Book Store

    Digital

    Accelerating digital transformation with omni-channel strategies and customer-centric banking solutions.

    In a market where banks are facing increasing pressure to redefine their outlook, processes, and infrastructure; Arete is committed to help our clients stay ahead in the race and remain relevant to our next-generation clients. Arete has deep experience in supporting financial institutions, develop strategies and execute operation models that encompass a digital approach. Our Omni-channel approach ensures we consider the end-to-end digital customer journey and gear the organization for digital expectations.

    We are committed to helping our clients accelerate their digital agenda’s in the following areas:

    Sales & Marketing

    Traffic acquisition through digital leads, leveraging social media, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing and digital offering Digital client conversion ensuring minimum drop rate in customer journey across web, mobile & physical channels supported by seamless fulfillment.

    Back-Office

    STP & Paperless processes creating fast, cost effective and secure flows helping instant fulfillment for clients Back office efficiencies through digital processing leading to lean organizational structure and cultural adaptation of digital operations.

    Omni-Channel Strategy

    Consistent Digital Content across channels and integration of digital into the DNA of the organization Digital Customer Journey Management across multi-channel to drive new-to-bank, cross-sell and up-sell, retention and servicing

    Analytics & Big Data

    Big Data from social media combined with internal data sources to deliver relevant and targeted offerings across existing & new to bank clients Client Analytics to drive customized campaigns and CRM tools to deliver actionable information and develop robust risk management methods.

    Analytics

    Turning data into actionable insights to improve performance across sales, risk, operations, and marketing.

    In today’s digital age, analytics is playing an ever-changing role to help organizations drive value from customer data. In-depth analysis of trends, behavioral or business patterns can prove invaluable for organizations to gain a competitive edge in better-serving and targeting their clients. As digital tools continue to change, data-driven campaigns and market approaches will become increasingly common. Those Financial Institutions not making the most of their data today can be left behind amidst those players embracing the power of big data & analytics.

    Arete helps banks in understanding and leveraging the power of data analytics. We provide the tools for organizations to utilize internal and external data and analytics to gear themselves from an operations, sales, risk, marketing & financial perspective to drive higher results and provide greater overall transparency.

    Sales & Marketing

    Enhancing sales effectiveness and market positioning through strategic client segmentation and digital engagement.

    Sales & Marketing lies at the heart of standing out in an industry which has seen a great deal of ups and downs in the last years. Recent turmoil has impacted the way organizations have tried to utilize their systems, distribution, sales teams and client value propositions.In a world that is now, and forever so, different from the norms we were once used to, it is imperative to use new and innovate ways to showcase and bring value to clients.

    At Arete we have helped organizations understand their strengths and position them to understand specific client segments and design an acquisitions strategy. We have helped to accelerate sales performance through building internal sales capabilities, branch network design or design a channel strategy that will provide greater efficiency and drive sales.

    Operations

    Streamlining processes and boosting efficiency for lean, scalable financial services operations.

    In recent years, operational effectiveness has taken on a new meaning. Increased regulations combined with more demanding customer expectations means that one’s operations needs to surpass those standards of past perfections and financial services providers need to embrace the digital age to ensure automated, straight-through processing at costs a fraction of the past norms.

    Banks are especially guilt of building complex organizational, operational and technology structures that often hinder efficient processing rather than deliver the intended benefit of better service, lower cost and higher performance.

    Arete provides a complete value-chain perspective with a robust review of current organizational, technology, process and performance review to assess critical pain points and areas where better service, lower cost or higher Revenues can be achieved.

    Technology

    Aligning technology with business goals and ensuring smooth project delivery from planning to implementation.

    Many Financial services companies see investments in technology as a solution in itself. However investments in technology should be carefully considered as there may be a number of feasible solutions besides costly and time-consuming investments in technology. Arete provides end-to-end technology strategy to our clients starting with aligning enablement, functional & technology requirements to business strategy. Banks face a challenge of delayed implementation as result of having junior and inadequate resources in business team supporting the technology implementation.

    Arete helps client by providing senior business resources to help in all stages of technology development: Business Requirements Definition, User Acceptance Test and Post Live. Arete works with Testing Partners to provide a comprehensive test solution. Our program management methodology has helped banks in delivering Core banking solution with minimal delays.

    Risk

    Strengthening governance and risk management frameworks to support sustainable growth.

    Heightened regulatory requirements and scrutiny post the Global Financial Crisis have forced financial institutions to take a hard look at the integrity of their risk management governance, policies & procedures and placed greater emphasis on risk in the agenda across banks’ Board of Directors, CEOs and Senior Management.

    In our work with our clients, we have assessed a need for more effective risk management to optimize risk-reward trade-off and ensure sustainable business growth whilst aligning regulatory and shareholder expectations.
    Banks going through growth or transformational phases face challenges on account of:

    • Inability to keep up with the ever tightening regulatory environment
    • Inadequate risk controls and governance during organic/ inorganic growth
    • Legacy risks in certain portfolios, business lines

    Ever-changing business landscape also means that mature banks need to keep assessing their risk management framework to ensure that enterprise and business/vertical level risk management building blocks are robust and in a state of preparedness to mitigate risks on an ongoing basis. Banks, realizing the need for regular reviews of risk systems either to meet regulatory requirements or shareholder expectations have initiated periodic internal reviews of their risk monitoring facilities but these remain largely audit focused in nature with the emphasis on ascertaining whether policies and procedures are being adhered to. Arete helps bank in strategic and focused evaluation which is forward looking, emphasizing on identifying new risks and opportunities. We benchmark current risk organization with industry best practices and help build decision making, diagnostic and preparedness tools for Senior Management. Our strategic assessment benefits banks by having checkpoints in place that ensure that business decisions taken are aligned to their risk appetite and culture.

    Finance

    Optimizing finance functions for transparency, compliance, and strategic decision-making.

    Past years have seen Finance divisions in banks impacted by a wide array of challenges. Amidst the after-effects of the global financial crisis, increased uncertainty in the market and heighted regulations in banking the responsibilities of the Finance function has been drastically extended. In this day and age, financial institutions need to find ways to sustain growth whilst being better protected against emerging risks. In doing so, Finance departments are over-hauling their approach to design business processes which are better aligned to provide access to internal decision-making, risk management, financial reporting and regulatory compliance.

    Arete helps our clients make sense of the ever-changing requirements in the Finance function allowing them to understand and use information and provide transparency to align them with competitive or regulatory challenges faced across the industry and drive bottom-line results.

    Human Resources

    Managing talent and organizational change to drive effective transformation results.

    Human capital is the main driver of effective organization. Alignment of recruitment, hiring, salaries, incentives & benefits, performance management and retention requires a structured and needs-driven approach in order to execute a successful talent program. People and organization also represents a key change element in most consulting assignments where cultural and organizational transformation often requires the knowledge and experience to ensure transitions are managed effectively. Arete has years of experience driving large scale transformation projects addressing the people & organizational factors required to drive effective change.

    Mergers & Acquisitions

    Supporting strategic deals with due diligence and post-acquisition integration expertise