Singapore
Creating a new banking venture
venture and product development
Problem to be solved:
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How can we diversify our revenue streams by creating a new business venture for our bank?
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Solution:
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Selecting and coaching a dedicated team of young bankers through the venture building process.
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Results:​
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Prior to scaling, the team partnered with 15 educational institutions, running 60 sessions for 2,000 students
Screenshot of website prototype for the bank's edfintech product
DEFINING THE PROBLEM
There is no question that the traditional customer segments that banks target, such as HNWI (High-net worth individuals), have become saturated or red ocean markets. Faced with Fintechs, non-traditional tech players, and unprecedented low interest rates, banks need to look for new blue ocean markets to capture. The problem? Most of our banks have used the same business model to target the same segments since their inception. Where do we even begin?
We started by working with the bank’s C-suite to understand what their strategic priorities were for the next five years. The bank had a clear understanding of how to protect its core or Horizon 1 business, but the strategy neglected to consider the new expansions and possibilities or Horizon 2 and 3 business. If you are interested to find out more, read this case study.
INITIAL CONCEPT
Once the leadership was aligned on the need for innovation in the strategy, we helped them set-up a banking venture for Horizon 3 innovation. We started by creating an innovation council, which would guide the innovation mandate. We then developed a pilot venture, focusing on Edfintech.
We started by running a five-day design sprint competition. Multiple teams went through the experience, building their innovation capabilities along the way. Eventually, a single team was selected and transitioned to a full-time venture building role.
Screenshot of website prototype (job section)
FINAL VENTURE
Coaching the team over several months, we started the venture building cycle, focusing on finding product market fit for the venture. How?
We used our venture building tool, which can be accessed here.
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The team created an MVP- testing channel, partner, and acquisition strategies. Even before scaling, the team managed to partner with 15 educational institutions, running 60 sessions for upwards of 2,000 students.
