Key Takeaways
- Citizens' underwriters and portfolio managers are tasked with turning large volumes of data into client-ready context and analysis, and speed matters because time is limited for every client.
- Integrating IBISWorld data directly into the deal workflow means colleagues can pull summarized, condensed information at the click of a button instead of aggregating it manually, saving time and speeding up client response.
- Citizens values IBISWorld's human-verified data because it matches their own approach: humans provide the context, and humans make the decisions.
Watch Darran Wee and Kim Kashon of Citizens explain why sourcing and methodology matter as much as speed, and how integrating IBISWorld into their workflow changed both.
Too much data, not enough time to make it useful
Underwriters and portfolio managers at Citizens don't have a shortage of information. If anything, they have the opposite problem. "We receive tons of information and tons of data," says Darran Wee, who works on AI deployments across the bank's commercial banking business, covering portfolio managers and underwriters. The work isn't finding data. It's aggregating it, adding context, and turning it into analysis that relationship managers and credit constituents can actually use to get a deal done.
Kim Kashon, who works in underwriting and portfolio management at Citizens, points to the pressure this puts on deal preparation. Clients expect a fast, informed response, and every deal structure needs to be built around that expectation, not around however long it takes to pull the underlying research together.
Why sourcing matters as much as speed
Before Citizens can build a decision on a data source, that source has to earn trust. "We do depend on very trusted sources that have stated methodologies and are thinking of ways that their clients use data," Wee says. For him, IBISWorld fits that bar because the data comes with a clear methodology and lineage behind it, not just a number without context for where it came from.
That distinction matters more in commercial banking than almost anywhere else. A credit decision built on data with no visible methodology is a decision that's hard to defend later. A credit decision built on data with a documented lineage and a trusted brand behind it is one a team can stand behind in front of a client or a credit committee.
Summarized data at the click of a button
The bigger shift for Citizens has been integrating IBISWorld data directly into the deal workflow. Instead of colleagues pulling out raw research and aggregating it themselves, they can now access IBISWorld data in a summarized, condensed format at the click of a button while they're building a deal structure.
Kashon describes the effect as a meaningful time save for internal teams, one that translates directly into how quickly Citizens can respond to a client. IBISWorld functions as a single point of infrastructure the team can rely on to pull data and bring it back into an informed client conversation, rather than one source among many that each need separate handling.
Human-verified data, delivered the way Citizens already thinks
For Wee, the fit runs deeper than convenience. IBISWorld's human-verified approach to data lines up with how Citizens already thinks about analysis: humans provide the context, and humans make the decisions. Being data rich and analysis rich at the same time is a tall order, and having a partner that approaches credit and company evaluation the same way Citizens does makes that undertaking achievable rather than aspirational.
A partner, not just a data source
What Citizens describes isn't just faster access to information. It's a data partner whose methodology, verification standards, and workflow integration match the way their own underwriters and portfolio managers already think and work. That alignment is what turns a data subscription into a partnership.
Visit ibisworld.com to learn how IBISWorld supports commercial banking teams or talk to your IBISWorld Client Relationship Manager about integrating human-verified industry data into your credit workflow.
