I once ate a roast dinner after a starter, and then decided to tackle a cheese cake.

The glutenous part of me was satisfied, but this soon turned to regret as I turned into a giant, immovable cabbage.

I thought I was that hungry, but I actually wasn’t. I hadn’t planned ahead.

I just allowed the cheesecake to take me.

I should’ve spaced the meals out, left one of the start or desert, or saved it for later.

I also could’ve done the dishes after the roast, as I had to leave them until the following morning due to aforementioned vegetable state.

This stressed me out, as I had work stuff, gym stuff, admin stuff, and now washing up stuff to do. My plate was literally too full.

All because of a cheesecake.

So if cheesecakes = product expansion, and new customers..

Right now, Chinese banks are attempting to eat multiple cheesecakes in China and Hong Kong (HK).

As per Reuters, 14 Chinese banks have entered into a scheme which will allow them to sell more things to more people. I will deep dive into this, to help you connect the dots between disruptive event and providing your services. But first..

The Source: What we’ll cover today

🍰 What: Deep dive on Chinese banks offering more products to more customers.

🍰 Who: It highlights the key players involved.

🍰 Where: The focus is on the company's operations within the China and HK.

🍰 Why: The piece explores the driving factor of revenue restrictions.

🍰 How: It provides a look at the opportunities for outsourcing consultants to swoop in.

✨TL;DR✨

The boiling point was driven by a few factors..

• 14 FS firms were chosen by the HK regulator to participate as of 1st November

• Outbound constraints in the Asia region mean creative alternative investment channels are needed, like this one

• This has meant the expansion of investment products being provided to residential investors, as brokers are included which allows banks like CICC to offer a wider array of investment products

But what next? And how can an outsourcing expert capitalise?

✨ The 7 Step Engagement Playbook ✨

1. Who are our target audience?

• Who: China International Capital Corporation (CICC)

• Decision Makers to engage:

  • COOs

  • M&A Leaders

  • Heads of Investment Banking

• Goals:

  • Prioritising expanding their market penetration

  • Diversifying products across the Greater Bay Area

Future needs? Take your mind back to the cheesecake. The 14 banks part of this scheme have their eyes firmly set on desert. But with extra culinary delights, comes a need for…

🍰 The Ingredients [Technology and IT]:

• Financial analysis and reporting

• IT and software development

• Compliance support

👩🏻‍🍳 The Chefs [Back office]:

• Data mgmt.

• Transaction processing

• Legal, Compliance and Risk

🍽️ Service Staff [Customer support]:

• Multilingual support

• 24/7 availability

2. Why now?

Strategic Shift:

CICC are actively prioritising local inbound by offering more products to more people.

This event = resource needed. Unless they already have this surplus in house.

Now, imagine a time you’ve been really hungry. What were the signs?

Rumbling stomach. Lick of the lips. Easily irritated. And more..

Well, CICC (among others) are displaying signs of growing hunger.

#1: They’re putting in tonnes of orders. 

🛎️ Hiring Signals:

In the past month, CICC have posted 25 new job ads on LinkedIn:

• Legal

• Compliance

• Policy

• Financial Reporting

• Financing

• HR

• Wealth Management Advisors

• Ops specialists

• Product

These roles are perfect for product, market, and operational expansion.

Local hires will also cost a fair whack.

And this is just for 1 bank, let alone the other 13 involved.

#2: They’ve eaten cheesecake before.

🤝 A Penchant for Partnerships:

• CICC has partnered with asset firms for cross border and business development capabilities. They integrated skilled workers and investors who tapped into the experience within each company. This shows that when an objective needs to be achieved, CICC are open to partnerships with resource and skills they don’t have.

3. Their needs, and your role to play

Sourcing consultants are well positioned to help.

The capabilities needed by participating banks

• Supporting wealth management growth / sales efforts with Asia clients

• Running internal change projects in both local and regional markets

• Advising on compliance, legal and policy

• Running operations, product

• Providing financial services and reporting

Business Process Outsourcing opportunities

• Wealth Management: Personalised financial planning and investment

• Financial: Accounting, planning & reporting

• Risk Management: Monitoring and managing financial, operational, and market risks due to new expansion and exposure  

• Compliance: Regulatory reporting  

• Treasury: Liquidity, funding and capital structure to support expansion

• Ops: Trade settlement, clearing and reconciliation for new investment volume

4. What does a dream partnership look like?

A hybrid provision of consulting work, guidance, and real people.

Here’s an example of what a full outsourcing package could look like..

Consultants:

• Who?

  • Operating model change experts

  • Process scaling experts

  • M&A experts

  • Product managers

  • Legal, compliance, policy experts

• Why?

  • New market, customers, and product offerings = increased demand

  • It also means increased risk exposure. They need experts to control it!

Outsourcing process management: 

• Who?

  • Inbound / Outbound customer support or contact centre

  • Accounting, planning & reporting team

• Why?

  • Manage increasing query volumes and maintain / improve customer satisfaction, and to handle rising operational KPIs

Outcomes:

• BPO optimisations for scalability / efficiency

• Accounts receive and payable optimised

• Quality assured products

✨ How I’d position myself to these banks ✨

5. An elite chef (or Strategic Growth Partner 👩🏻‍🍳)

Show Value Beyond Recruitment:

Strategic talent partner > standard recruitment. Banks already have huge talent acquisition teams. How do we set apart? With our unique selling points.

These could be:

👩🏻‍🍳 Niche talent pool that you have great connections in

👩🏻‍🍳 High-quality talent

👩🏻‍🍳 Speed of on boarding

👩🏻‍🍳 Deep industry knowledge from you, the sourcing consultant

Whatever it is that currently sets you apart.

6. Trust is the greatest commodity in 2024/25

Moving away from cheesecakes for a second.

Where do you get your teeth checked up? The dentist. Do you trust your dentist?

I know I do. Not trusting would mean a pretty anxiety filled 45 mins.

How does a dentist build that trust, even without talking to you in the weeks leading up to it?

Well, you may see them accredited and listed on the website.

Or, they literally work in a dentistry. Unless you’ve transported to a multiverse where middle aged adults randomly spawn in dentistry’s, you’ve a good chance the person peering into your mouth is in fact a dentist.

The mere presence of them in the place they’re supposed to be - complete with searchable accreditations, 5 star google reviews, and even a LinkedIn profile - builds enough trust. How to emulate that?

Value Beyond.. Just Value

• We know that people do business with people they like and trust

• Banks want to move from transactional to true partnerships.

What does this mean?

• Banks are increasingly relying on in house, integrated teams that are part of the culture, are reliable, won’t go anywhere soon, and add something they cannot easily get elsewhere (quality, cost or both ideally) for critical activity.

• Criticality = a huge amount of trust is needed by banks in a vendors capabilities and controls.

• They essentially want to trust an outsourcing partner enough before making a decision (like you do before going to the dentist).

• They will look for previous client references, public reviews, and if other similar FS firms (or firms with similar needs) have used your services.

🦷 How I build trust. Like a dentist. 🦷

🦷 90% value giving, thought leader content

Alex of The Morning Brew and Storyarb says it better than I could.

I looked at my ideal client profiles, and built a content machine using the above framework. It’s directly centred around their needs, and my vision to help vendors achieve exciting things.

🦷 Land & expand

This could mean testing the partnership by focusing on just one role, area of the bank, or even a single team that needs it. This is a useful approach if the enterprise prospect is uncertain, and is subtly seeking some guarantees / trust. I also offer a guarantee, which adds to a prospects feeling of security.

🦷 Charge, even for a discovery. This keeps you both on the same page.

I spoke with a Head of Transformation at a global bank recently. We discussed ‘free trials’ in the context of a vendor selling to a bank. They mentioned: ‘the risk of offering a free trial is a diminishing of value of your services, and lack of accountability & seriousness on an enterprise decision makers side’. They need skin in the game! I’ve been offered free trials from vendors when working in financial services, and the success rate is always lower vs. vendors who charge for discovery (a discount is fine).

🦷 Warm introduction through network

It’s just simply better. Picture this - you go on a blind date. The date setting cupid was your best friend who is a mutual. If you trust your friend, you go in with a certain level of confidence that this could be a good match. Of course, you still need to ask questions..

🦷 Don’t jump to solutions, understand first

Enterprise problems (especially banks) are so multi faceted and complex that the ‘need behind the need’ is often hidden, like a rat in the kitchen. I thoroughly search all corners before implementing any fixes. This shows seriousness.

7. Where to find decision makers

Using the above trust building tips, I:

1. Follow and engage content of people I’d love to work with (genuinely)

2. Create content that solves their pains, and;

3. Reach out to them to understand more about their problems

Role titles I’d recommend to look for in a bank like CICC:

• COOs

• CTOs

• Heads of Digital / Innovation

• Heads of Talent Acquisition

• Heads of Investment

After conducting a dozen interviews over the past few months, I’ve created a checklist of ways decision makers in banks like to be engaged:

✅ Recommendations from existing banking vendors who can’t fill their need

✅ Gartner reports (or any market report with your firms name in it)

✅ Recommendations from third-party recruitment agencies or industry consultants

✅ Engage genuinely with frequent decision maker posts on LinkedIn

✅ Invite them to a webinar / send a personalised Loom

✅ Attend an event they are at (virtual) and ask a question after

✅ Produce content that educates and solves their pains (in this case, understanding CICC challenges of expanding product lines and their customer base)

✅ Align the talent acquisition strategy with their strategy

All in all.. be their friend and advisor.

Thanks for reading 🙂 

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