Found CommSec customers were using a trading account like a savings account, and redesigned the experience.

A DMAIC programme across CommSec's Client Services that uncovered a product-market mismatch, then redesigned account opening with a demo account and a cleaner flow. Result: a multi-million AUD uplift in consumer trading and deposits.

Case at a glance— 01

Problem type

Redesign at scale

The mandate

Find the real reason rejection rates and call volumes were so high across four product streams, then redesign the experience without disrupting a live trading platform.

Workstreams

Distinct parts of the intervention

Headline result

Multi-$M AUD

Trading & deposits uplift

Measured outcomes— 02

Multi-$M AUD

Trading & deposits uplift

Demo account introduced

Product streams redesigned

DMAIC

Full Lean Six Sigma cycle

The situation— 03

Context

What was happening.

CommSec was Australia's largest online broker. The original consumer trading product had been rushed to market to compete, and the user experience was never fully thought through. Origination lead times, application rejections and inbound CSO call volumes were all under pressure across Cash & Broker, Account Maintenance, Special Accounts and Margin Lending.

Mandate

What had to change.

Find the real reason rejection rates and call volumes were so high across four product streams, then redesign the experience without disrupting a live trading platform.

What changed

The moves that made the difference.

— 04

The intervention, broken into the moves that mattered.

Highlights

6 moves

Ran a full Lean Six Sigma DMAIC programme across Cash & Broker, Account Maintenance, Special Accounts and Margin Lending, with measurement baselines on complaints, rejections, lead time, CSO call volumes and pending applications.
Took the team through structured outreach to existing and new customers, the conversations that revealed many account holders did not realise they had opened a trading account and were using it like a savings account.
Reframed the problem from 'process inefficiency' to 'product-experience mismatch', the original product had been rushed to market to compete and the UX had never been finished.
Led the team to redesign the account opening experience: a demo account so customers could try trading before committing, plus a cleaner, faster opening flow that set the right expectation up front.
Mapped COA, CON, COB and Margin Lending processes and the Account Opening floor plan to remove motion, waiting and rework waste from the front office.
Coordinated a core team of 6 with extended SMEs across CommSec operations, tracking progress through CBA's Define / Measure / Analyse / Improve PSG governance pack.

What I would carry forward

“The data said 'fix the process'. The customers said 'we didn't know what we were buying'. The real win came from listening to the second one and redesigning the product experience, not just the workflow behind it.”

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