Building an offshore lending operation from scratch in Bangalore

How do you build a lending business from the ground up within one year? 

A global commercial bank serving the innovation ecosystem had outsourced their lending programme to a third-party provider. But the outsourced model had challenges. The bank wanted more control over the outsourced process, in order to reduce risk. They wanted to grow their lending business, but it was difficult to scale quickly. And they wanted to cut costs. The solution? Bring it in-house and make it part of their existing offices in Bangalore, India. The aim was to get the whole operation up and running in one year, with a blueprint for moving more teams to the same site. They'd heard about how our 3D methodology – where we work end-to-end, building capabilities and improving work practices team-by-team – could create sustainable change. So, they called us in to put our 3D approach to work for them. 

We worked across continents and departments

Our first task was to design how the lending programme should operate. We laid out how to structure it and how it should work with the other departments. But this change was about more than lending practices. People – 25% of their workforce to be exact – were at the centre of it all, and their roles would change as a part of this process. To manage the cultural and organisational change, we made sure we had everyone on board, from the US to India, and from the Chief Operating Officer to people on the front-line.  

Creating a blueprint for sustainable change

Our teams joined the bank’s team on the ground in Bangalore, recruiting the right people and guiding them through the entire new-joiner journey, from their first interview to their first day on the job. Building up an office of this size meant working across all departments – from HR and communications to process management, lending and technology. And we mapped as we went, so they could duplicate our work for new processes they created in future. 

Delivering over $10 million in savings

By the end of the year, the lending office in Bangalore was up and running with 56 fully trained staff and managers ready to go. And they had a roadmap that would save them over $10m over four years. 

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