Home -> IT Automation and Operational Efficiency Enhancement for a Wealth Management Firm

Finance

IT Automation and Operational Efficiency Enhancement for a Wealth Management Firm

Focus Areas

Data Transformation

Automation

Business Problem

Manually processing key workflows such as trade reconciliation, account opening, and tax preparation led to delays, and errors, and impacted client satisfaction for a wealth management company. The firm needed to standardize and automate these processes to reduce errors, daily operational issues, and client dissatisfaction.

Key challenges:

Process Inefficiencies: The manual processes were time-consuming and error-prone leading to substantial delays in daily operations and inability to handle trades and account setup in time.
Peak Periods: During times of high demand, such as tax season, the lack of automated processes led to the operational team struggling with scaling operations and keeping up with the higher volume of transactions and client requests.
Tax Reporting: The risk of errors and compliance issues increased due to the manual tax reporting process and affected financial accuracy and timely reporting.
Client Satisfaction: Delays in account setup, inaccurate reporting, and longer turnaround times for client requests reduced overall client satisfaction.

The Approach

Curate consultants worked closely with the company’s internal teams, identified key areas for improvement, and came up with a solution that involved the implementation of a Trade Order Management System (OMS), automation of account opening and tax reporting processes, and standardizing key workflows to improve operational scalability.

Key components of the solution:

Discovery and Requirements Gathering: Working closely with the company’s operations, client service, and IT teams, Curate carried out a comprehensive asset of the existing workflows and identified the important improvements to be made:
- Reduce manual errors and delays by automating trade reconciliation and account setup processes.
- Enhance operational scalability by standardizing and streamlining processes for peak periods.
- Ensure compliance and accuracy by implementing automation for tax reporting.
- Increasing the accuracy of financial reports and improving time to respond by enhancing client service.
Trade OMS Implementation: Curate implemented a Trade OMS to automate trade reconciliation and improve overall operational efficiency.
- OMS: A custom OMS was integrated and configured to pull trade data from different platforms, reconcile discrepancies, and ensure that all trades were accurately reflected in the firm’s records. This automation of trade reconciliation processes would substantially reduce manual intervention.
- Real-Time Processing: The firm could respond to market changes quickly because of the real-time visibility that the OMS provided. The system automatically flagged reconciliation eros which allowed the team to swiftly resolve issues and maintain accurate records.
Standardizing Workflows and Scalability: Key workflows were standardized to improve operational scalability, particularly for peak periods.
- Standardized Workflows: Standardized workflows were introduced that could be scaled up or down depending on the volume of transactions. This reduced variability in processes, and enhanced the efficiency of handling high volumes of client requests and financial data.
- Scalability: The company could easily scale operations due to the automated workflows and handle increased requests during times of high demand.
Stakeholder Engagement and Change Management: Curate worked closely with the firm’s internal teams, vendors, and platforms throughout the project to ensure the successful implementation of automation and workflow standardization.
- Internal Teams: Regular meetings were held with the firm’s IT and operations teams to address concerns, ensure alignment with business goals, and ensure seamless integration of the new OMS and automation solutions with existing platforms and tools.
- Platforms and Vendors: Curate coordinated with third-party vendors and platform providers to ensure the compatibility and proper optimization of the OMS and automation tools with the firm’s existing IT infrastructure, financial platforms, and operational needs.
- Training and Change Management: Comprehensive training and change management sessions were provided to the internal teams on using the new OMS, automation tools, standardized workflows, handling the new processes, and maintaining operational efficiency.

Want to learn how Curate  can help your business?

Business Outcomes

Enhanced Efficiency

The firm could handle a higher volume of transactions without increasing the staff due to the reduction in the time required to complete trade reconciliation and account setup processes.

Reduced Errors

Automating tax reporting and account opening minimized errors, improved regulatory compliance, and ensured accurate financial reporting during peak periods.

Improved Scalability

Operations could be scaled easily during busy periods without compromising service quality or accuracy with standardized workflows and automated processes.

Sample KPIs

Here’s a quick summary of the kinds of KPI’s and goals teams were working towards**:

Metric	Before	After	Improvement
Account opening time	5 days	2 days	60% reduction
Trade reconciliation time	4 hours/day	1 hour/day	75% reduction
Tax reporting errors	10 errors/season	1 error/season	90% reduction
Scalability during peak periods	Limited	Scalable (automated)	100% improvement
Client satisfaction (survey scores)	7/10	9/10	2-point improvement

**Disclaimer: The set of KPI’s are for illustration only and do not reference any specific client data or actual results – they have been modified and anonymized to protect confidentiality and avoid disclosing client data.

Customer Value

Improved Client Satisfaction

Faster account setup, enhanced tax reporting, and timely responses to client inquiries led to higher levels of client satisfaction and trust in the firm.

List of skills, tools, and technologies

The following set of skills, resources, tools, and technologies were used:

Automation Engineers: Expertise in workflow automation, IT process optimization, and integrating financial systems with automation tools.
Software Developers: Experience in developing and customizing Trade OMS and tax reporting solutions.
DevOps Engineers: Skilled in automating processes using CI/CD pipelines, ensuring scalable and efficient IT infrastructure.
Compliance Specialists: Proficient in regulatory compliance and tax reporting requirements, ensuring that automated processes adhere to industry standards.
Project Managers: Expertise in cross-functional team management, vendor coordination, and ensuring the successful delivery of complex IT automation projects.
Change Management Experts: Skilled in training and supporting internal teams during process transitions and technology upgrades in some of the best wealth management firms.

Tools & Technologies

Automation Platforms: Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath for process automation
Trade Order Management System (OMS): Custom OMS developed with ASP.NET, integrated with financial trading platforms
Tax Reporting Automation: SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Power BI for real-time tax reporting and financial analytics
Data Integration: SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) for automating data flows between systems
Collaboration & Project Management: Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Teams

Conclusion

Curate significantly improves the firm’s operational efficiency by implementing a Trade Order Management System (OMS) and automating key workflows for account opening and tax reporting. The automated processes reduced manual errors, sped up operations, enabled the firm to scale its services during peak periods, and provided more accurate financial reporting, leading to improved client satisfaction. Enhancing the scalability positioned the firm to handle future growth without compromising service quality.

All Case Studies

View recent studies below or our entire library of work

Let’s Build Your Success Story Together

Expert solutions. Specialized talent. Real impact.