Every engagement is different. But the pattern is consistent: start small, integrate deeply, and let institutional memory compound. Here are three examples from our client base — anonymised, but real.
The bank's credit risk team was overstretched. Annual reviews were late, watchlist coverage was reactive, and the team was losing junior analysts to competitors faster than they could replace them. They needed analytical capacity without adding London headcount.
We started with two analysts covering a defined portfolio of counterparties — annual reviews, limit monitoring, and ad-hoc deep dives. The first three months were about alignment: learning the bank's internal templates, understanding their rating methodology, and calibrating the level of judgement expected in escalation notes.
Within six months, the analysts were producing work that went directly into the credit committee pack with minimal revision. The onshore team's supervision burden dropped. Coverage expanded. After 18 months, the bank added two more analysts to cover a second portfolio.
Seven years later, the team is six analysts. Several have been with the engagement since the beginning. They know the bank's counterparty book better than most people on the London desk. When Third Line audit asks whether projections are proprietary and explainable, the analysts can walk through the analytical chain — because they built it.
The bank has never needed to re-onboard a replacement analyst due to turnover. The institutional memory compounds every quarter.
A global data and analytics firm needed support for its equity research function. The internal team was stretched across too many sectors, and maintenance coverage — earnings model updates, results previews, data extraction — was consuming time that should have been spent on original analysis.
We started with two analysts handling maintenance research: updating earnings models, preparing results season packs, and maintaining sector data. The work was tightly scoped, with clear templates and a weekly review rhythm with the onshore lead.
Over the first year, something shifted. The analysts began anticipating what the onshore team needed — flagging data anomalies before being asked, preparing draft commentary alongside the numbers, asking questions that showed they understood the investment thesis, not just the model mechanics.
The firm expanded the team to four analysts and extended scope into initiation support: the research and data gathering that precedes a formal initiation note. The analysts now prepare the analytical foundation that the senior analyst builds on, cutting weeks off the initiation timeline.
Four years in, the analysts are treated as part of the research team, not as an outsourced function. They attend internal calls, contribute to sector discussions, and their names are known to the portfolio managers who use the research.
A sovereign-backed bank in the Middle East had been using a large KPO for credit and market risk support. The output was technically adequate but shallow — templated reports that checked boxes but didn't add analytical value. When the regulator asked detailed questions about methodology and assumptions, the offshore team couldn't answer them. The onshore team was spending as much time supervising and correcting as they would have spent doing the work themselves.
The bank approached us to replace the existing provider. We started with a three-month transition: two analysts working in parallel with the outgoing team, learning the bank's internal systems, templates, and risk appetite. A third analyst joined after the transition was complete.
The critical difference was audit readiness. Our analysts were trained specifically to understand and articulate the analytical chain — not just produce a number, but explain how they got there, what assumptions they made, and where the sensitivity sits. When the regulator returned for a follow-up review, the analysts fielded questions directly.
Three years in, the bank has extended scope into market risk modelling support. The engagement started as a rescue from a failing provider relationship. It's now a stable, embedded function.
Start small — one or two analysts, a defined scope, a clear review rhythm. Align on templates, methodology, and communication expectations before scaling. Give the analysts work that involves judgement, not just processing. Let institutional memory compound. Expand scope as trust develops.
The engagements that work are the ones where the offshore analysts are treated as colleagues. The ones that stall are where they're kept at arm's length, given narrow tasks, and never allowed to develop context. We're set up for the former. If the latter is what you need, a larger KPO will do it more cheaply.
Tell us what you're covering and how your team is structured. We'll tell you where we can add value — and where we can't.
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