Small Business Initiative

Client Need: A top 20 bank wanted to assess opportunities to enhance its current small business product line and operation. The bank was specifically interested in assessing the profitability of introducing a small business unsecured installment loan term product.

Solution: BenchMark developed a business case using a proprietary pricing model to assess the return on investment from implementation of the new product. Results indicated implementation would not add substantial dollars to the bank’s bottom line, however, an alternative that would meet the bank’s product profitability target was recommended and implemented by BenchMark. To further enhance small business operations, BenchMark made organizational recommendations resulting in a dedicated MIS Group, a small business customer service IVR for outbound sales, and a dedicated Small Business Risk area.

Results: BenchMark implemented the alternative product along with an early warning system to monitor high risk and problem accounts and presented recommendations that could result in an estimated increase of $46 million in small business sales volume and a loss avoidance of nearly $4 million, annually.