Designing for Regulated Industries
When Getting It Wrong Has Consequences ...and yet,
wrangling with ambiguous requirements and high-stakes constraints is the part of my work I find most interesting.
Wire Profiles: Designing for Money Movement in a Regulated Environment
The first time FOS took on actual money movement — navigating compliance requirements that reshaped the design at every stage.
Complex workflowsRegulated domains
NDA
The problem
Front Office Solutions had never been accountable for moving actual money. Wire profiles define where and how money is delivered, so any error in a profile is an error in where the money goes.
Key decisions
- Once the PM secured access to official ABA, BIC and SWIFT databases, replaced the internal bank repository with a lookup, putting compliance on the source data instead of on the user.
- After legal review flagged the lack of manager's address in the form, introduced a converter control from familiar address to ISO-formatted, so a legal requirement never became the user's problem.
- Added a profile usage view and an edit-aware approval history after client representatives asked for an audit trail.
Outcome
Approved by legal review, implemented, and received positive client feedback.
- Team
- Product Manager · Engineering · Legal & Compliance · Client Representatives
- Timeline
- ~2.5 months (extended 2 weeks for legal review)
- Users
- Internal operations teams managing cash movement for institutional clients
Voice Of Partner
“Remarkable ability to quickly grasp complex concepts and translate them into intuitive user interfaces.”
— Jef Lear, Design Director · Northern Trust
