Reducing Agent Network Costs

The Business Challenge

A major international banking group was looking to improve the level of control and transparency over their agent bank management process. They had strong suspicions that inefficiencies, manual processes and errors on both sides were leading to financial losses and risks. However, they lacked the ability to get a clear and accurate view over their custodian network.

By implementing BCS arc, not only did our client eliminate errors and standardise a global process, but they also realised significant cost savings as a result.

Reducing Costs and Risks

It can be difficult to know, or at least prove, that you have a problem when it comes to the accurate and timely capture and reconciliation of agent invoices. Using BCS arc’s intuitive and efficient user interface, our client’s agent invoices were initially keyed in manually by a team based offshore. Through the validation and partial automation that this more structured approach provided, our client was immediately able to highlight and eliminate issues of overcharging or double invoicing from their agents. In addition, they also improved the level of data quality being entered; a move which our client estimates saved them more than £500,000 in the first year alone.

Improving Process Efficiency

Our client eventually wanted to go further and eliminate as much of the manual effort as possible by switching to the automated invoice upload features of BCS arc. After setting up some simple mappings, they are now capturing and reconciling a large proportion of their agent invoices as a straight-through process. This has helped our client halve the total time required each month to accurately record all their agent invoices.

Global Static Data Repository

BCS arc serves as a centralised repository for all agent network information in a single, consistent and globally-accessible location. By implementing BCS arc and taking advantage of features such as client-defined custom fields, template contracts and document management, our client is now able to record all the relevant detail about an agent relationship including accounts, fees, contracts and more, twice as fast as previously, with worldwide teams all accessing the same data.

Increasing Visibility and Compliance

Leveraging BCS arc’s combination of customisable fields, static data and powerful reconciliation functionality, our client has also gained value from the Flexible Reporting and ‘What If’ Scenario modelling functionality available in BCS arc. Whether it’s quickly and easily comparing the potential benefits of changing agents or tariffs during a renegotiation, creating and sharing customised reports to attribute and re-charge transaction costs internally, or simply producing accurate, targeted reports to support internal or regulatory compliance requirements, BCS arc has brought an unprecedented level of control and transparency to our client’s global custodian costs.