Bank One

Case Study Prompt

Recently, Bank One acquired First USA bank.

Bank 1 provides the full range of banking services whereas First USA only provided credit cards.

Bank 1 has determined that First USA will run their credit department.

You are on the integration team. What are your concerns in relation to the cultural and organizational issues?

Case Study Overview

Your client is looking to you for guidance. It has recently acquired a competitor and is outsourcing a portion of their operations to the new company. Your job is make sure the integration is smooth and the organization thrives in the transition. In this EY-Parthenon case study, you will need to get to know both companies and their cultures in order to give the client a strong yes/no recommendation on how to move forward. In an M&A case, pay attention to the type of buyer you’re serving – corporate or financial. They have different goals!

Preparing for a first round EY-Parthenon interview? We recommend using the M&A Framework to solve this case, but put your own spin on the framework. The most sought after candidates are those who take an existing framework and bring their own original spin to it utilizing their history and business acumen.

The qualitative difficulty is 2 out of 4, which makes this an intermediate case interview you would more likely see in a EY-Parthenon first round interview.

EY-Parthenon Interview Tips

EY-Parthenon looks for candidates with the ability to come up with customized solutions to business problems.

Avoid any ‘one size fits all’ solutions and make sure your framework is tailored to the specific problem in the case.

In this case, focus on a couple of things:

1. Time yourself throughout the case (2min to build structure and 2min to present it; 2min each for a brainstorming question; 2min for final recommendation)
2. Focus on your overall polish as you walk through the case

For out-loud practice with an expert, book an hour with an ex-MBB coach.