Louis Briffa
Harkness,VIC
Summary
Seasoned banking and finance professional with over 20 years of experience specialising in operations and client services. Demonstrated expertise in enhancing operational efficiency and improving client satisfaction through effective middle management strategies. Core competencies include strategic planning, team leadership, and process improvement, with a goal to leverage these skills to drive organizational success in a dynamic financial environment.
Experienced National Home Warranty Manager specializing in domestic building insurance warranty and regulatory compliance at Master Builders Insurance Brokers. Demonstrated expertise in enhancing customer service and team performance, resulting in a substantial decrease in client issues. Skilled in conflict resolution and process improvement, with a commitment to nurturing robust client relationships and driving operational excellence. Career aspirations focus on further innovative solutions within the home warranty sector.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
Work History
National Home Warranty Manager
Master Builders Insurance Brokers
Melbourne , Vic
04.2024 - Current
- Manage 10 staff members and top-tier builders in the home warranty space.
- Conducted candidate interviews and evaluated qualifications for role suitability.
- Delegated work to staff, setting priorities, and goals.
- Investigated customer complaints related to product quality or service provided under a manufacturer's warrantee policy.
- Monthly 1-on-1 meetings with staff, roll out of new balanced scorecard.
- Hosted monthly webinars educating builders on home warranty space.
- Escalations to VMIA relating to builder updates and challenges.
- Support team members grow their confidence during difficult conversations.
- Update procedures.
- Engage the builder regarding DBI Insurance.
- Advised internal teams on best practices for minimizing risk associated with issuing extended warranties on products offered by the company.
- Developed and implemented procedures for processing warranty claims efficiently.
Client Service Manager
Link Fund Solutions
Melbourne, Vic
09.2022 - 11.2023
- Handled portfolio of 25 clients across tier 1 to tier 3.
- Coordinated updates on AML/KYC compliance within specified SLAs effectively.
- Answering internal and external e-mails and calls in a timely manner
- Manage any ad-hoc queries that may arise
- On a day-to-day basis dealing with internal teams of the business such as Cash, Unit Pricing, Accounting and registry transactions are processed in a timely manner
- Received positive feedback from client engagement
- Updated client KPI decks.
- Implemented quality assurance programs designed to improve the overall customer experience.
- Planned and led team meetings to review business results, and communicate new and ongoing priorities.
- Established effective communication channels between clients and other departments within the organization.
- Provided timely responses to customer inquiries and requests for service.
Transfer Agency (TA) Oversight – Team Leader
Vanguard
Melbourne, Vic
10.2020 - 09.2022
- Manage a team of five on a day-to-day basis, overseeing the daily deliverables of an external vendor for accurate and timely reporting, and cash movements to ensure that the regulatory obligations of vendors are met in accordance with the appropriate legislative requirements.
- Ensured adherence to rigorous internal audit standards.
- Attend third-party vendor service calls weekly.
- Ad-hoc calls as any issues arise between meetings.
- Answering internal and external emails and calls in a timely manner.
- Addressed emerging queries with precision and efficiency.
- On a day-to-day basis, dealing with internal teams of the business, such as cash and registry transactions, are processed in a timely manner.
- Transitioned transaction processing to a third-party vendor.
- Collaborated with internal stakeholders to develop the TA Oversight Process ahead of migration.
- Reduced team incidents for losses to near misses
- Improved team engagement
- Set specific goals for projects to measure progress and evaluate end results.
- Mentored newly hired employees on system operations and implemented training on safety procedures to prevent injuries.
- Participated in regular meetings with senior leadership to provide updates on team progress.
Client Service Manager
Northern Trust
Melbourne, Vic
05.2016 - 10.2020
- Manage clients on a day-to-day basis, monitor the preparation and delivery of accurate and timely reporting and ensure regulatory obligations of clients are met in accordance with the appropriate legislative requirements
- On boarding new accounts, closing/merging accounts
- Setting up calls with Investment Managers
- Conduct client service calls with clients on a fortnightly or monthly basis
- Also have ad-hoc calls as any issues arise between meetings
- Answering client e-mails and calls in a timely manner
- Manage any ad-hoc queries that may arise
- On a day-to-day basis dealing with internal teams of the business such as Cash, Trades, Derivatives, UTM, RM, Transitions
- Initiated process to automate client instructions
- Identified procedural gaps within the clients business in regards to instructions, this has resulted in the reductions of incident reports within the NT business
- Review instruction template suites for all clients, ensuring correct teams are included in instructions
- Implemented quality assurance programs designed to improve overall customer experience.
- Provided timely responses to customer inquiries and requests for service.
- Ensured compliance with applicable laws, regulations, policies and procedures related to customer service operations.
- Planned and led team meetings to review business results and communicate new and ongoing priorities.
Associate - Client Services – Fund Managers
NAB
Melbourne , Vic
07.2014 - 05.2016
- Manage 7 clients on a day-to-day basis, monitor the preparation and delivery of accurate and timely reporting and ensure regulatory obligations of clients are met in accordance with the appropriate legislative requirements
- On boarding new account or closing/merging accounts
- Conduct service calls with clients on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis
- Answering client e-mails in a timely manner
- Manage any ad-hoc queries that may arise
- On a day-to-day basis dealing with internal teams of the business such as Global Cash, Global trades, derivatives, UTM/Registry, CRM, Transitions and Unit Pricing
- Initiated monthly conversations with internal teams, identifying issues of concern and providing points of resolution and preventing bottlenecks
- Identified procedural gaps within the business in regards to NAB’s policy on handwritten instructions, which was rolled out; however, not adhered
- Conducted monthly, quarterly or half yearly service calls with Fund Managers
- Reviews instruction template suites for all clients, ensuring correct teams are included in instructions
- Identified areas of risk within portfolios and took corrective action when necessary.
Team Leader Client Services (3rd Party Global & Domestic Fund Manager Relations)
NAB
12.2011 - 07.2014
- Lead a team of 5 staff, to monitor the preparation and delivery of accurate and timely reporting and ensure regulatory obligations of clients are met in accordance with the appropriate legislative requirements
- Conduct service calls with Fund Managers and Clients, regarding on boarding of new accounts
- To ensure the integrity of information reported to clients and liaise with clients on issues relating to specific area of responsibility and expertise
- Answering client e-mails as per the SLA guidelines
- On a day-to-day basis dealing with internal teams of the business such as Global Cash, Global trades, derivatives, UTM/Registry, CRM, Transitions and Unit Pricing
- Ensuring the team is compliant as per audit requirements; escalating issues to both client relationship managers and internal teams and holding fortnightly 1:1’s with staff, quarterly appraisals, assist with individual development plans (review quarterly)
- Initiated monthly conversations with internal teams, identifying issues of concern and providing points of resolution and preventing bottlenecks
- Identified procedural gaps within the business in regards to NAB’s policy on handwritten instructions, which was rolled out; however, not adhered
- Conducted monthly, quarterly or half yearly service calls with Fund Managers
- Regular meetings with night manager (night team consisting of 5 staff) in regards to issues including quality of responses back to fund managers to improve communication for both internal and external stakeholders
Team Leader Workflow Trades
NAB
07.2010 - 12.2011
- Lead a team of 7 staff, to monitor and record client instructions (Cash, trades, derivatives, internal UTM/Registry instructions, Unit Pricing), verify instructions recorded into internal systems, release payments to the market (11am, equity trades and discount securities)
- Ensuring team is compliant as per audit requirements
- Identify derivative trades and report to the respective team
- People leadership
- Created a transparent environment whereby the lines of communication were open between the Workflow trades team and the client relationship teams
- Also ensuring clients are adhering to SLA’s (service level agreements), this is reviewed quarterly with client relationship managers
- Identified risks, creating an automated process for ADR’s (American Depositary Receipt) resulting in a reduction of approximately 2 hours to the Workflow trades team, and preventing reputational damage risk
- Effective hand over with night teams to ensure client instructions are actioned
- Received internal award as voted by his peers and managers
- Improved closedowns to ensure cash and trade instructions are all recorded and out to market before end of day
- Crossed trained the team to ensure there is no sole person dependencies
- Making sure that the team across all core tasks within the Workflow trade team
- Mentoring role for the Workflow team
- Successfully implementation of transition for a major client
- Create new procedure for Term/Time Deposits
Team Leader Global Corporate Actions
NAB
08.2008 - 10.2009
- To execute client instructions across 20 markets in corporate action events from DRP, Income and bonus issues
- Report holding discrepancies to the fund manager relationship teams and ensure rectification in a timely manner
- Load transactions for client reporting’s requirements, ensuring all currency cut offs were met on a daily basis
- Fund client accounts to ensure no liquidity issues for the client to execute instructions
- Consolidate team training in all currencies, running client report, which eliminated key person dependencies
- Initiated closedowns for continuous errors on corporate actions events, which was resulted in a positive feedback from clients
- Weekly conference calls with Global custodian, which greatly improved relationship and proved to be the main driver to quick turnarounds in queries
- Cited by managers for the ability to multitask across multiple areas and manage day-to-day operations
- Successful completion of Certificate IV in Financial Markets
- Received internal award as voted by his managers and peers
QC Domestic Corporate Actions
NAB
06.2007 - 07.2008
- Verify all Corporate Actions events, making sure all errors are picked up before reporting and market needs
- Escalate holding issues with client relationship teams
- Daily contact with Computershare, confirming client stock balances for DRP events, worked on PE (present entitlements team) for trust securities
- Identify any potential instruction risk
- Part of a team assembled to begin the transition of a major client
- Successful crossed trained the Corporate Actions team in MIT notices for all unit trust companies
- Also worked closely with compliance team to produce procedures
- Trained new starters on core tasks within the team
- Reduced re-work for NZD supplementary dividends
- Error rates greatly reduced as was reflected in performance and scorecard conversations, with client satisfaction also improving
Team Leader Derivatives and Alternate Investments
NAB
01.2006 - 05.2007
- This team was created, to improve the satisfaction of a client that was waning
- The team was designed to deal with these issues as well as perform all derivative events
- Manage all client queries and instruct all payments and receipt for all global cash movements
- Record all derivative instructions onto internal reporting system (HiPortfolio)
- Reduced client reconciliation issues from 600 to 40 in 3 months of starting the team
- Reduction of client issues and turnaround times on client queries from 14 hours to 4 hours
- Client satisfaction increased that within 8 months of the team being assembled
- Improved efficiencies with client instructions
- Crossed trained the team with all core tasks within the Derivative team
- Wrote new procedures for the team
- Received internal award as voted by his managers and peers
Education
Certificate IV -
Financial Markets
Skills
- Warranty management
- Project management
- Regulatory compliance
- Customer service
- Staff training
- Quality assurance
- Team building
- Data analysis
- Conflict resolution
- Client relations
- Process improvement
- Risk assessment
- Stakeholder engagement
- KPI development
- Escalation handling
- Compliance management
Hobbies
- Keeping fit - play football, boxing and cross fit
- Spending time with family
- Watching sport - long suffering North Melbourne supporter
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
National Home Warranty Manager
Master Builders Insurance Brokers
04.2024 - Current
Client Service Manager
Link Fund Solutions
09.2022 - 11.2023
Transfer Agency (TA) Oversight – Team Leader
Vanguard
10.2020 - 09.2022
Client Service Manager
Northern Trust
05.2016 - 10.2020
Associate - Client Services – Fund Managers
NAB
07.2014 - 05.2016
Team Leader Client Services (3rd Party Global & Domestic Fund Manager Relations)
NAB
12.2011 - 07.2014
Team Leader Workflow Trades
NAB
07.2010 - 12.2011
Team Leader Global Corporate Actions
NAB
08.2008 - 10.2009
QC Domestic Corporate Actions
NAB
06.2007 - 07.2008
Team Leader Derivatives and Alternate Investments
NAB
01.2006 - 05.2007
Certificate IV -
Financial Markets
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