Case study
Australian investment management firm
When a key service partner exits, the instinct is to find a replacement. Sometimes the more important question is whether that’s the right move at all.
Advisory & Strategy
1. Overview
The question underneath the question
A major Australian investment management firm was advised that the third-party provider managing an important mortgage administration function would no longer be available.
On the surface, the brief appeared straightforward: assess the available options and recommend a replacement.
What we found was more strategically significant.
02. The client
Australian investment management firm
A diversified Australian investment management organisation with a specialist banking business that manages a dedicated mortgage portfolio alongside its broader financial services operations.
03. The challenge
A forced decision with hidden strategic dimensions.
Losing a core service partner creates pressure to move quickly: fill the gap, protect continuity and return to business as usual. However, that urgency can narrow the decision in ways that create longer-term commercial or operational limitations.
When 9Yards was engaged, the organisation had already completed a request-for-proposal process. Our initial role was to assess the responses and make a recommendation.
Before doing that effectively, we needed to understand what the decision was really about—not simply which provider could replicate the existing service, but whether replication was the right objective.
04. Our Approach
From one mortgage portfolio to a potential revenue stream
We began by looking internally.
Before assessing the RFP responses, we conducted discovery sessions across the specialist banking business and the wider organisation. We interviewed stakeholders at both operational and strategic levels and worked directly with the incumbent service provider and the vendors that had responded to the RFP.
This process narrowed the viable options to three: two external providers and an internal business unit with the technology and operational capability to bring the function in-house.
Bringing the service in-house initially appeared to be a strong option. The capability already existed. However, our analysis showed that internalising the administration of a single mortgage portfolio as a standalone exercise was unlikely to be financially attractive. The investment and effort required would not generate sufficient value for one portfolio alone.
We therefore reframed the question.
Rather than considering only whether the existing portfolio should be brought in-house, we explored whether the capability could become a scalable service that supported additional mortgage portfolios and created a new revenue stream.
At scale, the commercial logic changed considerably. The same internal capability that was difficult to justify for one portfolio became potentially valuable as a broader strategic proposition.
We presented this perspective directly to the leadership team—not merely as a comparison of vendors and platforms, but as a strategic growth opportunity that had not been visible within the original brief.
05. Outcome
More than a recommendation
The organisation concluded the engagement with more than a vendor recommendation.
It received a clear assessment of three viable pathways, a transparent view of the financial and operational logic supporting each option, and a new strategic opportunity for consideration—one with the potential to reshape the growth of its specialist banking business.
Sometimes the most valuable contribution an adviser can make is to change the question.
06. words from our client
“9Yards helped us step back from what appeared to be a straightforward vendor replacement decision and understand the broader strategic opportunity.
Their work gave us a clear view of the options, the financial logic behind each pathway and the confidence to consider a direction we may not otherwise have explored.
They brought independence, commercial discipline and a willingness to challenge the original question constructively.”
Chief Technology Officer
Australian investment management firm
Where next?
Working through a decision that’s more complex than it first appeared?
If you’re facing a forced change and want to make sure you’re solving the right problem — let’s talk.