Lending Consolidation and Operations Standardization

Client Need: The Middle Market Lending Division of a $180 billion bank holding company requested assistance with consolidation and standardization of policies, procedures, and systems for its middle market lending sites. The bank had spent nearly two years studying options for its lending division and reached a stalemate, while staffing was spiraling upward.

Solution: BenchMark Consulting documented the current operating environment including workflows, processes and procedures at its multiple sites. From that analysis, a target operating environment design was developed along with functional job descriptions and technology enhancement recommendations. An implementation plan was developed, a staffing model was produced, and an implementation time line was outlined.

Results: BenchMark’s recommendations included consolidation of three centers to two, standardized processes, recommended commercial processing platform (client-installed) and image processing. Client implementation resulted in reduced staffing as well as cost savings from consolidation of centers.