Banking and Finance

The banking and finance sector faces a range of challenges, as it responds to economic factors, regulatory compliance demands, and technology risks.

Mosaic’s expertise in operations and technology, across a broad spectrum of functions, uniquely positions us to support change in a meaningful way via the provision of direct advice and/or via the provision of highly capable resources to augment client project teams.

With numerous factors often at play, Mosaic has a proven ability to navigate complex scenarios and bring confidence delivering strong business outcomes.

Regulatory Response and Compliance

New Zealand banks are grappling with a complex regulatory environment, with increasing demands for higher capital, enhanced conduct standards, consumer protection, and more robust data privacy and cybersecurity measures. Additionally, global regulations, particularly around AML, ESG, and climate risks, are creating new compliance pressures.

Our team can advise on the design, execution, and embedding of frameworks, systems, and processes that harmonise for regulatory compliance, and enable improved customer and commercial outcomes. Our expertise covers conduct and culture, risk and compliance maturity, risk governance frameworks, operational risk advisory and regulatory responses.

Learn more about governance, risk, and compliance (GRC)

Operational Change and Transformation

The ability to grow in an efficient and effective manner requires operating models to evolve to meet a wide range of external challenges and to effectively leverage new technologies. This is challenging to achieve when operating models are usually complex from a product, process and platform perspective, and often underpinned by legacy technology.

Our team can advise on operating models and operational change be it from a "whole of business perspective" or centred on a particular function. We can bring together the required platform, process and people perspectives, work with you to develop a carefully sequenced implementation pathway and augment your team with experienced project expertise to execute.

Where appropriate we can also work with you to review project delivery frameworks and design programmes of work to support implementation of your chosen strategy.

System and Data Modernisation

Legacy systems and complex data environments can hinder innovation and efficiency. Upgrading these systems and environments to more modern, flexible platforms requires substantial investment and can disrupt operations.

In an environment increasingly demanding responsive systems, and open data architectures, system and data modernisation is crucial for banks to stay competitive and secure. But it comes with significant challenges, including high implementation costs, operational disruption, complex integration, and cybersecurity risks.

Our team can assist you with careful planning and strategy development to overcome these obstacles and, if required, skilled talent to augment your project implementation teams.

Payments

With the rapid evolution of financial technologies, payments systems, and customer expectations Mosiac has expertise to assist you across a broad spectrum of payments initiatives and opportunities, including:

Optimising payment systems for efficiency
Advising on emerging payment technologies
Compliance and regulatory guidance
Cost reduction and process optimisation
Partnership and ecosystem development.

Product Review and Remediation

Achieving a balance between having an appropriate range of products to meet customers' current and future requirements, with the need to have an efficient, scalable operating platform and a product management approach that meets conduct-centred regulatory requirements, represents a significant challenge for banks.

At times in the past, a drive on getting new product propositions to market has not been supported with a commensurate emphasis on ensuring that the underlying systems and processes supporting that new proposition have been suitably robust. This has resulted in some costly downstream customer remediation outcomes and adverse reputational impacts.

Mosaic can provide support to clients at any stage of the product development process, including distribution considerations, implementation, governance review and broader monitoring. Our team can also provide support in developing and implementing processes relating to the remediation of historic issues.

Client Work Examples

Delivering NZ’s Confirmation of Payee (CoP) Service

Mosaic played a pivotal role in leading the delivery of New Zealand’s first industry-wide Confirmation of Payee (CoP) solution – one of the most significant changes to domestic banking in decades. Under the sponsorship of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association (NZBA), Mosaic led cross-bank coordination, programme delivery, and business analysis across 13 banks, working alongside a multi-disciplinary team of experts.

Despite tight timelines and complex stakeholder environments, Mosaic helped deliver the CoP service within seven months – on time, on budget, and with no major issues at launch.
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This secure name-checking service now protects New Zealanders from payment fraud and error, significantly improving confidence in digital banking. Mosaic’s collaborative leadership helped transform a temporary initiative into a lasting national utility – a testament to the team's impact and commitment to financial safety in Aotearoa.

Regulatory Response and Compliance

Mosaic has supported a range of banking organisations to respond to regulatory changes including CoFI, BS11, CCCFA, FAP licencing. Refer to our GRC service line for further information.

Bank Project Delivery Practice Review

Mosaic was engaged by a major bank to conduct a discovery process across its delivery practice stakeholders to develop a comprehensive problem statement and set of design design principles around enterprise demand management.

The bank's delivery practice had undergone an extensive agile transformation relatively recently. New ways of working had been developed and rolled out across the organisation which had fundamentally changed the operating model including a change from federated to a centralised resource sourcing and allocation.

Mosaic leveraged its deep experience across the financial services sector to provide a view on what constituted an optimal delivery framework.

Operating Model Review

A large building society was considering a review of its current operating model to enhance operating synergies and improve the organisational risk and compliance maturity to better meet the changing regulatory environment. Mosaic was engaged initially to prepare estimates and document our approach for a review.

Our initial assessment identified areas for uplift and Mosaic was subsequently engaged and led a process in conjunction with employees to develop a clear view of roles and responsibilities and a right-sized approach.

Our analysis took consideration of current value propositions and core competencies in the design of a suitable model. This review would also include a high-level maturity assessment of the firm's operational excellence maturity.

Systems Procurement in Support of Banking Licence

A new NBDT engaged Mosaic to lead a high-level overview of how the firm could undertake an evaluation, selection and procurement (ESP) process to determine and select appropriate technology solutions and vendors to support the delivery of its brand proposition, enable it to grow at scale into the future, and ultimately support a banking licence application.

While the client was familiar with many of the software solutions available in the NZ market, they did not have all the required technical and operational expertise or capacity to drive the process.

Mosaic was able to leverage its ESP process and knowledge of technology options to support the firm identify an appropriate eco-system of options which, subsequently, supported the granting of NZ banking licence.

Business Continuity Review

Mosaic supported a major bank to review a targeted area of its business continuity practice. The engagement included analysis of internal and client behavioural trends and over various timelines as well as scenario-based assessments that considered the gains, impact, and trade-offs of each scenario.

Mosaic was able to work alongside our client’s team to augment their skills and experience, accelerating the review, outcomes, stakeholder engagement and implementation of the recommended change at a time when the client’s internal team were facing high levels of demand on their time.

Banking and Finance