CASE STUDY
Management & Technology Consultants
Financial Services
Reshaping commercial lending with
enterprise credit and risk management
CLIENT:
Global Financial
Institution
The firm faces problems that are common in many
established commercial lending organizations—
inefficient processes leading to long cycle times,
excessive system rework, increased operational risk,
limited cross-selling success and lack of a single view
of a customer.
BearingPoint technologists helped a global financial services
firm use service-oriented architecture to develop an advanced
enterprise credit and risk management solution.
A prominent international bank wanted to build a commercial lending solution to replace
its aging, inefficient legacy system and resolve myriad systems integration and data
quality issues. BearingPoint’s experienced professionals helped the institution develop a
modern enterprise credit and risk management (ECRM) solution using service-oriented
architecture (SOA).
Like its peers, the global institution must address customer needs and deliver results
for shareholders, while complying with local and international securities regulations.
The firm faces problems that are common in many established commercial lending
organizations—inefficient processes leading to long cycle times, excessive system rework,
increased operational risk, limited cross-selling success and lack of a single view of
a customer. In addition, legacy technologies impede delivering the data and services
demanded by customers and required by regulators.
“The institution’s aging commercial lending system lacked the necessary workflow
capabilities to operate competitively today,” said Sajay Sethunath, chief architect for
BearingPoint’s Financial Services business unit. “The existing platform was outdated and
had been modified significantly since its implementation. The inflexibility of the system
prevented the company from using technology to enhance business results.”
The firm turned to BearingPoint for help in deploying an advanced ECRM solution
to improve workflow, react to ever-changing market conditions and reduce total cost of
ownership.
 case global financial institution
study The institution looks forward to significant operational improvements from deploying the ECRM
framework. By adopting industry-standard SOA technology, the company anticipates considerable
cost reductions while expanding features and functionality. Also, extending the system in the future
should be possible at far less expense than using its legacy platforms.

Modern Technology Needed to Increase Agility, Flexibility

As the institution examined its legacy system, it saw a rigid infrastructure that could not
be easily extended to enhance functionality. Even more critical was the existing system’s
lack of a modern workflow. When the firm wanted to react to changing internal or external
conditions—such as introducing a new commercial lending product or opening a new office
or facility—cumbersome and time-consuming work was required.
To overcome these challenges, the company sought to deploy a solution built on next-
Figure 1 Enterprise Credit and generation technology. Using BearingPoint’s tested deployment methodology and advanced
Risk Management
solution accelerators, the institution could implement a flexible ECRM platform based on SOA.
Using industry-standard SOA infrastructure would allow the firm to improve the
process efficiency of the commercial lending business by:
• Shortening lead times for loan approval and document processing.
Drive
Performance • Reducing time required for the closing and booking process.
Sharpen Improvement
Process and Revenue • Providing a single view of a customer.
Efficiency Growth
• Better meeting regulatory and risk requirements.
Control Lower
Regulatory Total Cost of • Improving loan monitoring efforts regardless of performance and risk.
Requirements Ownership
and Risk • Improving customer inquiry and problem resolution.
• Driving performance improvement and revenue growth.
• Lowering the total cost of technology ownership.

Enterprise Credit and Risk Management In the context of the firm’s needs, BearingPoint viewed ECRM as the implementation
of common processes and technology to support the entire commercial lending product
suite across the loan life cycle (Figure 1). This suite includes risk-rating methodologies
and tools, product and facility management, customer relationship management, and loan
accounting systems.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership

BearingPoint’s accelerated approach is built on the standard processes and platforms

found in today’s leading financial organizations (Figure 2). Supported by a foundation of
common infrastructure components and our solution accelerators, we could implement the
ECRM system much more rapidly and cost-effectively than a from-the-ground-up initiative.
In addition, we could apply our commercial lending, global risk management, systems
integration, program management and testing capabilities to deliver an ECRM platform
that met the institution’s specific needs.

financial services
 ECRM

Booking

Risk Ratings

Product
Management

Customer and
Relationship Management

Business Process
and Content Management

Service-Based Architecture

Tapping ECRM to Overcome Business and Technology Challenges Figure 2 ECRM Solution Accelerator
Framework
Though the institution’s commercial lending operation suffered from outmoded systems,
the organization had a sound technology framework in place, which would help in
developing the ECRM solution. The company’s technology infrastructure would facilitate
easier integration with existing IT assets, such as toolsets and middleware applications,
and allowed for full-scale or incremental upgrades to the legacy system.
As an international bank, the firm needed to implement ECRM in three countries.
To address country-specific banking laws, the BearingPoint team partitioned data by
country and designed the ECRM architecture so that the data held within a specified
geographical area could not be accessed outside that area. We also built a robust security
framework that controlled data display based on a user’s privileges and, depending on
where the user is accessing the network, masking data as appropriate.

Reducing Cost of Ownership, Upgrading Data Quality

The institution looks forward to significant operational improvements from deploying

the ECRM framework. By adopting industry-standard SOA technology, the company
anticipates considerable cost reductions while expanding features and functionality.
Also, extending the system in the future should be possible at far less expense than using
its legacy platforms.
“From a day-to-day perspective, the institution will be able to produce and manage
richer and cleaner data,” Sethunath said. “In the past, the company has grappled with
missing and incorrect data. Today, the business relies on high-quality data that, through
error and exception handling, is validated to prevent bad data from entering the system in
the first place.”
By applying BearingPoint’s ECRM model, the firm expects to reduce loan losses and
lead time for loan approval, document preparation, and closing and booking. The system
also will provide a single view of the customer, supporting better cross-selling capabilities.
The efficiency introduced as part of the new system implementation is expected to reduce
back-office costs through automation of manual processes. Flexible and automated
workflow processes will help the firm respond to shifting internal and market demands and
enhance the efficiency of its commercial lending operations.
When the system enters full production mode, BearingPoint professionals anticipate
lead time reductions of 40 to 60 percent for loan approval, 30 to 40 percent for document
preparation, and 30 to 40 percent for loan closing and booking.

CASE STUDY

BearingPoint, Inc.
1676 International Drive
McLean, VA 22102
www.bearingpoint.com
BearingPoint Team Members
Peter Mooiweer, Engagement Managing
Director, United States
Mark Anderson, Business Team, United States
Satish K. Aytha, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Anupriya Balusamy, Offsite Technology Team, India
Julie Bender, Testing, United States
Vaibhav Bhandari, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Samarpal Singh Bhatia, Data Migration & Conversion,
United States
Jianfeng Cai, Offsite Technology Team, China
Fai Chan, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Wei Cheng, Offsite Technology Team, China
Sean Coyle, Program Management Office, United States
Tridib Deka, Offsite Technology Team, India
Philip E. Dorfer, Testing, United States
Samir M. Doshi, Business Team, United States
Kendra Ferraro, Business Team, United States
Sohan Ganapathy, Offsite Technology Team, India
Subramanian Ganesan, Data Migration & Conversion,
United States
Andy Gemmill, Data Migration & Conversion, United Kingdom
Shashi D. Goli, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Vijay R. Gomatam, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Glenn D. Halbsgut, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Russell P. Harris, Program Management Office, United States
Xin He, Testing, China
Kristie Hepburn, Business Team, United States
Jingzhi Hu, Testing, China
Xiaowei Huang, Testing, China
Sagari Isukapally, Offsite Technology Team, India
Prabhu Kapaleeswaran, Onsite Technology Team,
United States
Andreas Kaschke, Business Team, Germany
Nathan James Keene, Business Team, United States
Behzad Khosravi, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Bruce Klein, Business Team, United States
Scott D. Kocher, Onsite Technology Team, New Zealand
Yi Kou, Offsite Technology Team, China
Roy W. Krueger, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Ronald R. Kushner, Data Migration & Conversion,
United States
Ge Li, Testing China
Yong Li, Offsite Technology Team, China
Zhen Li, Offsite Technology Team, China
Neil Loppe, Testing, Canada
Bo Lv, Offsite Technology Team, China
James McGee Lynch, Program Management Office,
United States
Vaishnavi Madineni, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Akashpal Mahajan, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Yifan Mao, Offsite Technology Team, China
Zhidong Mao, Offsite Technology Team, China
Lakshmi P. Mettu, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Management & Technology Consultants
Management and Technology
Consulting for Today’s Business
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Sauda A. Motiwala, Testing, United States
Ashutosh M. Nagarkar, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Sandhya A. Nagarkar, Testing, United States BearingPoint is a leading management
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Sarah Noonan, Business Team, United States and technology consulting company that
Mrudula Pagadala, Offsite Technology Team, India
Rogers Pan, Offsite Technology Team, China
serves the Global 2000 and many of the
Preethi Ponnappan, Onsite Technology Team, United States world’s largest public services organi­zations.
Arags Bobby Pupeerapitug, Testing, United States
Yiming Qiao, Offsite Technology Team, China Our experienced professionals help
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Liangfeng Ren, Offsite Technology Team, China organi­zations around the world set direction
Pradeep Repakula, Offsite Technology Team, India
Ali Reza, Program Management Office, United States to reach their goals and create enterprise
Paul S. Rodriguez, Testing, United States
Tushar V. Sathaye, Data Migration & Conversion, United States
value. By aligning their business processes
Vinay Selvaraj, Onsite Technology Team, United States and infor­mation systems, we help our clients
Subramanian Seshadri, Onsite Technology Team,
United States gain competitive leadership advantage—
Sajay Sethunath, Program Management Office, United States
Michael D. Shannon, Onsite Technology Team, United States delivering results in an accelerated time frame.
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United States
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Jianqiu Wang, Offsite Technology Team, China
Wei Wang, Offsite Technology Team, China
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Yan Wu, Onsite Technology Team, United States
Kai Xiang, Testing, China
Yanghu Xiao, Offsite Technology Team, China
Yingjun Xu, Offsite Technology Team, China
Qixiang Yu, Offsite Technology Team, China
Aihua Yuan, Data Migration & Conversion, China
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