U.S. Bank — Spend Management
Credit-native spend management for SMB business banking, built inside one of the largest regulated financial institutions in the US.
This wasn't a UI refresh. It required rearchitecting product logic so credit behavior felt native to users who already managed their business finances in the platform.
500K+
users on the platform
10M
monthly transactions processed
$7K
average monthly card spend per user
The Problem
The existing product was built around debit workflows that couldn't support credit, different approval models, credit limits, statement cycles, and spend controls. Layered on top: the experience had to live inside U.S. Bank's Online Banking environment, conform to strict regulatory compliance standards, and adhere to Shield, U.S. Bank's proprietary design system. The margin for error was small and the stakeholder surface was large.
My Role
- Led UX strategy and end-to-end execution
- Managed a team of 4 designers across multiple workstreams
- Owned design system integration within Shield
- Aligned product, engineering, legal, and compliance stakeholders
What I Did
Rebuilt core workflows for credit
Redesigned spend controls, limits, approvals, and statement management for how SMB owners actually run their businesses, not how the legacy debit system assumed they would.
Designed pre-approved spend controls
Gave business owners granular control over employee card limits, credit ceilings, monthly spend caps, and real-time adjustment, without leaving the banking environment they already trusted.
Built multi-user approval workflows
Designed the approval request flow so managers could review, approve, or reject card changes on the go, with full context on who requested what and why.
Embedded receipt capture in the transaction flow
Eliminated the manual reconciliation burden by letting employees match receipts to transactions directly in the app, reducing unmatched expenses and finance team overhead.
Delivered 360-degree spend visibility
Built a spend analytics layer across merchant categories, vendors, and departments, turning transaction data into business intelligence SMB owners could act on.
The Tradeoff
We designed beautiful analytics dashboards and reporting pages, and cut them from the initial launch. The minimum viable experience was transactional: add users, issue cards, view transactions, capture receipts. That's where trust gets built, and that's where revenue came from, merchant fees, not analytics screens. We shipped what mattered and deferred what didn't.
Outcome
Successful platform launch within U.S. Bank Online Banking. The platform gave SMB owners real credit-native tools, card controls, approval workflows, spend visibility, and receipt management, in an environment they already trusted. Scalable foundation established for future spend management products within the Shield design system.