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TD Bank Financial Group
C3 Mutual Fund System
One Application Improves Both Client Relationships and Efficiency
Challenge
Until recently, TD Asset Management, which sells and manages mutual funds within the TD Bank Financial Group, was sixth in the Investment Funds Institute of Canada's industry ranking. Sales were good but it was clear that continuing competitiveness and further growth would depend on freeing mutual fund representatives to spend more time on their essential job, building relationships with clients.
As it was, whether on the phone in call centres or talking to clients in bank branches, the reps were spending too much time processing transactions on several unconnected computer applications. The system used to process the opening of a mutual-fund account for a client, for example, was inefficient and disjointed - the transaction took about 53 minutes.
Solution
Implemented in November 2006 at more than 1,000 branches, the C3 Mutual Fund System (C3 MFS) is a client-focused Web application that integrates several retail applications, databases and record-keeping systems.
It creates intuitive screens that permit the mutual-fund representative to spend more time focusing on the investment conversation and less on processing transactions. It is fully bilingual with more than 75 unique English and French screens.
Used by approximately 8,500 mutual-fund reps, C3 MFS maintains the look and feel of other TD retail applications but contains many enhanced features:
- Single point of entry;
- Pre-populated data whenever possible;
- Embedded compliance instructions;
- The use of words rather than codes;
- Screens that display information pertaining to particular transactions and account types (including maintenance activities);
- A help hyperlink on every screen;
- Links to product information and tools.
Several transactions can be processed at one time. For compliance reasons, the rep and client review a summary of the transaction(s). Then, if the client agrees, a shopping basket is submitted and the data is instantly integrated into the mutual fund record-keeping system.
Results
In the first six months after the C3 MFS roll-out:
- Retail sales of TD mutual funds increased 9.9 per cent.
- Assets under management increased by more than 7.2 per cent.
- The number of new accounts rose 20.9 per cent.
Other improvements include:
- The time required to open a new account has dropped to about 38 minutes from 53.
- Time required for subsequent purchases has been reduced to about 23 minutes from 43.
- Redemptions now take 10.5 minutes, down from 15.5.
- An online video has drastically reduced branch representative training time.
- " The large volume of client applications that were automatically rejected by the system (frequently because of inconsistencies in the many forms that had to be filled out) has decreased by 42.7 per cent.
Lastly, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada has raised the national ranking of TD Asset Management to fourth from sixth.
Innovative Use of Technology
The C3 MFS system has improved operational efficiencies to increase productivity while at the same time enhancing the client and user experience to generate and increase sales.
Further, it has strengthened TD Financial's IT infrastructure. The C3 MFS application contains multiple tiers - presentation layer, business services and adapter layer, and book of record -- comprising 232,000 lines of code. The application's service-oriented-architecture design means that portions of this structure can be put to use to automate services for other business units.
The application was built through collaboration on a national and international scale. Technology teams from the Wealth, Retail and Enterprise divisions worked to develop requirements and application prototypes, along with strategic vendor CGI. Normally, defect resolution and re-testing eat up a large amount of development time, but CGI brought people from India into the project so that designated teams could work around the clock.
One month before implementation, a pilot launch of C3 MFS at 26 branches found only five minor defects. This was unprecedented in an application of this magnitude.
A 2007 CIPA Winner!
For exceptional application of information technology to transform processes and bring benefits to its stakeholders, TD Bank Financial Group has been awarded a 2007 CIPA Gold Award of Excellence in the Efficiency & Operational Improvements, For Profit category.
Technology partners
CGI Group Inc
IBM Canada Ltd.
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