Atmosfair GmbH is a non-profit climate protection organisation with a focus on travel. The organisation actively protects the climate, among other things by offsetting greenhouse gases through renewable energies. Atmosfair was founded in 2004 as a result of a research project of the Federal Ministry for the Environment and a joint initiative of the tour operator association forum anders reisen and the environmental and development organisation Germanwatch. The organisation develops and operates climate protection projects through the expansion of renewable energies and energy efficiency technologies, advises and accompanies companies and institutions on the transformation to a decarbonised economy and offers environmentally conscious people and companies the opportunity to offset unavoidable CO₂ emissions in the global South.und Unternehmen die Möglichkeit, unvermeidbare CO₂-Emissionen im globalen Süden zu kompensieren.
Artificial intelligence (AI) already forms a core element of the automation of business processes and the development of new services or business models. In the financial industry in particular, AI systems are increasingly making far-reaching decisions ranging from lending to fraud prevention. The scope and frequency of such use cases are rapidly increasing, while regulators such as BaFin point out that companies are just as responsible for judgments delegated to machines as those made by their employees. As BaFin President Felix Hufeld pointed out in June 2018, “It is elementarily important from BaFin’s point of view that machines should not bear responsibility even in the case of automated processes. In any case, management remains responsible.”
Like other IT systems, AI applications are subject to the regulations of the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), including MaRisk and BAIT. The rejection of a loan application, for example, requires justification. If the bank leaves the decision to an algorithm, this must be explainable and the decision made must be comprehensible.
Companies in the financial sector are therefore well advised to align their AI systems not only with current IT regulations, but also with ethical criteria in a forward-looking manner. Our experts regularly exchange ideas with AI researchers, analyze the impact of regulatory trends and new procedures in practice. Our AI audit helps financial service providers to exploit the opportunities offered by the use of intelligent algorithms without losing the trust of their customers and employees or risking regulatory sanctions. AI systems are complex on the one hand, but on the other, it is hard to imagine core business without them. If such a system proves to be problematic from a regulatory point of view, it can often only be converted at great expense and time.
Despite rising assets worldwide, the pressure on margins in the banking industry is becoming increasingly severe.
This is due on the one hand to the rising costs of implementing regulatory requirements, high complexity in mapping a broad product/service spectrum for an individual customer experience, and investments in increased digitization of customer care.
On the other hand, customers expect declining fees due to an increasing degree of technologization, increased competition with non/near-banks and an increasing degree of standardization in the offering.
Get in touch with us – Consileon supports you in defining and implementing the right margin stabilization/increase measures, e.g. in the areas of growth programs, customer segmentation/profiling/travel, product/service offering, price and special conditions management, (customer) profitability management, consulting and sales management, campaign management, digitalization and digital transformation, process optimization (Target Operating Model – TOM), (IT)platform consolidation and management.
In the banking industry, many small and medium-sized institutions have either disappeared altogether or merged over the past few years. This trend will continue in the coming years.
The reasons for this are, on the one hand, rising costs (e.g., due to higher capital deposit requirements, implementation of regulatory requirements, necessary investments in technology/systems/digitization, individualization in the product/service offering) and, on the other hand, declining average revenue per customer (e.g., due to greater price sensitivity, increasing competition due to non/near-banks, generally declining price levels for standard services).
However, studies show that the majority of mergers either fail or do not lead to the expected results. The main reasons for this are often a poorly structured post-merger integration (PMI) process along the dimensions involved.
Consileon helps you with a systematic approach to lead even complex business transformations successfully through and to the expected success – talk to us.
PayPal’s announcement to allow Bitcoin payments in the future shows: Blockchain technology has now become part of everyday life in the financial industry. But what about private investment opportunities based on the blockchain beyond cryptocurrencies? How far has blockchain technology actually penetrated the day-to-day business of the capital markets? To answer this question, Consileon dared to conduct a self-experiment.
You can find out what this self-experiment looked like and what findings we came to in our German article Private Geldanlage per Blockchain – Ein teurer Selbstversuch (engl. Private money investment via blockchain – An expensive self-experiment) for the magazine “die Bank”.
In the course of an increasing consolidation of the banking market, it is to be expected that the number of mergers/acquisitions will increase significantly in the coming years. Smaller (private) banks in particular do not have the critical mass to be able to generate sufficient returns in the long term. Increasing pressure on margins due to rising costs on the one hand and declining earnings on the other hand lead to important PMI (Post Merger Integration) projects in the wake of M and A (Mergers and Acquisitions) transactions, which lay the foundation for future success of the new organisation.
However, a large proportion of M and A transactions fail or do not lead to the expected results. To avoid this, a client asked Consileon to use their self-developed, tried and tested PMI framework with a clear, structured and targeted approach
Central elements of a successful PMI (Post Merger Integration) process are the development of a common vision, the definition of common goals for the integration strategy and the formulation of a suitable business and operating model.
The design and functioning (structure and process organization) of the new, joint business activity must be coherent; only then can the desired synergy potential be realized.
If you are thinking about M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) activities, donplan their professional support in time, which is a big challenge besides the day-to-day business – Consileon will support you with words and deeds.
Important for a successful integration is the identification of key functions and their leaders and personalities. They must “swear in” the new team to the common vision/mission and its common goals/values, as well as ensure communication during the integration and its progress. This is the only way to overcome the, often large, cultural differences.
The primary goal must be to quickly hand over operational responsibility to the new management in order to achieve the smoothest possible transition to day-to-day operations.
Consileon has great and extensive experience in these areas – share your ideas with us.
No integration without integration planning; a clear and detailed plan with corresponding goals, time budgets and milestones must be developed, which (sub) areas are to be integrated (organizations, processes, IT systems/landscapes), which resources (money, time, people) are required for this, where/how the targeted synergies are to be realized and how the result is to be measured afterwards.
Complex yes, but with an experienced PMI (Post Merger Integration) partner like Consileon on your side no problem – talk to us about it.
The PMO/IMO (Project Management Office/Integration Management Office) is the backbone of any successful integration. It is responsible for operational program management and keeps the program together or on track to ensure joint and most efficient implementation.
It is the link between program and line functions, manages time and content dependencies, identifies/addresses critical subject areas/fields, and defines responsibilities.
Consileon has years of experience in this role – get in touch with us.
