Settlement Cycle Reduction - Tier 1 Business Banking

About The Project

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The Problem

A Tier 1 business banking lending function was experiencing slow settlement times driven by fragmented workflow across four internal departments plus external legal. High-value customers were waiting weeks longer than expected, increasing abandonment risk, complaints, and avoidable rework. Leadership knew the process was broken but lacked the bandwidth and the external perspective to diagnose where the real delays were sitting.

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What Winston Gray Did

Winston Gray mapped the end-to-end lending process across every department involved in settlement. We identified where hand-offs were creating built-in delays, where tasks were being duplicated across teams, and where non-value-adding controls were slowing progression without reducing risk.

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We redesigned the ownership model so each stage of the process had a clear accountable owner. We worked directly with the teams involved to design the future state, incorporating their operational knowledge to ensure the solution was practical rather than theoretical. Risk-aligned controls were redesigned to maintain compliance without the overhead of redundant checks.

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New SOPs, metrics, and governance cadence were introduced alongside a structured training rollout. Daily and weekly operational reporting with exception-based management gave leadership real-time visibility for the first time.

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The Outcome

Settlement times reduced. Duplication eliminated. Escalations dropped. The business now operates with clear ownership at every stage of the lending process and a governance rhythm that catches issues before they reach the customer.

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Result 1

Customer settlement wait time reduced from 45 days to 28 days

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Result 2

End-to-end handling time reduced by 15% through hand-off elimination and task reallocation

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Result 3

Clear ownership model reduced duplication, escalations, and rework across all departments