Teamwork

TIR

As a start-up of young inexperienced managers, the organisation of the group was somewhat disorganised and definitely lacked governance and controls
The management team were spread across the globe
There were no systems and procedures in place
There were diverse personalities among the management team

An executive team was established that represented all geographies and functions
There was a recognition that all members of the team had value to add and there was a mutual respect from all functions for input of non-function members
As the CFO there was always a requirement to flag governance issues and HR issues
Monthly management meetings were supplemented by quarterly road trips of 3 weeks in duration that provided time to bond and gain an appreciation of the different geographies and corporate cultures
Quarterly board meetings were held and that was an occasion to gain support from the very experienced non-executive board members
A strong relationship with the CEO was critical and was achieved by balancing the conservative demands of a CFO with a constructive problem solving “Can Do” mentality

The team remained intact through the 10 years of growth and became strong personal friends as well as business partners
60% of the team remained after Exit with the acquiring parent and slotted into different parts of the new network

Parent E*TRADE had acquired a minority stake in an Indian brokerage that subsequently listed in India
Indian promoter required more tangible input from E*TRADE to internationalise the business and enhance value through integration with the E*TRADE Group
The India model was a traditional full-service bricks & mortar brokerage model, including many products and services not currently provided by E*TRADE
I had no knowledge of any of the Indian Management team or the marketplace
I was asked to go over and lead E*TRADE’s contribution to the development of InvestSmart
After 2 months in India, the CEO of India indicated that I had been accepted by the broader management team and that he was leaving to pursue new interests and handing the CEO reins to myself.
InvestSmart had a very hierarchical management structure

I first established a management team similar to the structure that we had had in TIR with each of the divisions and functions represented
I made it very clear that the hierarchical structure with me making all of the decisions was not practical and that I would be delegating the decision making in most cases to the appropriate team members but that I would retain full accountability for their decisions
I supplemented the existing team in two areas where expertise was lacking – namely technology and integrated customer service using both local hires and E*TRADE secondments
I engaged the management team in the creation of a strategic plan that mirrored E*TRADE’s integrated model
I provided certain members with E*TRADE resources that would assist them in delivering on their goals as opposed to bringing in E*TRADE personnel to tell them what to do and how to do it and ensured that the local team received the recognition

Within the 18 months we completed the establishment of an integrated CRN system covering key Client products
The platform created was a core value offering that facilitated the sale of the Group to HSBC for $300m

TIR Group was acquired by US listed Group E*TRADE Financial Corporation for US$122 million
E*TRADE’s existing international retail operations had been licensed and ran completely autonomously.
The international operations were majority owned and controlled by third parties
It was essential to integrate my international finance team with the Group Finance team that was US based and work closely with the finance teams at the newly acquired international retail operations

All retail entities were either converted into wholly-owned subsidiaries or sold
An international management summit was held in Bermuda with the MDs of all the major international locations to devise an integrated strategy that leveraged the management experience and infrastructure of the TIR Group
An international finance summit was held at Group HQ with the lead finance people from the major overseas locations to look at ways to integrate the financial reporting and to ensure that the tight group reporting timetables were achieved
One of the TIR Regional MDs was appointed to lead the transition of the international retail division to profitability along with myself as finance lead and the TIR COO as the operations lead
The large international overhead structure in US was dismantled and replaced with existing resources from the combined international group
Close working and collaborative relationship were built with all international management teams
Offices were combined in jurisdictions with more than one office

Within 18 months we had taken the business to break-even and on a solid platform to grow
UK and Swedish operations became fully integrated in single offices
The group successfully launched additional retail operations from the TIR platforms in Asia and Middle East

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