Credit cards for the sub-prime market

When one of the largest credit card issuers provided secured credit cards to people with poor credit, the customers would spend to the limit of the deposit they had put on the card, and then not pay it off, as if the card were a pre-paid debit card. This led to a charge-off, costing the bank and hurting the credit of the user. They sought a way to instill behaviors that would build credit for the user, allow them to migrate to an unsecured credit card, and better understand how a revolving credit card worked.
We constructed a number of different financial board games that emulated elements of secured and unsecured credit, embedded within a larger financial context. Participants played the game and provided real-time feedback on their decision-making.
A new type of product was devised, one that combined a savings account with a secured credit card. To obtain the card, users had to deposit money into a savings account that they could monitor. This savings account was collateral against the line of credit. When they received their monthly credit card bill, money was withdrawn from their savings account if the bill was not paid. This would trigger loss aversion with the user who would rather pay their monthly bill than lose their savings. Everyone was better off.

Uncovering ultra high net worth investors

One of the largest US banks struggled to gain more than a surface understanding of the ultra high net worth customer. Elusive and busy, these potential customers were uninterested in participating in typical research.
Recruiting was central to success. We leveraged social networks to recruit individuals who had family offices or who had recently exited from significant acquisitions. IDIs that were sensitive to their schedules and interests produced layers of findings that we unknown to the bank.
A robust ethnography was produced that profiled individuals within the context of their larger families that often defined the financial boundaries of their net worth. This ethnography uncovered economic activities that HNW individuals were engaged in to build their worth, where the bank was not playing, outside of the securities space.