Give Branches, Field Teams and Control Functions a Structure That Decides Quickly
Set out who reports to whom, who approves what and where the boundary between sales and control sits. Our organisation design services help banks, NBFCs, insurers and advisory firms build a structure that suits a branch network and a field force alike. The aim is faster decisions at the branch, clear ownership and a chart that matches what actually happens.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsThe starting point
Is Your Structure Slowing Decisions or Blurring Control?
Financial services businesses grow by adding branches, clusters, products and channels, and the structure often grows by accretion. Branch managers carry too many reports, regional heads become the answer to every exception and control functions end up reporting into the teams they check.
We help you draw the structure first on paper, then in the way work moves.
You may be experiencing:
- Branch managers who supervise both a sales team and a service desk, with time for neither.
- Field officers who report to different people for targets, for collections and for attendance.
- Regional and cluster heads approving exceptions that the branch should be able to settle within a stated limit.
- Credit, risk or compliance staff whose reporting line runs through the business they are meant to review independently.
- Product, channel and geography teams with overlapping ownership of the same customer.
- A head-office structure designed for a small network and still carried into a large one.
- Acting charges and informal deputies at branches, with no written authority.
What we can help with
Our Organisation Design Services for BFSI Businesses
Structure Review
Map the structure you have: branch, cluster, zone and head office, along with field, channel and product lines, and mark where the chart differs from how work flows.
Branch and Cluster Model
Define the standard branch types, the roles in each and the point at which a branch warrants an additional manager, an operations lead or a cluster.
Field Hierarchy Design
Set the ladder from field executive to area and regional manager, with spans that allow real supervision of sales and collections visits.
Separation of Sales and Control
Draw reporting lines so credit, risk, compliance, audit and operations answer to their own functions, and set out how they interact with the business.
Delegation of Authority
Build an approval matrix by role covering discounts, exceptions, expense limits, hiring and disciplinary steps, with deputies named for each limit.
Role Accountability
Write down what each key role owns: the branch head, relationship manager, collections lead, operations officer and cluster manager, in plain terms.
Multi-Channel Coordination
Settle how branch, tele-sales, digital and partner channels share customers and leads, and who decides when they overlap.
Transition Planning
Plan how and when each reporting change is announced and put into effect, with leadership alignment and review points.
The deliverables
What the Work Produces
Typical deliverables, adjusted to your scope, include:
- A current-state chart showing where structure and practice differ.
- A proposed structure for branches, clusters, field teams and head office.
- Standard branch models with the roles each carries.
- A delegation-of-authority matrix by role, with deputies.
- Role accountability sheets for the key positions.
- Guidance on separating control functions from sales reporting.
- A communication and transition plan with named owners.
- A review date and a short list of questions to ask of the new structure.
Step by step
How We Work
Hear the Leadership
We meet your leaders and the heads of sales, credit, operations, risk and compliance to learn where the structure helps and where it hinders.
Trace How Work Moves
We follow a few real decisions, such as a rate exception or a field-visit escalation, from branch to approver, and note the delays.
Draft Options
We set out structure options with their effect on supervision, control, cost and speed, and recommend one.
Settle Authority and Roles
With your team we agree reporting lines, approval limits and accountabilities, in writing.
Plan the Change
We help you sequence announcements and handovers. Before work starts we record where you stand, and we report against that baseline.
The difference
Clear Lines, Quicker Calls
A clearer structure helps you:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering approval turnaround at branch and cluster level, reports per manager and the number of roles with no named deputy, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Settle routine exceptions at the branch within a known limit.
- Give field and branch staff one clear line for targets and day-to-day questions.
- Keep control functions independent of the teams they review.
- Let branch managers spend more time with their teams.
- Cover absences and acting charges with written authority.
- Add branches and channels without redrawing the chart each time.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Banks and Large Branch Networks
Bring consistency to branch, cluster and zonal structure and to the delegation of authority across a wide network.
NBFCs and Microfinance Companies
Design field hierarchies and collections lines that supervise real visits and keep credit decisions independent.
Insurance Companies and Agencies
Clarify the line between agency, branch, bancassurance and servicing teams, and who owns the customer.
FinTech Companies
Move from a founder-led structure to one with defined product, risk and operations ownership as the team grows.
Investment and Advisory Firms
Separate advisory, research, operations and compliance roles with clear authority and review.
How it usually shows up in banking, financial services and insurance
BFSI structures run from head office to the branch and across product lines. The branch manager is commonly accountable for the customer's experience without authority over the sales officers, credit analysts or collections staff who work there, because each reports to a separate line elsewhere. Two products sold to the same customer by different teams create conflict over credit and incentives. Sales heads sometimes also approve exceptions or review conduct, which means they check their own work. Field supervisors often carry more officers than they can coach.
Common challenges
Where it goes wrong in banking, financial services and insurance
The branch manager is accountable without authority
Sales, credit and collections report elsewhere, so the person the customer sees cannot decide what happens.
Product lines overlap
Two products sold by different teams to the same customer produce conflict over credit and incentives.
Sales and control report to the same person
A sales head who also approves exceptions or reviews conduct is checking his own work.
Spans of control are wide in the field
A field supervisor may carry far more collectors or officers than he can coach or review.
A better process
What a working version looks like
- 01
Define the branch as a unit
Settle who sits in the branch, who they report to for what and who has the authority to say yes at the counter. The organisation design shows the branch and its lines.
- 02
Separate sales from control
Credit, risk and conduct review report to a line that does not earn from sales, so the check is independent.
- 03
Resolve product overlaps in writing
Who owns each customer segment, how credit and incentives are shared, and who decides in a conflict.
- 04
Set realistic spans for field supervisors
Count the officers each supervisor carries and move the outliers, because coaching is what the span is for.
What to check this week
- Ask a branch manager who reports to him and who does not, among the people in his branch.
- Check who reviews the sales head's exceptions and whether that person is independent.
- Find two products sold to the same customer and ask who owns the customer.
- Count the officers each field supervisor carries.
- List the decisions a branch manager cannot make that the customer assumes he can.
What this looks like in banking, financial services and insurance
The parts of organisation design that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Branch, Field and Corporate Structure
Three workforces, one HR function.
What this coversHide
Branch, Field and Corporate Structure
Three workforces, one HR function.
What this coversHideCustomer-facing
- Branch Managers
- Relationship Managers
- Sales Officers
- Field Executives
- Tele-sales
- Customer Service
- Collections
Corporate and control
- Credit
- Operations
- Risk
- Compliance
- Audit
- Product
- Finance
- HR
- IT
- Legal
- Organisation structure
- Branch and cluster structure
- Field hierarchy
- Reporting lines
- Approval matrix
- Span of control
- Position levels
Questions on this, in banking, financial services and insurance
It is the arrangement of teams, reporting lines, roles and approval limits so that the business can sell, serve and control risk at once. It covers the chart and also who decides what, and what happens when that person is away.
We can propose reporting lines that keep control functions separate from sales and describe how they interact with the business. What your regulator expects is for you and your advisers to confirm; we do not give legal advice.
Organisation design decides how work and authority are arranged. Workforce planning decides how many people each role needs and when. They should use the same chart, and many clients commission them together.
Not necessarily. Many changes move responsibilities, reporting lines or approval limits rather than people. Where a change affects someone's terms of employment, confirm the position with a qualified professional first.
The matrix can be used to configure approval workflows on the GullyHR platform or on your own system. We define the limits and routes with you, and you decide who holds each authority.
Yes. A small firm still benefits from knowing who approves what and who covers for whom. We scale the work to your size and keep the output short.
The people who determine the customer's experience in the branch, even where they have a functional line elsewhere. If he is accountable for the result, he needs a say in the work.
Because the person who earns from sales should not approve exceptions or review conduct. Independence is what makes the check mean something, and it is a common reason for mis-selling to be found late.
It depends on the product and the geography. Count the current spans, compare them and move the outliers, so every officer gets coaching and every review gets done.
Yes. A structure that works for a few branches strains at many. Review spans, controls and decision limits whenever the network or the product mix changes materially.
Build a Structure That Grows With Your Network
Give your branches, field teams and control functions clear lines and clear limits, so that exceptions are settled where they arise.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
Book an Organisation Design Consultation
Tell us how your network is organised today and where it creaks.
The general method — what organisation design covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the organisation design page. What is above is the part that differs for banking, financial services and insurance.
Other HR topics for banking, financial services and insurance
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for banking, financial services and insurance, or another industry.