Outsourcing
Outsourcing Highly Regulated Administration of Financial Products
Identified and implemented external partner for compliant handling of complex financial product administration under strict regulatory control.
Industry
Financial Services
Direct/Indirect
Indirect
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Sourcing Context & Procurement Challenge
The administration of financial products in this context involved complex regulatory requirements, significant manual processing, and elevated risk exposure due to fragmented workflows. Internal teams were overstretched, expenisve and lacked the compliance infrastructure to scale with evolving regulations. The procurement challenge was to identify a qualified external partner capable of handling these critical services in full adherence to FINMA, and other frameworks.
Procurement Objectives & Strategic Levers
The objectives included a >35% cost reduction, full compliance certification across all relevant jurisdictions, a fair and social solution for all FTE affected and increased process efficiency. Strategic levers were built around outsourcing-as-a-service models, outcome-based contracts, and risk-sharing clauses. A key goal was to eliminate operational bottlenecks while reducing regulatory audit exposure.
Sourcing Strategy & Execution Approach
Procurement initiated a closed RFI/RFP process with vetted providers experienced in regulated financial administration. We partnered with Legal, Compliance, and Risk teams to create a detailed specification including data governance, audit trails, and regulatory reporting standards. A two-phase transition was designed: shadowing the internal team, then transferring ownership under a phased SLA structure with compliance checkpoints
Results & Values Delivered
The outsourced model delivered >35% total cost reduction while improving cycle time by 44%. Regulatory compliance reports became audit-proof, leading to very good results in the next FINMA audit. Internal headcount was reduced by 40%, freeing capacity for higher-value tasks. The outsourcing partner also implemented robotic process automation (RPA) to standardize execution and reporting.
Role & Contribution
In close collaboration with the CFO and his team, Procurement led the sourcing strategy, executive alignment, and final negotiations. Procurement served as sponsor and liaison between the business and legal/compliance functions, ensuring all parties understood the operational and reputational stakes. We also defined the governance cadence post-signature, with quarterly risk and performance reviews.
Conclusion & Reflections
This project demonstrated how procurement can de-risk critical operations by sourcing compliance as a capability. Success came not from cost pressure, but from structuring the engagement to support trust, traceability, and transparency. A key learning: in highly regulated environments, the provider becomes an extension of your license – procurement must select as if recruiting a mission-critical executive.