Banks should embrace process improvements now in order to improve the bottom line and pave a smooth road to the future

As the financial industry continues to evolve in the face of rapid technology advances and ever-changing compliance regulations, banks today are faced with the challenge of constantly retooling internal processes or risk falling behind more enlightened competitors. Rather than fear the dynamics of change, however, banks should lean into it and embrace process improvements and reengineering as ways to improve the bottom line. By taking a deep look into your bank’s programs and processes, you’ll likely find several opportunities where simple process changes can improve efficiencies across the board.

In fact, here are four areas of focus where you can easily start the process:

1) Know your high-risk customers

One of the most frequently asked question by regulators is how many high-risk customers do you have? If you are not able to answer that question, it’s time to make improvements.

Understanding who your high-risk customers are and tracking their business can be time consuming and have a ripple effect on other business lines, support units, legal entities and jurisdictions. In this instance, it’s time to embrace technology for assistance. Poor information management will lead to lack of timely reporting of suspicious transactions and potential fines.

Process improvement and reengineering can help solve some of these issues by developing comprehensive policies, procedures and enhanced management reporting of customer risk that encompass robust, ongoing monitoring and investigative processes.

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