Article at a glance:

Rethinking wholesale-banking operations

• Wholesale banks have already cut their support staffs, automated processes, and streamlined IT budgets. An enlightened minority has now started to adopt a more strategic approach.
• These banks are fundamentally reconfiguring their operations—looking for opportunities to create shared services, to relocate activities, and to outsource them selectively, as well as aligning the front and back offices through joint accountability, greater cost transparency, and cross-enterprise thinking.
• Many banks are experimenting with some of these ideas—but only institutions that look at the whole picture will improve their performance dramatically.