Financial services is a major practice area for consulting firms. Cases in this sector require understanding of regulation, risk management, and digital disruption.
Key Sub-Sectors
Retail Banking
- Revenue model: net interest margin, fees, commissions
- Key challenges: digital transformation, branch optimization, customer acquisition
- Metrics: cost-to-income ratio, NPS, digital adoption rate
Insurance
- Revenue model: premiums minus claims minus expenses
- Key challenges: pricing accuracy, claims management, distribution
- Metrics: combined ratio, loss ratio, expense ratio
Asset Management
- Revenue model: management fees (% of AUM)
- Key challenges: fee compression, passive vs. active, ESG integration
- Metrics: AUM growth, alpha generation, client retention
Fintech
- Revenue model: varies (SaaS, interchange, lending margin)
- Key challenges: regulatory compliance, trust building, unit economics
- Metrics: CAC, LTV, take rate, regulatory approvals
Common Case Scenarios
- A retail bank wants to reduce its branch network by 30%
- An insurance company is seeing rising claims costs
- A fintech startup needs a go-to-market strategy
- An asset manager is considering launching an ESG fund
Financial Services Frameworks
- Revenue decomposition: Volume × Margin × Retention
- Risk-return trade-off: Higher yield = higher risk
- Regulatory impact assessment: Capital requirements, compliance costs
- Digital maturity model: Paper → Digital → AI-powered