Ernst & Young LLP has hired a 28-year veteran of the consulting industry as national director of its financial services consulting division.
Charles D. Petersen most recently held a position with McKinsey & Co., but he has also worked at Andersen Consulting and at a bank holding company.
In his new post, Mr. Petersen will oversee the consulting services that Ernst supplies to banks, investment companies, securities firms, and mortgage lenders.
"One of my challenges is to get the different areas of our business to complement one another," Mr. Petersen said. He said Ernst's expertise in areas such as capital markets could help banks in some of their investment product initiatives.
Beyond looking for synergies, he will also continue building the areas in which Ernst has established firm consulting footholds. These include bank delivery systems and data mining.
In the area of delivery systems, Mr. Petersen said banks have made great strides in cost cutting and automation, but he noted that in many retail endeavors, banks have been slow to anticipate the needs of customers.
"The fact that a single consolidated statement is only a recent reality at most banks is an embarrassment," he said.
He said the increasing popularity of remote and home banking mechanisms will help the industry's cost structure. But financial institutions must choose their method of delivery carefully, because betting heavily on the wrong mechanism could prove costly.
In addition to addressing alternative delivery issues, Ernst & Young has created a model branch, which banks can use as a template for their own offices.
Though the number of branches is shrinking, the offices are still numerous. Having the right systems and procedures in place can help institutions to make the most of the high cost of operating them.
Mr. Petersen said that banks should analyze their customer data to find the most profitable customers and adjust their business to please them.
"I would venture that most banks make money on about 25% of their customers. The question is what to do with the other 75%," he said.
Though his assertion is widely accepted, he said few institutions have acted on the information. Part of his charge at Ernst is to change that situation.
Mr. Petersen, a graduate of Northwestern University, will split his time between Ernst's New York and Chicago offices.
