UBS

Diving into the challenge of modernizing a 20-year-old legacy system at UBS, an investment company that transacts an average of 500 million dollars per day. The project resulted in a significant performance boost, propelling UBS into the forefront of stock market technology.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

The project was undertaken for UBS Switzerland AG (Brazil), a multinational investment bank and financial services company. The segment for this project was Investment / Banking. The product, NES Web App, was designed as core consulting and operations software with stock exchange integration (B3).

PROBLEM

UBS faced the challenge of replacing two 20-year legacy systems used in the bank for investment banking and management services. The existing systems were outdated and caused delayed information on the consulting screen, which critically impacted end-customer investment decisions.

TEAM AND TIMELINE

Guilherme Theodoro served as a Product / UX Designer for the project, collaborating with a cross-functional team including Developers, Traders, Financial stakeholders, and Business Analysts. The project lasted one year and two months, from January 2019 to March 2020.

SOLUTION

The objective was to develop better performing software. Guilherme led the design of the new web application, NES Web App, focusing on improving stock market trades. His approach involved:

• User research and interviews.
• Conducting Competitive Analysis and Usability Reviews.
• Leading Co-Creation Workshops.
• Designing and testing prototypes using tools like Sketch and Invision.
• Implementing an Incremental Design approach for fast and continuous delivery, with tasks organized by User Stories.
• Creating a local design system based on the bank's global guidelines, utilizing tools and principles for Design for Scale such as Zeplin Styleguides, Sketch Components, and React Behavior Components.
• Designing the final interface for development. His role also encompassed managing stakeholder expectations, ensuring user-centric design, and turning complex tasks into intuitive products.

IMPACT

The NES Web App project delivered a highly impactful transformation for UBS Brazil, successfully replacing two decades-old legacy systems that had hindered operational efficiency and customer decision-making. This modernization effort led to significant improvements in performance and speed, with the overall performance of operation response increasing by an impressive 91% following comprehensive trading operation tests.

These enhancements were crucial, resulting in greater accuracy in stock prices and a higher financial operating volume for UBS, which directly contributed to increasing their revenue. The new NES Web App not only introduced numerous new functionalities and operational ease but also solidified its position as the main investment operations software for UBS Brazil, notably becoming the first native software to be integrated with the Brazilian stock exchange (B3). Even after Guilherme's direct involvement, the project continued to thrive for another two years, underscoring its foundational success and strategic importance.