Global FX trading programme

The challenge

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis a large global investment bank was looking to change the operating model for its global FX trading business. It wanted to operate in an 'entity agnostic' manner which would allow it to change the legal company and geographic location that its FX trading business was based in. To deliver this capability would require change in technology, people and process across the entire business from booking the trades to producing regulatory reports. The programme had been running for 18 months and was not seen as delivering value or likely to achieve its objectives.

Activity / solution

  • Established programme sponsorship and confirmed executive support for the vision and business case.
  • Redefined the governance model and the key roles and responsibilities within the programme.
  • Conducted a complete re-plan of the programme with representatives from all stakeholder groups.
  • Defined and implemented a quality approach, strategy and plan for the programme.
  • Set-up a Programme Management Office to embed an effective and consistent set of programme management processes.
  • Oversaw the successful delivery of two projects to ensure that the programme delivered early value to the bank.

Results

Once restructured, the programme started delivering against its planned business case objectives for the first time. This included eliminating two legacy IT systems, substantially reducing operational risk across the business and delivering substantial operational cost savings.

In addition to delivering the short term aims of the programme, the programme management and quality processes were adopted widely across the bank.