A Critical Evaluation of Westpac Institutional Bank's Credit Processes

This dissertation critically evaluates the operational and process management within Westpac Institutional Bank's credit processes in Singapore, focusing on increasing the speed to market from origination to execution. The research explores the background of Westpac's operations in Singapore, identifies the research problem of slow credit processes, and poses key research questions regarding control processes, the causes of sluggishness, methods to limit breakdowns, and the adequacy of credit management. The literature review covers process and operations management, credit process management, credit technology, and risk assessment. The methodology includes data collection via surveys and interviews, along with data analysis to identify undesirable outcomes and suggest improvements to the credit process. The findings aim to provide recommendations for enhancing Westpac's credit processes, ultimately contributing to improved efficiency and competitiveness in the Singapore market. The study also highlights the importance of technology, accountability, and process optimization in the banking sector.

Running Head: DISSERTATION
A critical evaluation of operational and process management across Westpac Institutional Bank’s
credit processes in order to increase the speed to market from origination to execution of
opportunities in Singapore
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background............................................................................................................................3
1.2 Research Problem..................................................................................................................3
1.3 Focus of the Paper..................................................................................................................4
1.4 Research Questions................................................................................................................5
1.5 Aims and Objectives..............................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................6
2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................6
2.2 Process and Operations management.....................................................................................6
2.3 Credit Process Management...................................................................................................7
2.4 Credit Technology..................................................................................................................7
2.5 Assessment of the Operations................................................................................................8
2.6 Risks.......................................................................................................................................9
2.7 Business Process Modelling...................................................................................................9
Research Methodology..................................................................................................................12
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................12
3.2 Research Question................................................................................................................12
3.2 Research Choice...................................................................................................................12
3.3 Data Collection method.......................................................................................................13
3.4 Sampling & Data Access.....................................................................................................13
3.5 Ethical & Data Protection issues..........................................................................................13
3.6 Limitations...........................................................................................................................13
Data Analysis.................................................................................................................................14
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................14
4.2 Analysis of the survey..........................................................................................................14
4.3 Analysis of Interview...........................................................................................................20
4.3.1 Undesirable outcome.....................................................................................................20
4.3.2 Stages at which the process map should be reworked...................................................21

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4.3.3 Credit process affects speed to market..........................................................................21
4.3.4 Suggestion to the credit process....................................................................................22
4.4 Secondary Analysis..............................................................................................................22
Conclusion and recommendation..................................................................................................23
5.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................23
5.2 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................23
5.3 Recommendations....................................................................................................................23
5.4 Further Research......................................................................................................................24
References......................................................................................................................................25

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Chapter 1: Introduction
This paper has been constructed in order to evaluate the process design and analysis for
the credit process of Westpac Institutional Banks in Singapore. The development of the global
economy by taking help of the new and improved technologies has influenced the organizations
to expand their business in to the next level. The development of the organization is only
possible by undertaking credits from the banks and other financial institutions and hence it is
essential for the financial institutions and banks to design strategies that would lead to the
effective credit lending process. The paper would therefore discuss about the process of design
and analysis of the credit processes of Westpac so that the operational and functional of the
company would be analyzed.
1.1 Background
Westpac’s Institutional Bank has been one of the leading Australian banks and has been
providing financial services to the consumers, government, corporations and other organizations
operating in Australia, New Zealand and other Asian countries. Westpac has been functioning in
Singapore and has been one of the leading service providers who have been providing wholesale
financial services to the clients in Singapore with an intention to assist the customers with an
Australian relationship. The bank even provides several services such as trade financing, mergers
and acquisitions, debt structuring and financial market operations and even provides strategic
advices to the firms and the consumers of Singapore. Furthermore, they even the providers of
services of underwriting that concentrates on debt security, foreign exchange services, interest
derivatives and fixed interest on the commodities and the services provided (Bodie 2013). The
requirement of loans and credits by the organization and the consumers have motivated Westpac
to undertake various designs and evaluation of the designs related to the credit process so that
effective results can be obtained which would motivate them to provide effective services to the
companies and the individual consumers. The construction of the effective design for the credit
lending process and evaluation of the same would lead to effective control and credit lending
process.
1.2 Research Problem
This research paper would concentrate on the credit lending mechanism of Westpac
Institutional Bank in the market of Singapore in order to capture the innovative opportunities and

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deals and thereby increase their market share and maintain the competitive edge. The intention
has been to recognize and undertake researches on the numerous steps of the bank with respect to
the process of crediting with the help of execution and it has been observed that they have been
slow to critically breakdown the credit operations and even on the stages of boarding.
Furthermore, this paper would explain further the operations as well as their efficient holds,
proposals and accountabilities to construct the activities of the banks even more unified.
1.3 Focus of the Paper
The operational management of Westpac Institutional Bank is inclusive of the regulation
of the costs and developing the degree of services and even enhancing the service quality that
have been given out to the consumers. The process of credit in Westpac has been very sluggish
from the point of origin of the bank in Singapore and the execution of the process of execution.
The operations section of the bank will concentrate on the mechanisms that have been
constructed in order to supervise and handle the procedures within the service distribution. The
management associated with the process of credit chain in the service development and has been
very sluggish for the bank. It is essential for the bank to assess their intrinsic methods
specifically with respect to the vibrant economy where the bank functions. The bank has been
going through certain transitions and especially in the transformations in the culture in certain
branches in Asia. These transitions has had an impact on certain mechanisms of the banks and
hence the bank has been trying to familiarize with the new management along with maintaining
the current activities of the bank.
The process of credit in the bank has been very sluggish as the process of core banking
for the bank are complex and furthermore there has been an insufficiency of the accountability
and visibility as the prospects have been working through the processing chains. Moreover, the
core banking process of the bank is seen to be one of the oldest technology in accordance to the
banking industry. The process of core banking that is utilized in Australia has been looked down
as a historic one with respect to the age of technology. There have been concerns with respect to
cost of maintenance and manual workings, which exploits a lot of valuable resources that could
have been invested in order to further enhance the digital channels and other usage in the
banking companies. There has been existence of other concerns like the lack of responsibility
among the numerous chains of process which hinders the actual transaction method along with

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the update of the data, which the consumers require to be keeping intact before the conclusion of
any prospects (Liu 2015). The financial organizations even has the desire to give out services and
reduce the level of cost of processing and handle the financial assets. The core processes make
the bank operations slow and thereby becoming susceptible to the new competitors, new
organizational frameworks and establishing substantial operational challenges.
1.4 Research Questions
The research questions have been framed with respect to this topic comprises of the
issues that needs to be answered so that effective results can be obtained. The research questions
has been put forward as follows:
Q1. What control processes will Westpac Institutional Bank undertake in order to function
effectively?
Q2. What is the reason behind the sluggish nature of the credit process chain of Westpac Bank?
Q3. What mechanism will Westpac Institutional Bank initiate in order to limit the critical
breakdown within their credit process and on the boarding stage?
Q4. What is the extent of the adequacy of the credit management for the sustainable and
effective credit delivery?
1.5 Aims and Objectives
The objectives and aims of the paper has been undertaken in order to understand the credit
processing design and analysis of the same in order to gain knowledge about the aspects that can
be improved for an effective operations of Westpac. The aims and objectives are given as
follows:
 To identify the control processes that would be essential for the successful operations
of Westpac
 To identify the factors that has made the credit process slow
 Techniques that can be used for the critical breakdown of their process credit

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
The literature review with respect to this topic has been developed in order to identify the
aspects and the processes that has been used for effective functioning of the credit processing
chains of the financial institutions and the banks that are functioning in the global market. This
has been a fundamental factor as the loans and credits are provided by the company needs to be
recorded and a proper technique has to be maintained with the help of which the banks and the
financial institutions can understand the level of credit provided and the time that has been taken
in order to complete the process of crediting (Albanese, Caenazzo and Crépey 2017). Hence, this
section of the paper provides explanations and the suggestions that have been put forth by other
researchers who have undertaken research on similar topics and issues previously. These
explanations and suggestions have been fundamental for undertaking the research and gaining a
clear idea about the credit processes and the steps that can be undertaken to improve the credit
processing technique of Westpac in Singapore.
2.2 Process and Operations management
In the mechanism of process design concerns, payback for having an effective technique
is very crucial. Westpac has given out effort and time in the construction and the designing of the
processes, evaluating the performance of the substitute design in accordance to the quality,
effectiveness and the total time that has been utilised by the company. In accordance to the
quality of the bank, it has been beneficial for the accomplishment of the advantages from the cost
for the effective process mechanism design without sacrificing the quality and in this effect
would give the bank a key degree of competitive edge. In certain cases, it can be problematic to
distinguish on the design for the process from numerous service designs, which the bank
provides. The process of credit is constructed with the limitations as well as the authority to drive
through the mechanism that is in mind (Lachmann, Stefani and Wöhrmann 2015). There is a
requirement to make changes in their designs slightly in order to facilitate on their operational
activity. The mechanism and the processes should be constructed so that it can be suitable to the
economy and the market where they have been operating. It is even vital to make not that
numerous marketing strategies may be in need of the various techniques of the design. An
effective point of initiation for any of the activities can be understood with the help of the direct
relationship that has been existent among the strategic and the mechanisms for the objectives of
the performance (Tsai, Lu and Hung 2016). The process of gaining knowledge about the present
mechanisms of a firm would be useful in making developments especially in the process of
credit that is based on the practicality of what undertakes within the practice. It would be about
assigning the tasks as well as the related capacity in a careful manner to the suitable sections of
the mechanism to work. In most of the techniques, it will be inclusive of the design, which has
the capability of considering the variability that is existent to most of the personal tasks.

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2.3 Credit Process Management
The credit process management can be considered to be the core line of business that has
been a significant factor for the rise in the income of the financial institutions. The credit process
of a financial institution is based on the credit teams and therefore it is the role of the credit team
to undertake various strategies which would be fundamental for effective credit processing for
the clients. The development of the financial institutions is dependent on the time taken to
approve the loan and and the credit processing chain has to be preside and fast in order to
enhance the operations of the company (Albanese, Caenazzo and Crépey 2017). The
understanding of the credit team plays a crucial role as it is seen that effective knowledge and
understanding leads to development of better credit processing chains and that in a way leads to
development of the financial institutions and banks. Barjaktarovic, Pindzo and Hanic (2016) has
even cited that having the precise and the correct access to the various levels of the credit value
chain can be fundamental for the development of the financial institutions. Wang et al. (2014)
has explained that it is essential for the credit value chain to have effective knowledge and
understanding of the responsibilities and the processes of the banks and the financial institutions.
The credit value chain with the help of the understanding of the responsibilities and the firm
helps in construction of plans and policies that would be implemented in order to improve the
credit processing chains. The understanding of the credit value chain with respect to the
responsibilities of the firm would provide mean that the credit processing is undertaken with
respect to the objectives of the firm. Lee and Yeo (2016) have opined that effective level of
accountability from the credit value chain is fundamentals for the development of timely
outcome of the results. The financial institutions in order to stay competent in the market have to
deliver their performance in a timely manner so that the customers can be satisfied and would
remain associated with the organizations.
2.4 Credit Technology
Credit processing has been dependent on the technology that is used by the financial
institutions. The core banking process plays a significant part that has been influential for the
development of the credit processing chain of the bank. The use of the advanced technologies
would be influential for the development of more advanced services to the customers. It has been
observed that Westpac has been operating with a technology that has been very old and therefore
has been facing certain issues with respect to the completion of the credit processing method.
Skoglund, Vestal and Chen (2013) have cited that financial institutions should make use
of advanced technologies with the help of which the core banking system of the banks and the
financial institutions could be improved. The credit processing chain is dependent on the
operational and process management of the financial institutions. Niccolini et al. (2013) has
explained that in order to create new opportunities it is important to re-validate the data because
revalidating the data would lead to the establishment of the new opportunities in the credit
processing chain. The credit processing chain requires to be transparent so that the various steps
associated with it can be known, which would enhance the consumers from gaining knowledge

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about credit processing so that the consumers are aware that process are undertaken in an
effective manner.
2.5 Assessment of the Operations
The process of credit management has been deemed to be the effective process that
would be undertaken by the financial institutions and the banks with the help of which the credit
processing chain as well as the team that has been undertaken with the help of which the proper
modelling and supervising of the process can be undertaken so that the areas that require
developments and improvements can be undertaken. The process of credit management even
involves recovering the credits from the borrowers within the stipulated time. This management
function can be useful for maintaining the control credit policies in that manner would be useful
for enhancing the profits and the revenues for the organization (Li et al. 2014). The credit
management process has been looked down upon as the mechanism that would be influential as
this process even undermines the process management in relation to credit processing. The
process management looks in to the business process of the financial institutions. In this way the
process management tries to evaluate the credit process and in that manner would be influential
for the development of the financial institutions.
The credit risk manager as well as the portfolio manager has the responsibility of looking
into the mechanism of credit processing and in a manner evaluates the mechanism which is
helpful for the development of an effective process design.
Engelmann et al. (2015) has cited that process design plays a significant role in the
process of credit processing as the credit processing chain can be developed by looking at the
several factors that can be taken into consideration. The financial institutions should be looking
at the market trend along with the level of demand of credit in the market that would be
influential for the development of the credit processing chain. Saha, Bose and Mahanti (2016)
has explained that the numerous steps that are associated with the credit processing chains has an
impact on the speed of the market there are various steps in this process that gets affected. These
steps has to be identified in order to rectify them and in that manner would be influential for
making the process chain effective. The development of the process chain consists of analysing
the various aspects and in that manner develop strategies the credit process chain of the financial
institutions.
Kawada and Shiohama (2016) has opined that process map has a significant role to play
and in that manner aids in the construction of the credit process. Process mapping involves the
construction of the path and the course that would be developed in order to create develop the
credit operating chain. Process mapping even aids rectifying the areas that needs improvements
and in that manner develops the business operations.
The bank credit policy of the financial institutions is developed by looking at the internal
and the external environment of the organisation so that effective steps can be taken in order to

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design the credit processing chain. The evaluation of the credit process design undertaken by the
credit managers as well as the portfolio managers. The managers scrutinise each and every
aspect of the design and tries to find out areas that are not providing adequate results. The
evaluation of the design is undertaken with respect to the aims and policies of the organization
(Źróbek and Grzesik, 2013). Hence, it is depicted that the credit process design aids the
management to understand the the amount of credit they can offer and the amount of balance
they can recover from the clients.
2.6 Risks
There exists credit management risks and it is essential for the credit team to assess the
risks that have been generated and the risks that may take place in the coming years. Therefore, it
is fundamental to consider the fact that credit processing design is constructed with the help of
mitigating the risks so that the process design is precise and effective in nature. The designing
and the analysis of the credit process design is useful for any financial organization and it is
essential for the companies to undertake assessment of time to time so that the policies can be
changed according to the changing needs in the market and incorporating the changes in the plan
so that new credit policies can be established with respect to the economy (Bank 2014). Credit
designing therefore plays a significant role and the effectiveness of the credit processing chain
would determine the efficiency of the financial institutions. Credit is demanded by each and
every organization and therefore it is the duty of the financial institutions to undertake to
construct effective policies and management strategies that would be influential for the financial
organizations to understand the each and every aspect of credit providing and recovering in order
to earn profit and maintain competitive edge for the organization.
2.7 Business Process Modelling
The BPM lifecycle is fundamental for understanding the method used, the tools and the
approaches that would be useful for the development of effective design.

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The BPM process primarily explains the recognition of the process, which is useful for
the initiation of the process discovery. The process discovery has been undertaken with the help
of architecture process. The as-is process framework aids in the initiation of the process analysis
with the help of which the knowledge about the weaknesses and the impact can be well
understood. After the weaknesses and their impact in the process has been identified, it becomes
essential to redesign the process effectively so that an effective design can be constructed. The
process of redesigning moves ahead with the help of the to-be process framework, which is
helpful for the project incorporation. The next process after the incorporation of the project is
moved forward with the help of the executable process framework that aids in the controlling
and the monitoring of the process. This helps in the enhancement of the project and in a way is
useful for bringing in changes that would positive in nature. The mechanism of the conformance
and the performance insights can be fundamental for the process discovery. Hence, it can be said
that this is a cyclical process and the designing and the analysis of the mechanism is developing
according to the changes in the economy. These are the various tools that are exploited in order
to understand the appropriate designing and the analysis of the method.
The recommendation that can be established with respect to the mechanism suggests that
redesigning and assessment of the method should be done from time to time so that effective

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measures can be taken in order to keep the mechanism updated and in line with the market so
that the process of BPM lifecycle can be used effectively.