Enhancing competitiveness of the customer loan center at Promistar Financial Corporation

When a prospective automobile buyer seeks dealer financing, the dealer typi cally faxes the loan application to a number of banks. The consumer loan ce nter of Promistar Financial Corporation, a medium-sized bank in southwester n Pennsylvania, competes with other banks to finance such loans. Competitio n is fierce with a bank's response time being an important factor in its "w inning" the loan. In order to make more effective staffing decisions, the b ank asked us to assess the relationship between response time and staffing levels at the loan center. What started out as a staffing analysis quickly became much more. The process of data collection and model building to addr ess the staffing issue led to a number of important insights and a variety of recommendations that the bank implemented. This has led to significant i mprovements in the loan center's operations.