Peter Josse

For a man in his position, Peter Josse, global head of IT services delivery and infrastructure for ABN AMRO, appears remarkably relaxed. Following the much-publicised, not to say protracted, acquisition of ABN AMRO by the Fortis, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Santander consortium in October 2007, Mr Josse, was thrust into a role that would inspire dread in even the most experienced of CIOs and IT directors. Despite being tasked with delivering – at least from a technology and infrastructure perspective – the largest and most complex financial services merger seen in the history of the banking industry, he remains strikingly cool: it is, he agrees, a “tricky” proposition.

Responsible for ABN AMRO’s €1.8bn IT asset footprint, Mr Josse manages an extensive, complex and global network of communications and technology infrastructure across more than 50 countries, multiple-product and business lines, and 5000 full-time employees. This means the nitty-gritty, practical business of physically dismantling the Dutch bank falls to him and his team. From a technology, people and financial perspective, the task presents multiple challenges, says Mr Josse. Furthermore, he continues, things have not been helped by the strained economic climate in which all institutions are competing viciously to gain and retain clients. “We are trying to give the best customer service we can and retain business, and we are also trying to disentangle people and processes and our technology,” says Mr Josse. “The ­challenges of the two are sometimes in conflict.”

During the past five years, Mr Josse and his team have been engaged in a titanic effort to overhaul the bank’s global infrastructure that would help – it was originally hoped by the board – propel the Dutch bank into the top five bracket of European banking players.

For Mr Josse and his team, the project involved building-out what he believes is now a “world class” shared services model, under which every part of the bank – including the investment, retail, wealth and asset management businesses – is serviced by one central technology platform. Mr Josse believes that the bank’s success in this respect has been “unique”. But it is a success neither he nor his team have had long to enjoy. “During the past five years, we’ve consolidated data centres, networks and processes, and we’ve outsourced a great deal,” Mr Josse explains. “Now we’re trying to unpick that into three parts: what has been our success becomes one of our biggest challenges going forward,” he adds.

Painful process?

It is difficult to imagine that this process – in which Mr Josse and his team must now effectively preside over the abolition of their hard-fought accomplishments – is not a matter of some regret, if not for Mr Josse personally, then at least for his staff.

He admits that there has been a “hearts and minds” process. In particular, those individuals that have spent the past five years driving forward the shared services agenda have experienced “a bit of a dip”, says Mr Josse. But the team is now extremely focused on moving forward, he continues. “The quicker we get through this first part of the disentanglement, the quicker we can identify synergies between RBS, Fortis and ABN AMRO and maybe start thinking about building out shared services in a new bank.” But the first few months following the acquisition, he adds, “were definitely tricky” from a managerial perspective.

Shared burden

In an industry that has traditionally stood at the vanguard of the offshore outsourcing phenomenon, ABN AMRO stands out: its offshore footprint, as a proportion of its global operations, is the largest among the European banking community. This footprint was dramatically expanded in the global infrastructure overhaul, during which the Dutch bank entered into a five-year, $2.1bn deal, split between a number of providers, chief of these being IBM, Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services.

Initially, Mr Josse feared that the bank’s global, multi-sourced operational structure would prove particularly hard to dismantle. “If you had asked me a year ago if the outsourcing process would hinder or help us, I think I would have said that it would make it extremely tricky and that it would be really complicated to break up massive global contracts,” he says.

Quite against his initial expectations, however, the outsourcing agenda has afforded the infrastructure and delivery team a welcome degree of flexibility during the break-up process. “They make it much easier both to separate, and to integrate the bank,” he says, particularly where the movement of people is concerned. “If you worked for IBM today on the ABN AMRO account and you work tomorrow on the Fortis account, it really makes no difference as you still work for IBM.” In this regard, ABN AMRO’s outsourced partners will be forced to share the burden of the bank’s dissection. “The challenge for them is as great as it is for ABN AMRO,” he adds.

Global execution

For each member of the consortium, the acquisition of ABN AMRO should prove transformational, providing ­Fortis, RBS and Santander, each with a global platform and global scope. For Mr Josse, however, executing the break up of ABN AMRO’s infrastructure on a global scale is a key challenge. “In your home territory, you can have good execution from a technology point of view: you can look at it, control it, you can walk out of your office and say I want it faster and cheaper because of your proximity. When you’re dealing with 53 countries, it’s a bit like an oil tanker: you can’t control execution in every country, so you have to find a way to be able to manage across 53 countries with enough local variance, while not conflicting with the global franchise.”

Successful approach

In his view, the Dutch bank’s approach has so far proved successful. Mr Josse and his team drew up a technology agenda for Europe, the main themes of which were cost reduction, improving profit-to-cost ratio, agility, risk and service quality. In each country, objectives for these themes have been defined, says Mr Josse. “But do we tell a country how to execute that in their country? No. How they execute them is really their business. Taking this approach starts to move this big oil tanker in one direction.”

Despite his calm manner, Mr Josse is clearly – and not surprisingly – under pressure. Aside from the complexity of the challenge (“the most complex thing I have ever seen”, he says) he also has to manage what he perceives to be a dual role: “Keeping the bank running and making sure from a risk and control perspective that we are safe, secure and that we’re running this bank with integrity. And on the other hand, I feel like I’m an infrastructure and delivery consultant to the consortium.” In many respects, this seems an unenviable position. But he is optimistic: “If we can take the best of ABN AMRO, the best of RBS and the best of Fortis, I think you will have a world-class bank.” His role in this unprecedented enterprise will no doubt underwrite his career for years to come.