Flexibility, efficiency and seamless integration key to successful mergers
Zoot, a leading provider of advanced instant credit decisioning and loan origination solutions, has identified critical opportunities for successful post-M&A platform conversions at large financial institutions.
“Our first-hand experience assisting large banks with IT integrations following mergers and acquisitions has helped many of our clients achieve outstanding results,” said Dennis Dixon, president of Zoot Enterprises. “We were able to bring a merger of two of our largest clients to market within six months, meeting a promised deadline to shareholders. In another instance Zoot was able to reduce the merged institutions’ decisioning costs to one tenth of their previous expense.”
The financial services industry witnessed landmark merger and acquisition activity in 2008 due to current economic conditions. Confirming the predictions of many industry analysts, a number of the country’s prominent banking institutions consolidated to strengthen banking and investment operations. As a result, 2009 will be a time of crucial decision making for these newly combined institutions as they navigate the complexities of integrating technologies and business strategies.
Completing a merger is difficult, however the most challenging work often comes after the deal is signed. With more complex mergers, integrating technology solutions seamlessly and quickly is critical. Having worked with top tier financial institutions for more than 18 years, Zoot has identified proven methods to help clients successfully complete massive internal conversions of multiple origination platforms.
Zoot provides the following key services to assist clients with implementing large-scale technology mergers:
•Proactively engage with both companies to clarify the business goals of the newly combined FIs.
•Provide flexible, configurable technology solutions that bring together the best of both institutions’ prior solutions as seamlessly and quickly as possible.
•Support the organization’s specific technology requirements, therefore allowing executives to focus on core business strategies and manage day-to-day operations.
•Create efficiency through automation allowing FIs to provide seamless customer service at a lower cost, with improved quality.
•Enable clients to make rapid policy changes in response to changing market conditions and introduce new products quickly through the use of real-time tools.
•Support multiple channels, rules sets and back-end systems in a single solution.
•Provide reliable service, maximize time invested and minimize exposure to risk, while managing the numerous details inherent with merging companies.
„Excellence in merger and acquisition implementation strategies is decidedly more critical today than in the recent past. Financial institutions must meet multiple challenges such as remaining extremely nimble from a product feature and credit policy perspective, yet with many institutions focused on retaining and building current customer relationships, M&A execution also demands exceptional customer service standards,” said Bobbie Britting, research director, consumer lending for TowerGroup. “Not only are FIs under capital liquidity pressures, but cost reduction pressures as well which may result in reduced staff required to meet all these needs. Technology vendor partners can and should be an integral part of the M&A strategy to meet corporate goals at many levels.“
