Outsource Consult

Trust is a complex and competitive business in a largely consolidating market.  Still, Wealth Management remains a foundation of a community bank.  The niche is important for a community, but profitability can be a challenge for a bank.

Pohl Consulting and Training can help navigate the complex and challenging world of outsourcing in the trust and fiduciary space.  Our experience and visibility into the market can help create, or validate, outsourcing strategies.  We know where savings are, and have a unique and solid view of community banks and their differences.

Business cases for change are unique and vary.  We understand that opportunities to reduce cost don’t always improve service.  We recognize the advantage of risk transfer to a outsource provider, and understand the danger of compromise.  We can validate new or existing outsource strategies. Underlying factors driving any decision to outsource should consider what can, and what should not, be outsourced.   Pohl Consulting and Training can help your organization focus on generating revenue and have confidence in existing outsource providers, or finding new alternatives.  We provide:

  • Analysis by comparison to the competition (cost and service)
  • Evaluate design and providers
  • Implementation
  • Optimization
  • Risk and Compliance Governance

The right vendor will have abilities to scale transactions often impossible for a community bank.  This allows processing at a lower marginal cost, often with more broadly experienced personnel, and more IT support for critical functions.  But there are a variety of vendors out there. We provide the mechanism to analyze and find those providers right for you.

Generally, many community banks have turned to outsourcing investment management and operations.  Operations outsourcing is a mature industry.  Done well it removes operational responsibilities from the bank and transfers them to an experienced outsource firm.  Done poorly it disrupts the client experience.

Investment management outsourcing is younger. Providers supply a wider range of investments, open architecture, and access to top rated managers, as well as alternative investment opportunities.  It can provide both a competitive advantage and access to substantial analytic tools and training for trust officers.

Although traditionally outsourcing has been viewed as a diversion from fiduciary duties, the opposite has proven to be true.  However, a poor outsource strategy can be devastating. Service, quality and compliance can be impacted by a decision made years ago, which may no longer be providing benefits.  In the worst case, a poor or outdated solution, could be creating risk.

Pohl Consulting and Training can help you explore a variety of trust outsource solutions and measure benefits.  We evaluate both full and hybrid outsource models, considering both operations and investment management.

We focus on the organization’s needs, not the size of the engagement.