Robotics is revolutionizing the way lots of banking and finance companies do business through something called robotic process automation (RPA). It’s essentially a virtual workforce based on software that frees up human employees to focus on less tedious tasks that only humans do well. One write-up described RPA as “analogous to those giant yellow-armed robots deployed across factory floors in that it changes the calculus of outsourcing/insourcing decisions by automating labor-intensive tasks.”
In terms of specific business benefits, RPA runs the operational gamut from customer service and processing to fraud detection, auditing, compliance and more. It’s also used to automate and increase the accuracy of reports, which involve culling a profusion of details and data and are a key part of the compliance process.
Robotics in Finance
Here are 11 ways robotics technology is revitalizing the financial sector.
Trade Finance
Blue Prism
Location: London, England
How it’s using robotics: Through its software, Blue Prism provides banks with a digital workforce that performs matching and validation, then delivers completed results to the institution’s document management systems.
Trade Settlement
BNY Mellon
Location: New York, New York
How it’s using robotics: BNY Mellon employs RPA to automatically settle trades and confirm appropriate allocation. In the past, that time consuming function was performed manually.
Automated Bank Account Opening
WorkFusion
Location: New York, New York
How It’s Using robotics: To provide customers with an easier onboarding process while increasing accuracy and productivity, WorkFusion eliminates the time consuming process of identity confirmation by digitizing licenses and employing native optical character recognition. After cognitive bots extract information and verify the I.D., an RPA bot transfers the verified data into WorkFusion’s system.
Report automation
EnableSoft
Location: Lake Mary, Florida
How it’s using robotics: EnableSoft’s user-friendly Foxtrot software enables banks to automate a slew of tasks, including labor intensive reports. Using drag-and-drop tools, employees who can manually perform the task are able to train Foxtrot.
Credit Card Reconciliation
Evention
Location: Chicago, Illinois
How it’s using robotics: Among the many functions performed by Evention’s RPA technology is credit card reconciliation. That means consolidating data from various systems to validate revenue accuracy from point-of-sale to general ledger to credit card processor submissions.
Fraud detection and prevention
Paypal
Location: San Jose, California
How it’s using robotics: Online auction giant Paypal employs RPA, among other technologies like AI and machine learning, to detect suspicious activity and differentiate real from false alarms.
Regulatory compliance
Uipath
Location: New York, New York
How it’s using robotics: In deploying RPA to eliminate repetitive compliance tasks and free up human staff for work that involves reasoning and judgement — qualities robots don’t (yet) possess to any advanced degree — UiPath has a central log that stores and monitors robot activities so information is easily accessible for audits and can be updated to reflect shifts in regulations.
Customer Service
USAA
Location: San Antonio, Texas
How it’s using robotics: To enhance customer services, USAA deploys virtual agents (along with artificial intelligence) to make interactions with its human customers feel more real. The company refers to this ability to comprehend behavior and preferences as “digital empathy.”
Invoicing
Billtrust
Location: Hamilton, New Jersey
How it’s using robotics: Using a cloud-based KeyTotal AR platform, KeyBank employs Billtrust’s Quantum Payment Cycle Management software for automated invoice delivery and other accounts receivable services, effectively eliminating repetitive (and labor intensive) tasks and fully optimizing client processes.
Wealth management
Pegasystems
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
How it’s using robotics: In the realm of wealth management, Pega uses artificially intelligent robotic technology to automate and personalize communications. In doing so, the company aims to create a more intelligent, productive and proactive business model.
Mortgage processing
Computing System Innovations
Location: Orlando, Florida
How it’s using robotics: Using CSI's Intellidact AI Process Automation software, real estate professionals can reap the benefits of quick document access, automated data entry and round-the-clock processing — all of which contributes to greater office efficiency, lower staffing costs and more solid data integrity.