Human-Centered Strategy & Design Leadership

• Facilitated discovery workshops to map user roles, evaluate the sponsor bank experience, and uncover pain points in the BIN sponsorship and merchant onboarding process

• Led collaborative sessions to co-create and validate process maps and user flows with stakeholders

• Delivered high-fidelity designs and an interactive prototype for a streamlined case management system

The Challenge

BIN sponsorship is a high-risk process often targeted by fraud and illicit activity. Sponsor banks are accountable for monitoring and mitigating this risk — but one top-10 U.S. bank faced critical gaps due to manual workflows, limited oversight tools, and heavy reliance on third-party information. This lack of visibility made it difficult to detect suspicious behavior and enforce compliance with internal policies and global regulation.

Engagement Scope

A 2-year digital transformation initiative focused on overhauling the BIN sponsorship process — demonstrating the bank’s long-term commitment to regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and merchant accountability across internal policy, card brand standards, and international law.

Strategic Approach

Collaborated cross-functionally to align on pain points, roles and process gapes using a human-centered lens. Key activities included:

• Discovery sessions with stakeholders, end users, and SMEs

• Journey mapping and workflow audits to clarify responsibilities and surface inefficiencies

• MURAL white boarding to co-create future-state processes and share understanding

• Delivered visual artifacts that guided design decisions and development handoff

Design & Prototyping PRocess

Building on discovery insights, I led ideation and design efforts through a collaborative, iterative approach:

• Sketched low-fidelity concepts to explore layout, functionality, and user flows (see examples below)

• Refined into high-fidelity designs and an interactive prototype to support development of the initial product: a dynamic case management system with unified partner and merchant profile views

• Facilitated co-design workshops to shape short & long-term decision models for automated merchant risk analysis

• Aligned designs with compliance needs & operational goals through continuous requirements validations and stakeholder feedback

• Developed a holistic experience that reflects card brand expectations & enhances transparency across the sponsorship process

Outcomes

The redesigned BIN sponsorship system modernized the bank’s approach to risk management & compliance — enabling scalable, secure growth across its merchant portfolio.

• 97% increase in merchant risk reviews

• 50% growth in fee-based revenue within the first year

• $289B in merchant transactions processed In 2023

• 169% increase in merchant sponsorship

• Consolidated 5+ legacy tools into a single integrated platform

Reflections

What Worked Well

• Cross-functional collaboration created strong alignment between design, compliance, and business stakeholders

• Co-design sessions empowered users to shape the system around real workflows, accelerating adoption

• Iterative prototyping allowed for early validation and de-risked development

Future Considerations

• Earlier involvement from engineering could further streamline feasibility assessments during iteration

• Ongoing user feedback loops post-launch would ensure continuous improvement as business needs evolve

• Designing for modular scalability could support additional card brands or risk models with less rework