success story — cortal consors

SUCCESS STORY — CORTAL CONSORS
1.1 MILLION CLIENTS
1,350 PEOPLE IN 3 COUNTRIES
10 MILLION TRANSACTIONS PROCESSED
A subsidiary of the BNP Paribas group, Cortal Consors is the European leader
in online brokerage. In order to reduce its costs, the company has been taking
advantage of synergies at group level by setting up shared accounting and
securities management systems — a delicate project which called upon all of CSC’s
know-how.
CHALLENGE
• A variety of systems and the
amount of data processed
• Staff had to be redeployed
within the group
• A large number of parties
involved
SOLUTION
• Partner with CSC for project
management
RESULTS
• Migrated to the new
management system without any problems
• Completed according to the anticipated deadlines
• Began immediately to deliver significant savings
Reaping the Rewards of Successfully Shared Services
A pioneer and European leader in online brokerage, Cortal Consors is moving
forward in an extremely competitive market characterized by slim margins,
perpetual innovation and a very demanding clientele. An efficient, responsive and
cost-effective management system is thus a real competitive advantage, which is
what led the company in 2008 to initiate a major project to set up shared backoffice and accounting systems.
In order to significantly reduce its costs but also to ensure the continuity and
adaptability of its systems, Cortal Consors decided to migrate its securities
management activities to a specialized platform developed and operated by Euro
Securities Partner (ESP), a joint venture between BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole
Titres. The company also decided to integrate its accounting activities into the
accounting system of the BNP Paribas group. CSC was then called upon to help
manage this delicate and complex double project.
A Closely and Finely Managed Project
By the end of 2008, a preliminary study had confirmed the financial, functional
and technological benefits of the options being considered. The project — called
Schubert — was however a particularly delicate one, with three major challenges.
Firstly, technical, due to the variety of systems and amount of data processed.
Secondly, human, as part of the staff had to be redeployed within the group. And
thirdly, methodological, given the large number of parties involved: in addition to
internal teams and those of ESP, several IT and operational entities at group levels
within BNP Paribas were also concerned.
Cortal Consors assigned CSC the task of supporting it in managing the project, and
running the project management office (PMO). “With this type of project, with so
many stakeholders from various places and with different agendas, it’s essential
to establish the conditions for dialogue, and to not underestimate the level of
guidance needed,” notes Benoît Gommard, managing director of Cortal Consors.
CSC thus defined the parameters for very close monitoring and regular follow-up,
which made it possible from the beginning to set the pace for the project, which
SUCCESS STORY — CORTAL CONSORS
was subject to various time constraints. “Although it requires the mobilization
of enormous resources, this type of project isn’t very visible for clients, so we
had to move quickly to restart our investments in the front office as soon as
possible,” explains Benoît Gommard.
CSC Active on All Fronts
Another advantage of managing the project so closely was that it made it
possible to identify risks of slippage or a lack of resources or competences very
quickly. And it was precisely the ability to respond rapidly to changing needs
that prompted the selection of CSC as partner. “We were looking above all for
a partner capable of helping us keep up with events and with the capability to
rapidly mobilize additional resources when necessary,” explains Louis Rouvrais,
Corporate Information Systems Director at Cortal Consors.
“With this type of
project, it’s essential to
establish the conditions
for dialogue, and to not
underestimate the level
of guidance needed.”
Benoît Gommard,
Managing Director,
Cortal Consors
In addition to running the PMO, CSC was soon entrusted with managing
the whole project, and as events developed, the scope of its involvement
was gradually broadened. Consultants came on board to reinforce internal
accounting teams, to make sure the specificities of the brokerage business
were also taken into account.
CSC went on to support the project management activities for both securities
and accounting by defining requirements and change management, and
provided its expertise when determining the service levels for the various
applications. CSC also managed testing and delivery by coordinating all the
parties involved. “Over the course of two years, almost 30 people with highly
varied profiles were involved in the project,” estimates Abdallah Daouadji,
partner at CSC.
A Guaranteed Return on Investment
Focus: Cortal Consors
A subsidiary of the BNP Paribas
group, Cortal Consors is the
European leader in online
brokerage and savings services for
private individuals, and offers a full
range of investment products and
services to over one million clients
via various distribution channels.
Cortal Consors is part of the BNP
Paribas Personal Investors business
line within the Investment Solutions
division. Present in Germany,
France and Spain, Cortal Consors
differentiates itself on the basis of
its advisory offering, personalized
client relationships, technological
innovation capability and its
corporate social responsibility.
The major mobilization of resources in the days before the launch perfectly
illustrated the solidarity that had been built up within the project team, and
on 17 January 2011, Cortal Consors migrated to the new management system
without any problems. Completed according to the anticipated deadlines,
Project Schubert began immediately to deliver significant savings. It is on
target to generate a return on investment within three years.
“CSC was able to fully commit to providing us the technical and
methodological support we needed,” affirms Benoît Gommard. Louis Rouvrais
was impressed above all by CSC’s ability to remain serene; “CSC was always
able to take a step back, and use a rigorous and methodological approach to
matters, with the aim of always being able to offer solutions.”
Building on this success, CSC is continuing its assignment by providing support
after the go-live phase to consolidate the system as quickly as possible. The
management platform now serves as the basis for future service offerings from
Cortal Consors, which has always made innovation one of its top development
priorities.
For more information about CSC’s capital markets and finance
transformation services, send an email to [email protected].
CSC Headquarters | 3170 Fairview Park Drive | Falls Church, Virginia 22042 | United States | +1.703.876.1000 | www.csc.com
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