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Western Union

Tier 1 Migration – 

Building Holistic Compliance

at Scale

Context & Role

Led a Tier 1 migration as Senior PO and interim PM, accountable for $975k budget, delivery, and 200+ stakeholders.

At Western Union, I led the migration from an external vendor case management system to two in-house back-office compliance systems. This initiative covered EU digital banking transactions (corporate & retail), the US e-wallet, and global retail money transfers.

 

I served as Senior Product Owner and stepped in as Product Manager for three months after the PM’s departure. I was accountable for a $975k budget, coordinating ~200 stakeholders (CRO, SVPs, portfolio managers, 80 developers, and multiple business groups in KYC, AML, Fraud, Global Sanctions, and country compliance officers).

Challenges

Failure risk: >$5M/year in wasted spend + compliance gaps

High Vendor Costs

  • Vendor solution cost $5M annually and was optimized for US banking only → it did not support EU digital banking and wallets.

Fragmented Workflow

  • Analysts worked with 5 fragmented systems with heavy manual effort, including regulatory reporting.

Tier 1 Goal

  • The company had a Tier 1 strategic goal: enable holistic monitoring of all financial products in a single environment.

Firm Deadline

  • The contract deadline was firm (end of June). Any delay risked costly renewal penalties and regulatory non-compliance.

Actions &
Approach

“My approach is pragmatic and resourceful: no matter the circumstances, I focus on maximizing what’s available and driving outcomes that matter.”

French Alps

1

Rapid Domain Mastery

  • Immersed in vendor systems, monitored products, and complex transaction formats.

  • Built credibility by quickly matching the technical depth of IT and compliance teams.

  • Translated complexity into clear business requirements for stakeholders.

  • Positioned myself as the subject-matter anchor after Deloitte documentation loss.

4

Technology Leverage

  • Applied internal AI/ML tools to process large volumes of legacy documentation.

  • Transformed unstructured data into actionable technical insights.

  • Reduced manual investigation effort for developers and analysts.

  • Accelerated onboarding for new team members through better insights.

2

Reverse Engineering the Legacy Integration

  • Led reverse engineering effort with no formal documentation, under strict time/budget.

  • Partnered with developers to map workflows, data flows, and dependencies.

  • Built new “living documentation” to replace Deloitte’s missing assets.

  • Cleared critical path risks that could have stalled delivery.

5

Workflow Redesign

  • Consolidated analyst work from 5 fragmented tools into 2 in-house systems.

  • Simplified case handling across EU, US, and global transaction products.

  • Embedded compliance and regulatory reporting directly into new workflows.

  • Improved efficiency by eliminating redundant processes.

3

Cross-Functional Leadership

  • Orchestrated workshops connecting IT, analysts, and business groups.

  • Unified ~200 stakeholders around shared objectives.

  • Balanced dual role as Senior Product Owner and interim PM.

  • Prevented bottlenecks by ensuring knowledge transfer and alignment.

6

Pragmatic Prioritization

  • Contained scope creep through ruthless prioritization.

  • Focused resources on business-critical outcomes, not perfection.

  • Maintained momentum despite constant new demands from stakeholders.

  • Delivered core capabilities early, avoiding costly contract penalties.

Results
& Impact

Delivered early, saved millions, boosted efficiency, and exceeded user expectations.

Above the Clouds

$5M+ Annual Savings

Eliminated costly vendor contract by moving to in-house systems.

2

Months Early

Completed the migration ahead of schedule despite reduced staffing and ever-increasing scope..

95%

User

Adoption

Business groups confirmed new systems fully met expectations.

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