I sit in Asset Servicing. Our margins are okay but is only held up by a handful of clients with huge cash balances and generally higher AUC compared to recent years, which increases our fees. But on the flip side, clients are not happy. We’ve gutted so much of operations and existing clients don’t have as much faith anymore. Some of our strongest front office folk have gone to competitors over the last few years so they know how our weaknesses. Too many other projects that end up becoming duds ensure our overhead costs never really get spread out or more scaled. Yep, I’d say we’re one bad day away from being in the red.
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I agree with this post and actually do not have a problem with Robin per se (I know this is a contradictory posture to take). But let me explain:
- The bank is shrinking. The main asset servicing and related businesses are the main reason. Our clients do not need the same kind of bespoke handling .
- There are almost 700 applications in the asset service space. Most have client - specific code . This cannot be maintained by the current crop of very inexperienced IT staff.
- The P-O-M model will force more centralisation of functionality that will mean that our existing clients will be pretty pi---d
- Our biggest clients like GIC of Singapore are especially upset due to daily troubles with our processing
So, if you are a Robin, you have very little levers to pull. So he has decided to pull an imaginary lever called AI. That lever-in-the-air has no connection to the main organization or profile making arms.
Bottom line: large areas like asset servicing and treasury are languishing while really small and (imaginary) things like AI Hub are growing and flourishing.
Either way, when the A S Engineering CIO leaves , the business will suffer further .
Would you expect anything else from this illustrious organization?
This is a very good post and whoever downvoted it is an imbecile. It is simply the unvarnished truth. We aren’t winning any new clients and we aren’t innovating anything to make their business easier for them. It is a law of physics where, if you take more energy out of a system, you get less work and less power. That is what is going on here now. And worse? They recognize it and still ask for 30% more productivity with the same conditions. This place is failing but stock price climbs on reductions and cash reserves. So Robin the robber, when is the sale or merger?