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Streamlining Business Processes and Compliance in Financial Services: A Case Study of Sarasin & Partners
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Security Compliance
Applicable Industries
- Finance & Insurance
- Paper & Pulp
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Leasing Finance Automation
- Personnel Tracking & Monitoring
Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
Sarasin & Partners, a London-based asset management firm, was grappling with inefficient paper-based processes that were hampering its operational efficiency. The firm, which is responsible for investing £13.9 billion on behalf of its clients, needed its processes to be easily auditable. However, the reliance on paper forms and manual processes was creating bottlenecks. For instance, documents requiring approval signatures could be generated by 220 members of staff and passed across up to 8 different desks, over 3 floors in the building. This led to approval processes taking many days to complete, with employees often having to phone or email their colleagues to ascertain the status of an approval. The firm also faced challenges in ensuring compliance with stringent legislation enforced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and other regulators. While the firm’s processes already complied with relevant regulations, they were not as efficient as they could have been. Furthermore, when audits occurred, employees faced the time-consuming task of collating all the necessary hard-copy documents to provide evidence of the firm’s regulatory compliance.
About The Customer
Sarasin & Partners is a privately owned firm of asset managers, headquartered in the heart of London’s financial district. The firm is a specialist in sustainable investing and provides services to charities, private clients, pension funds, independent financial advisors, families, and institutions. Sarasin & Partners is responsible for investing £13.9 billion on behalf of its clients, making it crucial for the firm to have robust and auditable internal processes. The firm continually seeks ways to reduce paper consumption across the business and improve its operational efficiency.
The Solution
Sarasin & Partners turned to K2 Software to streamline its processes and make compliance more efficient. The firm started by automating one process: logging incidents around operational risks. After evaluating many of the common risk management and incident reporting solutions used in the financial industry, the IT team at Sarasin & Partners realized a process automation platform would be a better fit for a company focused on large-scale business process improvement. The firm now has six automated processes in production and many more in development. With its very first solution, the firm reduced the time required to record operational risk incidents, share information internally, identify mitigations, and take appropriate action by 75%. Another automated process helps Sarasin & Partners comply with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in a more efficient way. The automated workflow sends notifications to members of staff advising them about which data sets will be deleted and what action they need to take if they want to retain certain data within the GDPR legislation, simplifying the firm’s already rigorous compliance processes.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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