SmartStream
data on expenses. SmartStream’s ability to implement end-to-end and automated processes delivers timely, accurate data that can be used to verify fee calculations, improve accounting precision and substantiate invoicing based on a constantly updated repository of rate information. The company’s suite of processes includes not only that centralised repository to capture, control and support the maintenance of all fee structures, transactions and reference data, but also a highly scalable calculation engine to independently compute any complexity in variable expenses, a process for the capture, generation and verification of invoices, as well as an expense line control sub-ledger system to manage accounting for high-volume, high-value expenses, and much more.
Since joining SmartStream in 2014 as solution manager for the TLM Fees and Expense Management business, Malesha has seen the technology underpinning the solution steadily improve to provide data analytics on a T+1 basis, largely through the automation and standardisation of manual processes. That standardisation has improved banks’ ability to audit and control payments and, consequently, make data-driven decisions about BC&E costs.
At the same time, he has seen Fees and Expense Management become a key pillar of SmartStream’s managed services portfolio.
“There has been a real shift in the market and our customers are now looking for a fully managed services model rather than implementing the software themselves,” remarks Malesha. “That shift began around five years ago, and now more than 80% of our business is through our managed services. In the future, that figure will continue to grow.”
“The constant technology innovation for financial institutions runs right through our managed services offering.”
The managed services option enables clients to access the solution as a cloud-hosted service, alongside SmartStream’s other market-leading products. Clients can access the company’s cash and liquidity management and reconciliations software, its post-trade processing capability, its reference data utility and much more without having to install and manage any of the technology infrastructure. Furthermore, they can scale up or adapt their suite of solutions as their needs change. “The drive towards managed services has come partly through an overall improvement of the
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technology infrastructure in recent years, not least the security of cloud-hosting infrastructure like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services,” Malesha notes. “There are more stringent security protocols in place for our customers and there is higher availability and resiliency of systems.” “In addition, no other competitor is able to do the work themselves,” he continues. “Vendors like us have a very niche approach to processes and we have institutionalised that knowledge within a specialist team. The result is standardised processes and a high-degree of resiliency and competency. We use best-in-class technology, and we have the people and processes to add real value.” Turning data analysis over to a specialist team using a reliable, scalable and secure technology platform is a way for banks to mitigate a significant amount of operational risk, as well as managing costs. “Within a bank, the necessary knowledge resides within a small number of people, so when they move on there is a window of risk while the bank trains up more people to take over those responsibilities,” notes Malesha. “Fees and expense management is our bread and butter. We live it on a daily basis, and we understand the opportunities for efficiency. We have true know-how and we also have in-depth knowledge of our customers’ business.” In the often fragmented processes for billing and invoice processing, banks can accumulate significant but frequently unquantified costs. The Fees and Expense Management solution provides an integrated and simplified technology platform to reduce those operating costs. Through managed services, that platform becomes easily accessible. Not only do clients benefit from seamless and secure access to the scalable and resilient cloud- based solution, but they also benefit from the constant refinements that SmartStream makes to its whole suite of solutions.
A cycle of continuous development Many of SmartStream’s extensive suite of solutions, all of which have been or are being integrated into the managed services portfolio, have become the leading tools in their specific fields. For example, AIR – the company’s data reconciliation tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) – has redefined the speed at which banks expect reconciliation and exceptions management to be performed. “In fees and expense management, too, we are the market leader,” says Malesha. “The depth and breadth of coverage across asset classes, variable and fixed fees and business functions, as well as our fully integrated invoice accounting process for payables and receivables, is unmatched. No one has as broad a range of services.”
Future Banking /
www.nsbanking.com
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