How banking process automation drives operational efficiency

In recent years, the financial services industry has been marked by economic uncertainty, evolving customer demands, and the rapid emergence of transformative technologies. For traditional banks, competition has never been fiercer. Not only must they compete with one another but also with innovative digital-first fintech challengers. Remaining relevant and differentiating themselves in this crowded marketplace is an ongoing uphill battle.  

At the same time, regulatory authorities are introducing more stringent and comprehensive compliance and reporting standards as part of their effort to ensure stability, transparency, and trust in the financial system. For banks, adhering to these standards while maintaining operational efficiency is a delicate balance. 

In this dynamic environment, banks must adapt swiftly. Embracing emerging technologies and integrating innovative solutions across systems and processes is crucial to remaining agile, competitive, and compliant. And banks must simultaneously continue giving customers the personalized, seamless digital experiences and immediate responses they’ve come to expect. 

That’s why banking process automation is becoming a primary strategic focus for institutions seeking to transform their operations. Document automation plays a critical role in this strategy, enabling banks to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. 

What is banking process automation? 

Banking automation is a transformative force reshaping how institutions handle their banking processes. With banking process automation, tasks that once demanded intensive manual work are now streamlined through sophisticated software and technology. 

By automating core processes, banks can refine, enhance, and expedite everything from simple transactions to in-depth financial reporting and analysis, achieving unparalleled levels of efficiency, agility, innovation, and customer responsiveness. 

How does document automation fit in? 

The financial services industry is renowned for being document-heavy, so banking employees, customers, partners, and regulators have become accustomed to wading through a constant deluge of documentation. Whether it’s physical paper, electronic files, or a mixture of both, the risk of something getting lost in the shuffle is very real.  

Document automation combines tools and technologies to seamlessly manage a bank’s documents, including creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, and disposal. By automating key business documents, banks can reduce tedious, repetitive manual work, improve data quality, reduce the risk of errors, and strengthen their brand.  

In the banking sector, document generation software is widely used for :  

• Account opening documents, Know Your Customer (KYC) forms, and customer onboarding 

• Mortgage and credit applications and agreements  

• Custodial forms 

• Account updates related to address changes, beneficiary updates, or account closures 

• Ad hoc customer communications, invoices, and account summaries 

• Regulatory disclosures, such as terms and conditions, fee schedules, and privacy policies 

• Compliance reports, internal and external audit trails, and other paperwork needed for regulatory submissions 

• Risk assessment reports, policy documentation, and internal control procedures 

• Internal memos, policies, and procedures 

What to look for in a document automation solution 

Here are some critical features a document automation tool should have to support the unique needs of banks and credit unions:  

Template management 
Your document automation solution should allow you to create, customize, and manage templates for various types of documents, including loan agreements, account opening forms, compliance reports, and regulatory disclosures. Templates should be easily configurable to accommodate changes in regulatory requirements or internal policies.  

Data integration 
The best document management solutions enable seamless integration with core banking systems, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and other internal databases to automatically populate documents with customer information, transaction data, and other relevant data points. This reduces the risk of manual data entry errors and ensures accuracy and consistency across documents.  

Compliance checks 
Built-in compliance checks and validation rules ensure that generated documents comply with regulatory requirements, industry standards, and internal policies. Importantly, your tool should alert users to any compliance issues or discrepancies and provide guidance on addressing them.  

Version control 
Look for solutions with version control functionality that allows you to track changes, revisions, and approvals for each document throughout its lifecycle. This will ensure that users always work with the latest version and maintain an audit trail of changes for regulatory purposes. 

Workflow automation 
Workflow automation capabilities streamline document approval processes, routing documents to the appropriate stakeholders for review and sign-off. Automated workflows improve efficiency, reduce turnaround times, and ensure accountability in the document management process.  

eSignature integration 
It’s essential that document management solutions integrate seamlessly with electronic signature platforms to facilitate digital document signing. Customers and employees can sign documents securely from any device, streamlining the document approval process, eliminating the need for paper-based signatures, and enhancing the overall customer experience.  

Document security 
Robust security features are vital for protecting sensitive customer information and confidential documents from unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyberattacks. Here, core functionality to look for includes encryption of data in transit and at rest, role-based access controls, and audit logging capabilities.  

Document retrieval and archiving 
Advanced search and retrieval functionalities will ensure your teams can locate and retrieve documents from a centralized repository quickly. The best tools also support long-term document archiving to ensure compliance with regulatory retention requirements.  

Reporting and analytics 
Reporting and analytics capabilities allow banks to track document generation metrics, monitor compliance performance, and identify areas for process improvement. Customizable reports and dashboards enable users to gain insights into document workflows, trends, and patterns.  

Scalability and customization 
Scalability means being able to accommodate the long-term needs of banks and credit unions of all sizes, from small community banks to large multinational institutions. Look for tools that can grow with you, offering flexibility and customization options to adapt to your unique business requirements and workflows.  

Document automation in action: HFM Investment Advisors 

For nearly 30 years, private and commercial clients have relied on HFM Investment Advisors to help plan their financial futures. As part of their service, HFM delivers guidance in the form of client action plans. These multi-page documents are regularly sent to clients to highlight their personal financial goals and the steps needed to reach them. 

Previously, HFM’s advisors had compiled and updated these action plans manually, which involved copying and pasting data from multiple spreadsheets into a document, formatting the report, and sending a PDF to clients. Each report could take as long as an hour to produce, with separate reports needed for more than 150 clients bi-annually. With a relatively small internal team, producing these reports was a significant drain on HFM’s resources.  

HFM turned to Conga Composer to help improve efficiency, reduce manual data entry, and increase the overall quality of its financial action plans. With Conga, HFM created several custom document templates for initial client onboarding and to facilitate the creation of their action plans.  

Rather than advisors manually creating each report from scratch, Composer does the work for them. Using Composer, the HFM team mobilizes document templates to automatically pull client information directly from Salesforce and populate all the relevant data—client contact information, action plans steps and benchmarks, and other details—with the click of a button. 

HFM has seen compelling outcomes from Composer, including: 

• Time savings: Time needed to develop financial action plans has dropped from one hour to 30 seconds 

• Improved customer communications: Now, HFM can send out financial action plans more frequently—from twice annually to once every eight weeks. 

• Increased productivity: HFM eliminated up to 20 hours per week of manual data entry, freeing the advisory team for more strategic work. 

• Fewer errors: There’s been a notable improvement in data accuracy and quality. 

You can read the full case study for more details. 

Start your document automation journey today 

Document automation tools are empowering banks and credit unions to streamline document-intensive processes, enhance compliance, and deliver superior service to customers while driving operational efficiency and reducing costs. Shouldn’t you be one of them?  

Ready to explore more? Watch the webinar Banking Master Class to get insights directly from Conga customers and see a live demo or meet with a Conga expert to find a solution that’s right for you.