Case: Banca San Giovanni Paola Lustrato, IBM Financial Services Sector Specialis
ID: 395772 • Letter: C
Question
Case: Banca San Giovanni
Paola Lustrato, IBM Financial Services Sector Specialist and Dr Rhian Silvestro, Warwick Business School One key role of banks is to collect money from one party or person and pay (transfer) it to another. These trans- fers, called payment services, for both individual (retail) and corporate customers, involve transfers using, for example, cheques, credit transfers, banker's orders, and credit/debit cards. As such these payment services are a fundamental part of almost all transactions related to any product in a bank's retail and corporate activities. Carina Capaldi, the Chief Operating Officer of Banca San Giovanni in Italy, explained the growing impor tance of these services: The financial services crisis of the late 2000s has changed the way payment services are perceived by customers. Retail clients are now demanding more transparent, flexible and customised payment services. They also want the funds transferred faster between the parties. Corporate clients also want effective transfer processes but tailored to their needs with easy tracking of movements, and ensuring effective use of their working capital. In essence customers generally are becoming more demanding, requiring in creased customisation and higher service levels at lower cost. This gives us an opportunity for developing a competitive advantage. While cost control is obviously important to us, if we can deliver better payment services it will add value to our products and help grow our revenue streams. To make matters more difficult, these payment services are also facing growing competitive threats from new entrants, such as telecommunication and utility companies, which are offering payment services through their powerful distribution networks. New payment technologies also provide alternatives for consumers; for example 'Obopay', the first mobile payment service allowing consumers and businesses to pay and transfer money through any mobile phoneExplanation / Answer
Answer 1:
The new payment operation structures is improved to offer better quality services at lower operational cost, hence increasing the efficiency in the payment operations. The existing payment process is such that all the clients are being managed at one branch station only. Like Relationship manager, factoring specialist, trade specialist and cash management specialist all are managed through one station only i.e. at client management branch station. But in the new payment operation process it is classified in branch and payment factory. Product payment pool made dotted line and is being organized in different station called payment factory, here all the trade payments will be executed. The relationship manager and payment specialist are remains at branch station. Thus in the new and existing structure, they have classified the operations in the bank. With modification in the centralized territorial back office support to both branch and bank central operations.
Answer 2:
Yes, the new structure support payment operations objective because the new structure has the payment specialist, who organizes the payment for the clients. Thus the payment operations are being supported by the new structure adequately.
Answers 3: The benefits and challenges for the new structure are as below
Benefits:
This new structure helps in reducing the operation costs.
This new structure helps in improving quality of services.
This new service helps in better management of clients based on requirements. The payment factory will be able to deal with factory clients easily. The branch will deal the routine clients easily and satisfactorily.
The centralized territorial back office services will be available for all i.e. branch , payment factory and bank central operations.
Challenges:
This is difficult to suit to clients as it will disturb the running flow of customers.
The new flow will call for time to adjust in the new structure and achieve works satisfaction level.
Employees will resist in new structure as they will irritate due to new structure.
Payment factory operations will be challenging as it will call for more managerial skills.