Corporate Brochure - Steria

The need for more robust
corporate governance policies is
a clear message to emerge from
the financial crisis, with no sector
under more intense scrutiny
than financial services. Meeting
compliance demands alone requires
a wholesale re-thinking of systems
and policies; doing this globally,
in accord with diverse jurisdictions
within a tight timeframe sets a
real challenge. Steria helped a
leading global investment bank
achieve just this.
Business sector Financial services
Expertise Consulting
Geography Europe wide
Our client is a leader across Europe, and growing steadily in North
America, Asia and key emerging markets. With 80,000 employees
and about 2,000 branches in 70 countries, our client seeks to offer
unparalleled financial services throughout the world.
But strength and size come with responsibilities, one of which is
ensuring its corporate governance policies fulfil, if not surpass,
constantly emerging compliance regulations. One area firmly in the
spotlight is establishing robust Anti Money Laundering measures,
which need to meet complex stipulations across multiple jurisdictions,
and business functions. That’s where Steria comes in.
We were given the chance to start this project from scratch, working
closely with key stakeholders to develop an approach that was
consensual and feasible for all concerned. This meant translating a
universal compliance imperative to the specific needs of five business
divisions and numerous local jurisdictions. A close-working, highly
consultative approach was essential to ensure this. Aligning the sales
executives and infrastructure functions early on towards the same
objectives helped guarantee a smooth implementation of our
proposed solution.
Meeting compliance regulation was one issue, a further consideration
is how changes and policies impact on clients, so there was a need
to balance legal obligations with customer relationships. So Steria’s
consultants undertook an impact analysis, assessing the implications
of policies for the bank’s customers. This allowed us to confidently
develop a globally applicable blueprint serving as a minimum standard
document. Steria designed and managed the whole programme,
delivering a global but flexible solution that surpassed expectations
for a complex project of this kind.
The client’s internal Programme Manager for the project, a Managing
Director, identified the skills mix of the Steria team as a real contributor
to the success of the project. “On the one side, the subject matter
experts contributed a deep understanding of the requirements, and
the need for a business-division-specific interpretation to minimise any
negative impact on the respective business models. On the other side,
consultants with a strong expertise in strategic management assured
an efficient set up and structuring of the initiative, comprising interface
management to highest management in all business divisions, as well
as the main infrastructure functions.”
Both internal audits and external examinations were concluded with no
findings at all: an extraordinary achievement for such a complex global
and multi-divisional set up.
Building trust
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