BMO Bank of Montreal
Achieving Operational Efficiencies through Technology Outsourcing
"Our productivity has improved 25% over the past 24 months. And our service is now 50% faster for issuance-advising with 40% less staff."
Maryse LaFleur, Senior Manager Operations,
Global Trade Services, BMO Bank of Montreal
As Canada’s first bank, founded in 1817, BMO Bank of Montreal has built a long history of superior service and dedication to its clients. The bank offers Trade Finance products servicing over 83 countries across the world and operates processing hubs in Canada and China.
Constantly looking for new ways to add value for its clients, BMO Bank of Montreal is dedicated to helping businesses grow and to demonstrating a long-term commitment to providing superior products and services in Trade Finance.
The Challenge
Today’s Trade Finance industry is one of shrinking margins and reduced volumes as clients become more commercially savvy in limiting their trade costs and risk exposure. Competition is causing other banks to provide Trade Finance at or below cost due to non-restrictive technology, inefficient manual processes and lack of visibility of the cost in doing business.
To grow its Trade Finance business, BMO Bank of Montreal sought to limit cost and resource involvement to provide a fast, efficient and technologically-advanced experience. Access, security and reporting capabilities that would differentiate them in a tight market were paramount. Additionally, BMO Bank of Montreal considered the visibility of its costs as vital to ongoing success and the ability to provide a long-term commitment of stability and support to clients.
BMO Bank of Montreal made a strategic investment in Six Sigma process methodology to manage efficiency and quality control through metrics and providing guidelines for improving productivity throughout the bank. Introduction of new partners or technology needed to demonstrate dedication to this corporate direction. The decision to opt for CGI’s Proponix solution was deemed the best fit to meet the bank’s objectives of improving process efficiency and operational standards, and reducing costs.
The Strategy
BMO Bank of Montreal partnered with CGI to deploy the Proponix integrated Trade Finance Platform; a service offering that delivers the infrastructure and technology to support Trade Finance processing in an IT outsourcing model. In this partnership, CGI would be responsible for all aspects of operating the 24x7 Proponix solution, including technology and operations support, help desk solutions, software development and maintenance and a release strategy for solution implementation that includes frequent software upgrades to address changing market trends and business needs.
Proponix features built-in imaging and workflow, electronic scanning and image storage, consolidated message capture, automatic indexing and folder creation. Its Customer Trade Portal offers a secure Web-based application providing transaction management, messaging and reporting capabilities. The back office function also provides advantages since transactions completed in the Trade Portal or images scanned are automatically sent for bank staff to process onto Proponix Trade Processing System. Of particular importance is the application service and support model that provides quality service and support for 24x7 global operations without the overhead of high infrastructure costs.
BMO Bank of Montreal is using Proponix to attract local and international clients and have enhanced their service footprint by demonstrating an ease of access, user friendly, flexible reporting capability through the Web-enabled Trade Portal. It allows the bank the confidence to commit to ongoing superior customer service levels due to efficiencies reached and simplifies staff training and system analysis due to the highly configurable, user friendly, logical nature of the system and by CGI’s extensive experience in the Trade Finance arena. “Proponix is highly configurable, flexible and logical to use and it allows us to track errors and identify training opportunities,” asserted Maryse LaFleur, Senior Manager Operations at the bank’s Global Trade Services.
The Technology
- Proponix: a complete end-to-end platform to support trade & supply chain finance, provided by CGI in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model
- Technologies: WebSphere MQ (middleware), FileNet (imaging), Business Objects (reporting), BEA Weblogic (Java EE application server), Oracle (database)
The Results
Since the deployment of Proponix, BMO Bank of Montreal has turned in remarkable results, both qualitatively and quantitatively. With Proponix, the bank benefits from a visibility of costs and the ability to increase service levels. This has demonstrated continuing commitment to valuable clients and the Trade Finance business. Moreover, 83% of the bank’s Import Trade Finance transactions are now automated through the Trade Portal. Transactions received via the Portal can be completed within 15 minutes. The bank has reduced its operational staff by 40 percent while servicing its clients 50% faster. Moreover, the bank is now operating a paperless office. Its anti- money laundering audits are completed within 2 days (compared with an industry standard of 4 to 5 weeks). The bank has identified opportunities to refine its processes as well as training opportunities for its staff. Concluded LaFleur, “Our productivity has improved 25% over the past 24 months. And our service is now 50% faster for issuance-advising with 40% less staff.” With Proponix, the bank is achieving scale and continued business growth.
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