Robotic Process Automation for Financial Services: CFO Guide

Automation brings speed, agility, and efficiency to businesses of all types. That being said, robotic process automation for financial services is dramatically changing the industry and finance teams alike. As the global economy evolves with new technologies driving progress forward, RPA in finance is one of the solutions leading the way.

Here, we will cover all there is to know about robotic process automation tools, especially when it comes to finance functions.

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Coming Up

1. What is Robotic Process Automation in Finance?

2. What are the Benefits of Robotic Process Automation for Financial Services?

3. What are the Challenges of RPA for Financial Services?

4. How Do You Use RPA in Finance?

5. How To Identify Processes for RPA?

6. Which Companies are Using RPA?

7. How to Get Started with RPA?

8. What are the Key Vendors Offering RPA?

9. Final Words

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What is Robotic Process Automation in Finance?

Robotic process automation is computer software that deploys bots to mimic human actions to complete repetitive and finite tasks. In finance, COOs and CFOs were eager to adopt RPA because of its wide array of uses for this sector.

RPA can replace the need for humans to conduct data-heavy and time-consuming tasks, of which there are plenty in this industry. To offer some examples, RPA can help to: detect fraud, process applications, offer visibility into processes, boost compliance, open accounts, onboard new clients, and quickly incorporate new regulations into workflows.

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What are the Benefits of Robotic Process Automation for Financial Services?

Robotic process automation for financial services cuts costs dramatically and boosts productivity. In this field, data, processes, and deadlines are inescapable, so managing them can come at a high price.

By utilising RPA, banks and financial institutions can relieve their employees’ of manual duties and free up their time to focus on high-level tasks instead. This simple switch has the power to transform an organisation, especially because clients reap the benefits of better offerings and customer service.

Given the high costs that are associated with compliance in this industry (billions per year), RPA can also aid in reducing risk by decreasing human errors in data and helping to ensure that your team will always meet important deadlines as the bots can complete tasks in a fraction of the time.

Furthermore, financial services can leverage a solution like SolveXia, which includes process automation and also provides additional features like advanced analytics and insights to enable optimal decision-making and accurate forecasting abilities.

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What are the Challenges of RPA for Financial Services?

Many of the challenges of RPA reported by CFOs and CEOs tend to be focused on the actual adoption of a new technology, rather than the technology itself.

For starters, there’s a high resistance to change to using RPA for two main reasons, namely: the fear that the robots will replace human jobs and the fear of change. This is why it’s necessary for business leaders to guide change management such that employees feel comfortable and are aware of the benefits of adopting RPA.

When employees realise that this technology is going to help them get the least exciting parts of their job done for them so that they can rather spend their time on high-level and creative tasks, they are more on board with the idea.

Additionally, there may exist a challenge with aligning IT teams and business departments. Processes must be clearly defined and standardised for the best results from RPA. This hurdle can be overcome using a low-code or no-code solution.

Automation tools like SolveXia can help standardise your processes as you can select from an existing library of actions or customise your own.

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How Do You Use RPA in Finance?

There are so many use cases for RPA in finance. From processing data to creating reports, robotic process automation will undoubtedly save your team a massive amount of time.

Here, we will take a brief look across industry segments to get a clearer view of the possibilities.

Banking

In banking, RPA can be used to generate reports, reduce and detect fraud, and open accounts, to name a few examples. By automating the manual processes of Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML), your institution can catch suspicious bank transactions and even end up preventing them from happening in the first place.

You can also use RPA to onboard new customers, making application processes smooth and efficient.

Insurance

Insurance is rife with tasks for robotic process automation. When it comes to underwriting, RPA can pull information from sources and help to assess a customer’s risk level. RPA can take care of claims processing and hasten the process as the work is data and document intensive.

Lending

When it comes to lending, the process is perfectly suited for RPA because it is time-consuming, has a defined beginning and end, and follows the same steps each time. RPA can handle loan initiation, financial comparisons, process documents, and provide quality control. Loans are granted faster, resulting in increased customer satisfaction.

Regulation & Compliance

Banks and financial institutions are required to produce compliance reports. With RPA, compliance officers no longer have to be bogged down filling out suspicious activity reports (SARs), as RPA technology can handle such tasks.

Data

It’s of utmost importance to have the latest data on your clients. With the large number of people you servie, it could become difficult to keep records up-to-date. Addresses, credit scores, and even names are bound to change. RPA bots can utilise bank statements for reference material, grab the new data, and update records accordingly.

Accounting

When it comes to accounting, you cannot undermine the necessity of having accurate data and figures. Gone are the days when people needed to manually enter data into spreadsheets and double check their inputs. Instad, automation can take over tasks like invoicing, accounts receivables, and account reconciliations.

Consistency Between Systems

RPA has the ability to make sure that data is formatted properly and thus understandable for both bank systems and treasury systems. The data can also be sent from treasury systems to banks and be used to provide customers with updated and accurate account statements.

Report Generation

Rather than having your employees spend time creating countless reports, let RPA do it automatically by sourcing data and generating reports. The bot can also be trained to send out reports in regular intervals to key stakeholders.

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How To Identify Processes for RPA?

From the examples above, it seems like RPA can handle almost anything in the financial services sector. While RPA is highly powerful and useful, there are some key qualifiers that make RPA the right type of automation tool to apply.

The following checklist can help you identify which types of process can be executed and managed with the aid of robotic process automation:

• The process is rule-based (there’s no need for human judgement)
• The process is data-heavy and triggers other processes to take place
• The process is stable and repetitive
• The process occurs in high volume
• The process has a clear beginning and end

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Which Companies are Using RPA?

Companies around the world are incorporating RPA into their organisations to remain competitive, save time, and reduce costs. Notably, companies like AT&T, Ernst & Young, American Express Global Business Travel, and Deutsche Bank all use RPA.

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How to Get Started with RPA?

There are some commonly held best practices that can help get your RPA journey underway. First, begin by listing your business processes and identifying which ones are suitable for RPA.

Along with this actionable step, take into consideration the following:

• Involve your IT team. Even if you select a low or no code solution like SolveXia, it’s good to have your entire team on board and aligned with expectations.
  

• Manage expectations when it comes to scalability. RPA can be extensively applied throughout your organisation, but you don’t want to move too quickly. Start small, gauge results, and then expand.
  

• Maintain a sense of governance. Since RPA bots pull data from what they can access, if an employee changes a password or something similar, it can affect the entire workflow. Set guidelines in place and consider using a checklist.

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What are the Key Vendors Offering RPA?

When selecting the vendor for your RPA needs, keep in mind factors like: scalability, security, and support. Of course, cost will play a role in your decision, too.

Here’s a quick look at some of the top vendors offering robotic process automation for financial services:

1. SolveXia: SolveXia is a human analytical automation software that offers a robust suite of benefits for organisations of any size. The solution comes out-of-the-box and ready to use, or you can code it for specific customisations. Beyond process automation, SolveXia is capable of performing advanced analytics, provides transparency and governance of your processes, and can easily integrate with legacy systems.
   

2. Blue Prism: Blue Prism offers a drag and drop feature and is priced per bot. The solution pairs together RPA and AI for intelligent automation and is flexibly deployed via the cloud.
   

3. Automation Anywhere: Automation Anywhere’s usability is by way of drag and drop features, as well as macro recording. The end-to-end automation tool is web-based and includes a discovery bot, RPA workspace, IQ bot, and insights.
   

4. UiPath: UiPath is a RPA-focused software giving organisations the ability to quickly build automations and run processes at scale. Like Automation Anywhere, there is a macro recording or drag and drop option.

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Final Words

Robotic process automation for financial services has proven its many use cases and benefits. In an industry that is heavily reliant on data and accurate information, this time-saving technology can transform your operations and result in better customer service.

If you’re seeking a software that can automate your processes and also provide advanced analytics to provide valuable insights, try it out first like with SolveXia’s free demo.