Schroders

Transforming Wealth Management

FinTech Product Manager

Led product excellence at scale within the SAFe framework, championing user experience and design innovation for a financial services platform managing £80bn in assets.

Financial Services

Challenge

The strategic partnership between Schroders and Lloyds, underpinned by Benchmark Capital’s award-winning adviser platform technology, aimed to build a market-leading wealth management solution capable of scaling to meet the demands of high-value clients and retail investors. Key challenges included:

Top-Tier Financial Planning Business
To become a top-three UK financial planning provider within five years, leveraging Schroders’ investment expertise and Lloyds’ client reach through robust digital channels. Aligning technology solutions with strategic growth objectives was critical to realising this vision.
Platform Scalability & Integration
Integrating Schroders’ asset management with Lloyds’ extensive client base required Benchmark Capital’s adviser platform to deliver scalable, secure technology capable of handling substantial assets and diverse client profiles.
Customer Expectations in Digital Wealth Management
High-net-worth and retail clients demanded seamless, digitally-enabled experiences, offering tailored investment advice, real-time insights, and personalised wealth management solutions.
Regulatory Compliance & Security Standards.
With large assets under management, regulatory adherence to FCA and PRA standards and robust data security were essential, requiring that all digital offerings embed comprehensive compliance and data integrity measures.

Response

Contracted via the delivery consultancy Agilicist, which led the SAFe transformation within Benchmark Capital, Adeeb Khan directed product strategy, user-centric design, and feature development, ensuring alignment with both regulatory standards and the joint venture’s strategic objectives.

Transformation & Value Creation

A phased strategy consolidated wealth management assets and strengthened technology, user experience, and regulatory alignment.

Product Excellence
Established a cohesive product vision, strategic roadmap, and feature trees to enhance the customer journey, resulting in a 20% increase in product adoption across three core products.
Wealth Scorecards
Developed and launched personalised wealth scorecards, delivering proactive recommendations based on individual financial profiles and market trends, boosting customer engagement by 25% and supporting Schroders’ vision for bespoke wealth management services.
Customer Centric Transformation
Instituted robust feedback loops through direct client feedback sessions, surveys, and analytics, achieving a 20% increase in customer satisfaction and a 25% uplift in engagement.
Design System & Component Library
Led the development of a reusable design system using InVisionApp and React components via Storybook, standardising design elements across platforms, accelerating development by 40%, and enhancing interface consistency.
Technical Roadmap & Microservices Architecture
Played a key role in visualising the architecture for a complex Azure-based microservices infrastructure. Supporting the development of technical roadmaps to ensure just-in-time delivery of critical technical capabilities, enhancing scalability and performance.
Security & Regulatory Compliance
Embedded FCA and PRA regulatory standards and security protocols across the product lifecycle, in collaboration with SOC teams reducing security risk by 25%, ensuring compliance and protecting customer data.
SAFe Agile Maturity
Increased cross-functional alignment and predictability across multiple Program Increments (PIs), increasing throughput by 87% for two product/scrum teams, accelerating time-to-market by 30%.

Conclusion

This engagement enabled Schroders to excel in digital wealth management, anchored by Benchmark Capital’s technology platform. Under Agilicist’s SAFe transformation guidance, the initiative achieved enhanced agility, design consistency, and embedded security, laying a solid foundation for future growth.

Skills & Expertise

Strategic, leadership and technical competencies applied to this engagement.

  • Cybersecurity
    • Data Encryption
    • Data Security & Privacy
    • Penetration Testing
    • Security Audits
  • Data & Insights
    • Business Intelligence (BI)
    • Data Analytics & Insights
  • Experience Design
    • A/B Testing
    • Design Systems
    • Feedback Loops
    • Interaction Design (IxD)
    • Journey Mapping
    • Persona Development
    • Prototyping & Wireframing
    • User Research
  • Operations & Process Optimisation
    • Agile Methodologies
    • Continuous Improvement
    • Kanban
    • Lean
    • Operational Performance & Reporting
    • Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
  • Strategy & Product Management
    • Digital Transformation
    • Innovation
    • OKRs & KPIs
    • Performance Measurement & Analytics
    • Problem Statement
    • Product Feature/Enabler Tree
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Product Strategy
    • Release Planning
    • Risk Management & Mitigation
    • Strategic Planning
    • Strategic Roadmap
    • Strategic Themes
    • Version Roadmap
  • Technology
    • API Management
    • Cloud Infrastructure & Platforms
    • Front-End Frameworks
    • Microservices Architecture
    • Responsive & Adaptive Design
    • Technical Architecture & System Design
Platforms & Systems

Platforms, systems, and technologies involved.

  • Atlassian Confluence
  • Atlassian Jira
  • Datadog
  • InVisionApp
  • Kubernetes
  • Microservices
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft SharePoint
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Mural
  • React
  • Storybook