Client Situation
Our client is one of the largest commercial banks in Oman. The bank provides best-in-class consumer and commercial banking services for its retail, corporate and institutional clients. In view of a changing operating model in the bank, the bank engaged Cedar to assist with fast-track diagnostic and quick productivity review.
Cedar’s Approach
In this program, Cedar was mandated to assist the client with a quick productivity review with an “outside-in” approach. To achieve this, Cedar:
- Assisted with a market assessment to understand peer bank productivity benchmarks globally and in the region
- Identified and compared 50 global banks on ~20 financial metrics that are potentially driven by employee headcount.
- Categorized global banks in 3 degrees of organizational productivity and efficiency based on productivity metrics
- Assessed typical organizational productivity factors of banks within various categories
- Performed a comparative study on 6 domestic peer banks across ~15 productivity metrics and ratios
- Analysed headcount distribution across departments within the front, mid and back-office functions
- Proposed ideal headcount distribution range based on current headcount and identified key implications of headcount within departments
Outcome
The program resulted in identifying an ideal headcount distribution range to enhance headcount productivity:
- Identified functions with higher divergence based on the industry benchmark
- Identified various factors to be considered - RM loading, Sales/Service model, parameterized lending framework
- Identified functions with opportunities for automation