From 90 minutes to 6: How one bank transformed its reconciliation
Ninety minutes a day does not sound like much. Run the arithmetic and it becomes roughly 390 hours a year. That is close to ten working weeks. Ten weeks of teams stuck in the mundane task of comparing figures and ensuring every Visa transaction the bank processed actually landed where it should have. One leading […]
A Ghanaian bank discovered that its reconciliation process was consuming a considerable amount of time—around 390 hours annually, or 10 weeks of work. The bank's reconciliation team made frequent mistakes due to the manual nature of the task, which consumed additional hours for investigations and corrections. As the process fell behind, so did reporting, leading to a significant operational issue.
Instead of replacing the core banking system or restructuring the department, the bank opted for a more efficient solution: software robots. These robots reduced the reconciliation time from 90 minutes to just six minutes, with error rates dropping over 99%. The process now occurs overnight, without the need for staff to work late.
Reports still require senior manager review, maintaining the control environment. The bank's leadership views the automation as a safeguard for their operational standards, with projected savings across their automation program totaling around GHS 400,000. This example demonstrates the potential cost savings for any financial institution that relies on reconciliation processes, which include card transactions, settlements, and suspense accounts.
The full case study delves into the bank's transformation journey, offering insights for finance, operations, or technology leaders looking to improve their own reconciliation processes.
Written by urgent.news from Joy Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
