Case studies / Financial Services and Insurance
Case studyReconciliation workflow for a financial services group
A financial services and insurance group replaced manual, office-by-office reconciliation and onboarding with common processes, shared data and monthly group reporting.
Overview
A financial services and insurance group offering brokerage, advisory and policy administration to business and private clients from several regional offices, each with its own finance and client services team.
Scale. Around 6 offices, about 30 bank and payment accounts, several thousand active client accounts and a monthly close involving every office, delivered as a phased, multi-location programme.
The challenge
Reconciliation took days. Each office matched bank statements, client receipts, premiums and commissions against its own ledgers, mostly in spreadsheets. Unmatched items were chased by email, and the same query could be raised by two offices at once. At month-end, group finance waited for every office to finish before it could produce consolidated figures.
Onboarding was slow and inconsistent. Each office collected identity documents, risk information and engagement terms in its own way, and some steps were repeated because nobody could see what had already been checked. Clients waited, and advisers chased paperwork instead of advising.
Regulatory scrutiny added pressure. When the regulator or auditors asked how a check had been performed, or for evidence across offices, the answer had to be assembled by hand from folders and inboxes. There was no single view of open reconciliations, onboarding status or exceptions across the group.
The solution
Every office now reconciles through one workflow. Bank and payment feeds load daily, the system matches receipts to invoices, premiums and commissions using agreed rules and only true exceptions reach a person. Each exception has an owner, a reason and a due date, and group finance can see the status of every account at any time.
Client onboarding follows one checklist. Identity documents, risk information and engagement terms are captured once and held against the client record, so advisers and compliance can see what has been checked and what is outstanding. The client portal lets clients upload documents and track progress.
Shared master data for clients, accounts and fee codes links time and expense capture, billing, banks and payments, and management reporting. When the regulator or auditors ask for evidence, it can be produced from the system rather than gathered from inboxes. Office finance managers review a short dashboard each morning showing unmatched items by age, so nothing is left until month-end.
The engagement
- Eight months
- Five specialists, with the group finance director, head of client services, compliance lead and office finance managers
- Process mapping, reconciliation workflow, client onboarding checks, regulatory evidence, bank and payment integration, time and billing links, shared master data, group reporting, pilot and phased rollout.
Integrations
- Time and expense capture
- Billing and client portals
- Banks and payments
- Management reporting
How we delivered it
- 01
Map the work with the people who do it
Five weeks
We sat with finance clerks, client services staff and compliance officers in each office and followed real reconciliations and onboarding cases from start to finish. With the group finance director we agreed the scope: daily reconciliation, client onboarding, regulatory evidence and group reporting.
- 02
Design common processes and integrations
Ten weeks
Finance managers agreed one reconciliation workflow with matching rules, tolerances and escalation steps. Compliance defined a single onboarding checklist with evidence held against each client record. We connected bank and payment feeds, time and expense capture and billing so that receipts and fees matched automatically.
- 03
Pilot in one location
Six weeks
One office ran the new workflow alongside the old one. The pilot exposed inconsistent client references between billing and banking, and matching rules too strict for part payments. References were standardised and the rules adjusted before rollout.
- 04
Roll out in waves and track results
Eleven weeks
The remaining offices followed in two waves, each with hands-on training and a named super-user. Leadership reviewed open items, onboarding times and exceptions monthly.
Results
- Reconciliation shortened
- Onboarding consistent across offices
- Regulatory evidence held in one place
- Teams worked from the same data across locations
Reconciliation shortened. Daily matching replaced month-end catch-up, and exceptions were resolved while they were still fresh. Group finance no longer waited for the slowest office before producing consolidated figures.
Onboarding became consistent. Clients were asked for information once, advisers could see where each case stood and compliance had evidence in one place. Advisers spent less time chasing paperwork and more time with clients, and the client portal reduced the number of calls asking where an application stood.
Teams worked from the same data across locations, and leadership could review results monthly, with open items, onboarding times and exceptions by office on one report.
Month-end used to be a chase. Now most of it is done before the month ends, and we can see exactly what is still open.
What made the difference
An insurer streamlined onboarding checks. Agreeing measures at the start, such as open items and days to onboard, made success easy to recognise.
