Two Big Banks' Broken Back Office
7 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2008
Abstract
Six months into the merger of two global money-center banks, Megan Richards, the new bank's foreign exchange sales manager, is trying to retain her client base in light of the bank's inability to deliver foreign currency in a timely manner. The target banks' inferior systems were chosen for political reasons, major corporate clients are calling Megan with their demands and complaints about breakdowns, and Megan is denied support from her boss, vice chairman in charge of Global Capital Markets. Purpose of the case is to introduce operational and political challenges of post-merger integration, especially as they confront front-line middle managers. (We use the case to open our PMI course.)
Excerpt
UVA-BP-0432
TWO BIG BANKS' BROKEN BACK OFFICE
Megan Richards stared at her computer screen in disbelief. The bank's vice chairman had responded to her email with such a curt message that she wondered what was going on. Ever since her bank merged with the bank across the street, her customers had complained continuously about decline in good service. Richards had simply reached out for help—and had her hand slapped. How was she going to maintain her current business—not to mention grow it—and the morale of the salespeople who worked for her under these circumstances? How was this nightmare ever going to end?
Richards began her career with the bank as a management trainee right after business school. Over the years, she had held several positions in the bank and was well respected. She was a survivor of several previous mergers and was impressed with how management had handled the mergers with careful planning, solid execution, strong communication and—perhaps most importantly—a transparent integration from the perspective of the customer. But this merger was a radically different experience.
In her current role as managing director in charge of foreign exchange sales, Richards had spent the past six months engaged in three principal activities: soothing angry customers, counseling discouraged salespeople, and working with the Operations department for a solution to improve the bank's back-office system. None of these activities led to a growth in her profitability, however, the principle measure against which Richards was evaluated and compensated.
The Foreign Exchange Business
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Keywords: corporate strategy, corporate politics
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