Interim Product Manager in Lending for the European Unicorn Bank

The Client: European Unicorn Bank

A fintech pioneer founded in 2013, has rapidly emerged as a prominent player in the global banking and financial services landscape with 8 million customers. The company is at the forefront of the digital banking revolution, offering a range of innovative financial products and services to customers worldwide.

Since its founding, it has rapidly expanded its presence and customer base, with operations spanning across Europe, the United States, and other international markets.

To date, the unicorn bank has raised close to US$ 1.8 billion from some of the world's most renowned investors.

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The Mission: Interim Product Manager in Lending

This was our first mission for this unicorn bank. The existing product managers were each in charge of a single lending product. This resulted in an environment where certain cross-product initiatives were rather neglected. These overarching issues needed extra attention to potentially leverage a harmonized user journey in Lending in the future. We stepped in as interim product managers and took charge of tackling these cross-product challenges.

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Our Main Quest

Launch: Bridging the Gap for Pricing Strategies

In our role as interim product managers at the European unicorn bank, we spearheaded cross-functional initiatives spanning various lending products, and one of them was pricing optimization. Our mission was to enhance governance, transparency, and pricing compliance across the board.

Challenges and Objectives:Our mission was straightforward: bridge the pricing methodology gap and align it with the bank's overall objectives. We faced challenges due to the diverse nature of lending products, each having its unique pricing complexities. To tackle these issues, we pursued a two-pronged approach: establishing governance mechanisms, enhancing transparency, and ensuring pricing compliance.

Solution:Our strategy centered on a carefully developed documentation system. This comprehensive tool became the cornerstone of our success, simplifying pricing updates, making them transparent, and ensuring traceability. The outcomes resulted in substantial reductions in pricing update turnaround times and a more precise approach to achieving optimal pricing strategies across the lending portfolio.

Stakeholder Engagement:Effectively engaging with stakeholders from different domains played a pivotal role. We adeptly managed these relationships, promoting collaboration and aligning objectives. Addressing intricate cross-functional challenges, we brought clarity to the process, ensuring that every effort seamlessly contributed to our overarching goals.

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Final Lap: Diving into Data to Reduce Risk

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital banking, providing customers with access to overdraft facilities while minimizing risk exposure and ensuring compliance is a delicate balancing act. This part of the mission focused on conducting meticulous user behavior analysis and stakeholder alignment. Our primary objective was to initiate the improved process manually, with the long-term vision of complete automation.

Challenges

We faced several challenges in its quest to optimize its overdraft product:

1. Risk Exposure: The existing overdraft process carried a significant risk of defaults and associated financial losses.
2. Compliance: Ensuring compliance with ever-changing regulations was a constant concern.
3. User Experience: We needed to enhance the user experience while providing overdraft facilities responsibly.

Approach

We embarked on a multifaceted approach to tackle these challenges:

1. User Behavior Analysis: Thoroughly analyzing user behavior provided valuable insights into how customers utilized overdraft facilities. This informed the bank's strategies for risk mitigation.
2. Stakeholder Alignment: Collaborative efforts brought together various stakeholders - from risk management to compliance, and product - to create a unified vision.
3. Manual Launch: To ensure precise control, we initiated the revised overdraft process manually. This allowed for continuous monitoring and adjustment until full automation.

Results

The results of this comprehensive overhaul were noteworthy:

1. Risk Reduction: Our solution resulted in a significant reduction in risk exposure, with a potential decrease in overdraft-related defaults in the future.
2. Compliance Adherence: The revamped process ensured compliance with regulatory changes, minimizing legal and regulatory risks.
3. Enhanced User Experience: Customers benefited from a smoother, more transparent overdraft experience, increasing overall satisfaction and loyalty.

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Mission Achievements: Delivered Outcomes

💡 Conducted user behavior analysis to define new values for key parameters and reduce the off-balance exposure of a lending product by 85%.

💡 Proficiently managed stakeholders across domains, navigating difficult transversal challenges, and ensuring precision in harmonizing efforts.

💡 Streamlined processes, ensuring traceability, reduced time-to-market, and optimal pricing.