Banking on Skills: Inside a Three-Bank Shared Services Rebuild

How First Citizens unified three service teams under one skills-based model

Designing a skills-based organization is not about a new chart or a new tool - it is about routing work by verified capabilities, reducing handoffs, and lifting quality where employees feel it most.

This concise guide distills how First Citizens combined three banks and stood up specialist pods with team leads - covering intake to resolution, cross-training in the flow, light proficiency signals, and the controls that keep sensitive processes safe. Use it to:

✅ Map a simple skills baseline per pod and set clear proficiency levels

✅ Turn on skills-based routing and cut avoidable escalations

✅ Launch a focused cross-training rota that pairs generalists with SMEs

✅ Track impact with a balanced scorecard of FCR, reopen rate, QA, and internal fill