Trade · Citi · Insurance Letter of Credit

Making collateral monitoring easier to find, understand and act on.

IL for Reinsurers helps treasury and inputter users search a Letter of Credit, understand balances and transaction history, and reconcile surplus or shortfall amounts without depending on fragmented reports and difficult navigation.

RoleUX Researcher / Product Designer
Research3 clients · 6 participants
PersonasTreasurers · Inputters
ScopeResearch → concepts → detailed UX
CitiDirect Letter of Credit details and transaction history

The functionality existed. Finding confidence in it was the problem.

Users were heavily dependent on weekly or monthly Collateral Valuation and Account Statement reports. The product had useful LC information, but awareness, navigation, data visibility and drill-down made routine reconciliation harder than it needed to be.

Monitor

Find the latest position for a particular LC, liability account and collateral group.

Reconcile

Understand surplus or shortfall and determine whether funding action is needed.

Act with confidence

Reduce dependence on report snapshots, internal records and support follow-ups.

Three client conversations gave us the workflow, not just opinions.

We interviewed Renaissance Re, Sirius Point and QBE: six participants across Treasurer and Inputter roles, with roughly three hours of interviews. The study validated journeys, search and drill-down behaviour, monitoring workflows, current usage and pain points.

6

participants across three clients

150+

captured data points across workflows, needs and pain points

5

priority user journeys identified

Research data and affinity observations

Research synthesis: observations grouped across the three client interviews.

Top five user journeys

The research converged on five high-value monitoring and reconciliation journeys.

Four signals shaped the redesign.

Instead of showing the full research deck, this portfolio view focuses on the findings that directly influenced the experience.

5/6

Latest LC status matters

Participants prioritised searching a particular LC and getting its latest balances and collateral details.

5/6

Reconciliation is core

Users needed to understand surplus/shortfall and initiate funding when required.

4/6

Awareness was low

Four participants said they were not aware of functionality already available in IL for Reinsurers.

Real-time confidence

Report snapshots led users to maintain internal records, hold transactions and contact support while waiting for confirmation.

Navigation created friction

Complex navigation, missing information and hidden drill-down behaviour made users feel training was required.

“Too many popup’s, too many steps. It’s overwhelming, sometimes less is more.”

— Research participant

Turn the research into a shorter path from search to action.

01 · Start with search

Make customer, account and LC number entry visible at the top so users can reach the right context quickly.

02 · Surface the balance

Bring collateral group, liability and surplus/shortfall information forward instead of making users hunt through reports.

03 · Drill down progressively

Move from group → account → LC → transaction detail while retaining context and providing filters, export and actions.

Design principle

Prioritise the questions users repeatedly asked support: Where is the LC? What changed? What is the balance? Is there a surplus or shortfall? What do I need to do next?

A connected monitoring experience from collateral overview to transaction history.

The proposed and detailed screens connect dashboard search, collateral group summary, account details, LC details and pending transactions into a more coherent information hierarchy.

Proposed IL for Reinsurers dashboard

Dashboard: search plus collateral summary.

Collateral group summary

Collateral group view: balances and account-level detail.

LC details and transaction history

LC details: key information and transaction history in one context.

Pending beneficiary acceptance

Pending work: clearer status-driven views for follow-up.

Research created a clear product direction.

The study converted scattered feedback into prioritised journeys and UX recommendations: real-time collateral/account summaries, optimized search, clearer drill-down, funding actions, customizable balance views and downloadable/scheduled reports. The source material documents concept evolution with stakeholder and technology teams followed by client validation as the planned next step.

Prioritised

High-frequency journeys centred on checking balances, monitoring customer liability accounts and reviewing LC details/listings.

Reduced ambiguity

The redesign organised information around customer, account, LC and transaction context rather than disconnected navigation.

Evidence boundary

No unsupported business KPI is claimed here. The case study shows documented research findings, recommendations and the resulting design direction.