Robotic Process Automation For The Financial Services Industry

Are you constantly on the lookout for new tools to improve business operations? Robotic Process Automation (RPA) could be the technology you’ve been missing out on.

A study shows that 98% of IT leaders believe automating business processes is necessary for getting industry advantages. And this is true because RPA for finance can reduce labor-intensive tasks by up to 80%.

Finance RPA includes non-physical robots like chatbots or custom-built software. These can be used in banking and finance to automate tasks like a human employee would.

Let’s investigate this technology to understand RPA meaning, how RPA can be applied to develop financial products. We’ll explore existing tools and how to get started with them.

What’s Robotic Process Automation In Banking?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that automates repetitive tasks like data entry, account opening, transaction processing, customer support, and compliance checks. RPA finance software bots act like virtual assistants that mimic human actions by working with applications, handling data, following rules, and communicating with other systems.

When we say “RPA” in the context of banking, we mean the application of specialized software and tools to routine, rule-based, and high-volume activities. By automating routine tasks, RPA lets human workers concentrate on tasks like analyzing data, making decisions, and managing customer relationships, all a machine cannot do.

How Robotic Process Automation Works?

Robotics process automation in finance works by running through a determined workflow that provides robots with detailed instructions on what should be done at each step. Once robotic process automation software gains a roadmap, it can autonomously run necessary programs and perform tasks as specified by the requirements.

These days many banks and financial institutions use RPA automation tools in account opening, KYC processes, anti-money laundering strategies, client request processing, and other recurrent tasks.

Four Robot Archetypes To Transform Your Operations And Fuel Banking Automation

As we’ve already clarified ‘what is intelligent automation in financial services’ and how it works, we can state that these virtual assistants can take over iterative human duties and so enable individuals to perform more complicated and mission-critical tasks. 

Consequently, employees can spend more time practicing their knowledge and skills to build better user experiences, encourage innovations, and offset risks. In this section, we discuss 4 types of RPA in banking and fintech that can become your next notable hire:

#1 Verification & validation robots

Working closely with industry-leading banks and fintechs on financial software development activities, we know that your employees spend a lot of time reviewing and approving data provided by consumers, employees, providers, and partners. Howere, robotic process automation in finance and accounting can deal with this as well.

In addition, each employee executes a manual check procedure in their unique style and is likely to make 10 errors out of one hundred provided jobs. Compliance processes might be a headache for your team since there is no constant and predictable flow.

Robotics in the financial industry can:

• Make real-time requests to external and internal systems to authenticate information during the KYC, Customer Due Diligence, and other processes.
• Transform an error-prone operation into a smoothly-running banking automation project.
• Notify a human colleague about a confirmation issue that arises, who’s experienced enough to solve it.

#2 System interoperability robots

Sadly, most businesses still operate on obsolete systems that have been massively modified over the years. When firms are acquired or merged, their basic systems continue carrying out duties in silos, adding much manual work.

Integrating (RPA) financial robots tools can bridge communication gaps between systems that are too cumbersome and complicated to be united. Robotic process automation finance helps different systems talk to each other better and reduce manual work.

System interoperability robots in the financial industry can:

• Connect systems that don’t usually work together.
• Make operations more efficient.
• Improve data flow to be more manageable.
• Link customer databases with payment systems to automatically process transactions.
• Connect older software with new tools to speed up tasks like account management.

#3 Scheduled robots

We all have pre-planned activities or events that take place regularly. For instance, we buy birthday, Christmas, and anniversary presents for our loved ones every year. We renew licenses or subscriptions at fixed intervals. Unfortunately, we all have busy periods and can unpremeditatedly miss the memo, but robotic process automation in financial services can resolve this issue.

Scheduled robots in the financial industry can:

• Automate routine tasks based on predefined schedules or triggers.
• Ensure timely execution without human intervention.
• Be used for tasks like license renewals, regular maintenance, and compliance checks to avoid missing deadlines.
• Automatically generate reports at the end of each month.
• Schedule fund transfers for recurring payments.
• Send reminders for loan repayments to customers based on predefined schedules.

#4 Data input robots

The procedure of copying and pasting readings from one app to another is time-consuming, unreliable, and costly when done by humans. Since most financial institutions are powered by legacy systems, fintech robot assets can be too expensive or may require confusing logic chains.

It is possible to automate the synchronization of data with RPA in finance and accounting industry without the need for complex integrations or a large expenditure. 

Data input robots in the financial industry can:

• Automate data entry tasks.
• Accurately copy and past information between applications without errors
• Simplify data entry processes, improve accuracy, and save time on manual data input.
• Automate the transfer of customer information from online forms to CRM systems.
• Populate loan application forms with relevant data.
• Update inventory records in real-time by syncing data from sales platforms.

RPA Financial Services Use Cases and How You Can Capitalize on Them

In the grand scheme of things, up to 80% of tasks can be characterized as rule-driven, and thereby, they can be operated automatically through finance automation tools. Since the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) industry is strictly regulated and has high data quality and security standards, there is a great increase in the use of robotics process automation in finance organizations:

Automation of Account Opening Process

Businesses can really benefit from robotic automation in financial services when they use it to avoid data errors and speed up account creation. This helps ensure accurate information and saves costs.

For example, banks are using RPA financial services to simplify how they open accounts by automatically entering customer details into their central banking systems. This not only reduces waiting times but also makes sure that the data entered is accurate. 

KYC and AML Automation

Verifying customer identities and checking for money laundering can be much quicker and more accurate. When it comes to getting clients started smoothly, the combination of RPA and AI can pull information from KYC documents and check it against the details in forms using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology.

This process makes sure that the onboarding information is correct and eases the workload for staff who would otherwise have to do it manually.

Q&A and Support Automation

In this case, RPA automates tasks like answering common questions and offering help to customers. RPA handles repetitive questions, responds faster, and makes customers happier overall.

A bank or fintech company can use RPA to automatically answer frequently asked questions on its website with chatbots, etc. This allows employees to focus on more challenging tasks and improve the customer experience.

Fraud Detection and SAR Creation

Sometimes, it may be challenging to identify suspicious activities and create reports about them, but RPA and AI in banking can automate this process. A financial institution uses RPA to scan transaction data and automatically generate SARs (Suspicious Activity Reports) when it detects unusual activities.

RPA makes it easier to comply with regulations and identify potential fraud. As a result, automation makes it easier to comply with regulations and helps identify potential fraud more efficiently.

Mortgage Lending Automation

RPA can automate various tasks related to arranging credit, checking quality, and processing documents in mortgage lending. When businesses integrate RPA into their mortgage lending processes, they can experience smoother operations and reduce the time it takes to approve loans.

Also, robotic process automation finance use cases demonstrate their help in assessing creditworthiness accurately and verifying documents, which leads to faster loan approvals and a better overall experience for customers.

Examples of RPA in Banking

The use of robotic process automation and artificial intelligence in financial services to accelerate processes, reduce costs, and enhance user experiences is not new. Furthermore, considering the diversity of RPA use cases in finance mentioned above, the technology will only keep the momentum going.

While discussing organizations that are ahead of the curve in fintech and accounting automation, we cannot but mention:

• Bank of America and its Pega Robotic Automation solution — a non-invasive software with AI, OCR, and machine learning (ML) technologies that have made it possible for the bank to connect its obsolete systems and patch data integration holes without updating the core technology. Robots are already put in place to execute global payments, service clients for card and mortgage disputes, manipulate data, and process exceptions.
• “Deutsche Bank-RPA” alliance, combined with cognitive capabilities, has also brought positive changes and helped the institution to improve the quality of its services. The bank applies automation in such areas as lending operations, tax, trade financing, cash payments, employee training, and others.
• Nordea Bank utilizes AI-driven solutions to analyze and sort customer inquiries as well as automatically forward them to the appropriate areas for processing. The financial software can process hundreds of queries per second, resulting in better customer service and faster response time.
• At OCBC, RPA-powered software programs (Bob and Zac) are integrated into lending and finance areas to take on time-consuming and recurring duties that don’t require decision-making. Zac helps to generate daily sales efficiency reports. Bob works with housing loans: verifies consumer’s eligibility for home loan repricing, suggests options, and even makes a recommendation draft. The Singaporean bank states that now it takes one minute to reprice a housing loan, instead of the usual 45.
• AXA insurance company combined a neural network model and machine learning (ML) techniques to create a solution that foretells such events with 78 percent accuracy. Moreover, its UK division has also employed 13 robots to deal with routine admin tasks, which allowed them to save 18,000 staff-hours or around £140,000 in six months.

This is only a partial list. Among other insurers, fintechs, and banks using RPA, there are Danske Bank, Union Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Axis Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui, DBS Bank, BNY Mellon, Allstate, and many others.

If you’d like to know how Dashdevs can help you with banking app development or RPA integration, please reach out to us, and we’ll get back to you shortly.

Best Robotic Process Automation Tools for Banks and Fintechs

Automation in the banking industry is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding technologies in the future of fintech since it not only helps companies boost their digital transformation and bring down operating costs but also enhance ROI from their previous IT investments.

Just like in the case of any other innovation used for fintech product development, success with automation is highly dependent on the underlying software that you choose. So far, among the most efficient, powerful, and leading RPA tools are:

#1 UiPath

UiPath is a leading robotic process automation (RPA) tool known for its sustainability in the market.

It comes with Citrix assistance and is suitable for organizations of all sizes. One of its key advantages is that it can be integrated with your existing software without requiring any changes.

UiPath is compatible with various frameworks like .Net, SAP, Java, and more, offering automated data input and supporting desktop and web applications. These features make it a preferred choice for implementing banking and fintech automation.

More benefits:

• UiPath comprises several apps that work together seamlessly, including Platform, Explorer, Orchestrator, Studio, Connect Enterprise, Robots, and Insight. 
• The company provides training and tutorials for technical and non-technical users to make IT process automation, RPA accounting, etc., accessible to everyone.
• UiPath has established partnerships with numerous BFSI companies such as Heritage Bank, PZU, Federal Bank, Eurobank, Lombard International, Maitland Group, American Fidelity, Swiss Re, and many others.

#2 Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere ranks as one of the top RPA tools. It is known for providing cloud-based and on-premise solutions, advanced security features, real-time analytics, and platform flexibility. This tool is perfect for medium to large financial institutions seeking automation solutions.

Its blend of intelligent features with traditional automation allows natural language processing and effective handling of unstructured data.

More benefits:

• Its product lineup includes Bot Store, IQ Bot, Bot Insight, and the Automation Anywhere Enterprise platform, benefiting various automation needs.
• The company offers an online training center to support RPA adoption and learning.
• Notable users of the Automation Anywhere platform include PGGM, St. James’s Place, TreasuryONE, Bancolombia, Genworth Financial, Dai-ich Life Insurance, and other BFSI firms, highlighting its widespread adoption and success in the industry.

#3 Blue Prism

Blue Prism is one more RPA tool for medium to large financial institutions. It uses machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to train bots continuously, allowing them to understand user needs better, mimic human actions, and carry out tasks effectively.

More benefits:

• Blue Prism’s platform-independent RPA system includes Control Room, Object Studio, and Digital Workforce components.
• It offers advanced security features, quick integration (taking 4 to 6 weeks), extensive analytics, and load-balancing capabilities.
• Notable clients using Blue Prism in the financial industry include Barclays Bank, ATB Financial, Ageas UK, The Co-operative Bank, and others.

Step-By-Step Guide on How to Get Started with RPA & AI for Fintechs

To embrace all the advantages of financial robotic process automation, businesses in the finance transformation technology domain need to draw up a preliminary roadmap sequencing their robotics journey:

1. Establish a clear vision and gain leadership backing to acknowledge that intelligent automation is a mission-critical goal with objective performance indicators. What are the business issues that you’re striving to solve? What are you trying to accomplish with automation ― growth, lower operating costs, or better data quality?
2. Consider the effect on processing time, transaction volume, and staff productivity by developing a use case. Begin with simple tasks like payment reconciliation, customer inquiry analysis and categorization, or account servicing. It’s important to set realistic expectations in terms of your cost savings and ROI (return on investment) rates to prevent frustration.
3. Analyze the results and scale. Robotic process automation in banking industry is more than simply an IT project since it has a profound impact on the whole organization. Start with communicating the strategy, benefits of RPA in fintech, and how the technology can improve employees’ roles. Expand to more complex business cases. At this stage, it’s critical to have a reliable implementation partner or form an automation center of excellence (CoE) that will guide, regulate, maintain, grow, and optimize all the processes.

Conclusion

Currently, RPA is the next stepping stone to cost-saving, better accuracy, and control. Combined with the next suite of disruptive technologies, like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), process automation in financial services can provide companies with a remarkable opportunity to reimagine their operating model, boost efficiency, and unleash value associated with customer excellence and employee productivity.

The future of RPA in banking is contingent on business leaders and their ability to substantiate intelligent automation, orchestrate it as a transformation program, and address challenges on-the-fly, from ecosystem to strategy to talent.

We believe the fully-fledged adoption of automated financial solutions is inevitable and will only gain traction as more auspicious cases are published. If you want to discuss RPA integration opportunities for your business — contact us to learn more details.