competencies - analytics & informatics
  • E-business and E-commerce implementations
  • In-/ outsourcing of IT - ITO

Related Case Studies

Related Materials

Financial Services Clients

  • Bank of America
  • Diversified Investment Advisors
  • GE Capital
  • JP Morgan
  • ManagedComp, Inc.
  • Mellon Financial
  • Met Life
  • New York Life
  • Prudential Insurance
  • Transamerica Retirement Services
  • The Unclaimed Property Clearinghouse (UPCH)