5 Uses for RPA in the Banking Industry
Banks are always finding ways to deliver the best possible experience to their customers. Whether it’s by streamlining internal processes or automating customer service requests, the ability to remain competitive is always at the top of the list for executives. To meet the demands of performance while also keeping costs low, banks are using robotic process automation (RPA) as an effective tool to make this happen.
The shift to a virtual workforce to reduce back office processes has now increased productivity levels and reduced expenses. The use cases for RPA in banking covers the board – from regulatory compliances, onboarding, service desk automation and payment processing. RPA makes it possible for financial institutions to endeavor towards new initiatives and innovative experiences for customers.
- Customer service. Customer contact centers process a high volume of simple, repetitive tasks across a number of systems. The disadvantage is the wait time a customer experiences from the rep that is busy dealing with retrieving the data, or even worse, requesting information that had already been provided during a call. RPA resolves common customer issues such as resetting a password, and automates multi-step, complex tasks. Everything from loading a customer’s profile and reviewing payment history to flagging fraudulent activity can be done within seconds using a robot. RPA helps automate manual tasks and resolves low priority queries, freeing up your customer service team to focus on improving the customer experience.
- Compliance. There are many rules, regulations and laws for banks to follow that financial institutions have departments dedicated to compliance. Duties can range from monitoring trade activity and staff communication to risk reporting and preventing money laundering. Regardless of the specific tasks required, the role of the compliance team is to be proactive within the company. It can become laborious to adhere to every single rule. RPA helps improve the compliance process by collecting and compiling large amounts of data, eliminating these mundane tasks from employees.
- Report automation. A key part of compliance is preparing reports. That entails having accurate data with no error. RPA gathers this information across multiple systems, validates it and produces the information needed in the format you need – with no human error. The same report automation can be used when preparing your own financial statements. Given the enormous amount of details and data needed to create a financial statement, instead of having people prepare the report, use RPA to collect the information.
- Credit card processing. Instead of taking weeks to approve a credit card application, the waiting period is now just a few hours. RPA gathers documents and runs background and credit checks to make an immediate decision. Based on parameters you set for eligibility, the entire process can be streamlined through software.
- Fraud detection. Fraud cases increase with every advancement of technology, making it difficult for banks to check every transaction for identity fraud. Banks can use an “if-then” algorithm to identify potential fraudulent activity with robots. This information is also posted in a report for analysts working on preventing fraud. When done manually, it can take an employee one hour to review a case compared to an automated system that can complete the review and report in a few minutes. RPA is useful when assessing customer risks and predicting fraudulent activity.
There are several use cases for RPA in banking. Whether it’s onboarding, the service desk, reporting or automation, using a virtual workforce will help you deliver the best value for business. You’ll also see the return on investment within months of implementation.
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