RPA or Robotic Process Automation is banking’s new best friend. This technology is quickly becoming adopted by banks across the globe as it offers a range of benefits, from increased accuracy to faster processes.

RPA in banking is particularly useful for tasks that are repetitive and rules-based, such as customer service or fraud prevention. The benefits of RPA in banking are obvious.

The technology can be used to free up your employees’ time and skills to better perform high-value activities, and automation is cost-saving too. The technology works in the background, so your employees don’t need to be constantly switching tasks or interrupting their workflow.

How RPA Is Changing The Way We Work In Banking

Robotic process automation (RPA) is being adopted by the banking industry to automate customer data entry and other repetitive tasks. RPA can help financial institutions improve efficiency and accuracy, and free up employees to focus on higher-value work.

According to Gartner, the pandemic has accelerated company measures to react to employee and consumer needs, making digital solutions the future of financial services.

So what are the best ways to use RPA in banking? Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting use cases and how banks around the world are using this technology.

1. Contact Center Automation

One of the most obvious uses of RPA is to automate contact center processes, including customer service, complaints and fraud detection. By automating repetitive tasks, such as data entry and answering simple questions, the technology frees up your employees’ time.

This means that they can spend more time on other projects and tasks that need more attention or higher level skills. It also helps make employees’ jobs easier by reducing their workloads, resulting in happier employees who can deliver better customer service.

2. Order Processing

RPA in the banking sector is estimated to reach $1.12 billion by 2025, according to studies. Your banking team also needs to process orders from customers, so automating this process can help ensure that your bank is fully operational at all times, while also saving staff time.

However, the proper use of RPA can also save money, as it often involves the purchase and maintenance of software that can be used for other purposes in the future.

For example, if parts of your automation system are removed or less useful to your team after a year or so, you’re only going to have spent money maintaining an outdated piece of software that was never used in the first place.

3. Commercial Processing

For some organizations, the most difficult aspect of their job is managing their customer base and understanding and keeping track of their needs. In a banking context, this can cause problems like poor service or inadequate loan applications.

The bad news is that there’s no easy way to fix this problem with automation alone. However, RPA can help you organize your commercial processes for better efficiency and accuracy.

This means that you are always able to meet your customers’ demands with ease, whether they are simple or complex requests. Errors will also be reduced as your team won’t have to type in information by hand anymore, which can lead to mistakes in data entry.

4. Fraud Detection

RPA can also help your organization prevent fraud and identify potential risks in your banking processes. A good example of this is reviewing the types of information that you collect on customers and the applications you submit to regulatory bodies.

For example, if you register to a professional organization, it’s possible that you might need to provide proof of membership or insurance coverage. To make sure this detail is accurate, RPA will make sure that each document submitted is processed in accordance with the rules of the organization.

Other examples include checks and credit approvals, which require careful review before payment channels are opened up. These documents routinely require verification to be certain that they are processed accurately and without risk.

5. Customer Service

Customer service may soon be a thing of the past. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), RPA is becoming increasingly common in customer service by automating simple tasks, such as updating information or sending an email.

This can save your team time, while also reducing manual errors that can be easily made when employees are distracted by other tasks. Instead, they will spend more time on high-value activities that require their expertise and attention.

6. Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is another area where RPA can make a significant impact on efficiency and accuracy – not only for you but also for your customers. By automating order processing, you can increase the efficiency of your supply chain processes.

This means that your staff and customers can receive their orders as soon as possible, while also reducing the amount of time it takes to process them. It will also reduce the chance of human error in the ordering process, while improving customer satisfaction and reducing the need for manual labor.

Benefits Of RPA In Banking

In the banking industry, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) is growing rapidly as institutions look to streamline multiple systems and processes. One area where AI is having a major impact is in the preparation of financial statements.

Banks are using AI to automate the data gathering and analysis process, which can save time and improve accuracy. In the mortgage loan sector, AI is being used to automate the underwriting and approval process.

Using bots to automate such laborious tasks can save processing expenses by 30% to 70%.

Banking and financial sector are increasingly receiving account closure requests from it’s customers due to poor customer service from banks. Report automation of customer service issues, banks need to invest in customer service team training and development.

1. Increased Accuracy

RPA’s main benefit is increased accuracy, which is absolutely essential for banks. For example, a loan approval process can take anywhere from three days to two weeks, depending on the type of application and the bank’s needs that day.

With RPA, this process can be completed in five to ten minutes without error, while also removing much of the human error that can be between 10% and 20%.

2. Save Time & Improve Efficiency

The technology frees up your staff’s time as they don’t need to complete repetitive tasks manually anymore; they just need to add relevant information to the system instead. This allows your staff to focus on higher-level activities that require their attention and require them to use their full capabilities.

Your automation system will also reduce the human error in your business processes, which can also save you money by reducing the need to hire extra staff and train new employees. A mortgage loan takes around 50 to 53 days to process in the United States.

3. Decrease Manual Errors

A good use of RPA is to avoid human errors, which can be costly and can affect your business’s reputation when they are discovered by customers or regulators.

RPA takes all of the responsibility of completing a task, so it’s extremely difficult for employees to make mistakes when it comes to automating tasks that are repetitive or need a lot of human intervention. This is because your automation system will usually go through the same process every time it’s completed – a process that is set by you.

4. Reduce Customer Dissatisfaction

Another benefit of RPA is that it can reduce your customers’ dissatisfaction as they get their orders faster and with fewer errors. This means they will be happier and more satisfied with your service, which can help build customer loyalty among new, existing, or potential clients.

Since your customers are getting what they want when they want it, this may also encourage them to recommend your services to their associates or industry peers.

5. Increase Customer Satisfaction

When customers feel good about your service, they are likely to come back regularly and recommend you to their associates. This will benefit your business, as you will have a growing customer base and increasing sales.

Customers that don’t agree with the products and services you offer may also start to complain about it so that you can resolve these situations. However, if RPA is used well, customers will be more satisfied with your services and make fewer complaints.

This means that they won’t need to call you as often or bother to send you emails because they’re generally happy with what they’re getting each time.

6. Reduced Customer Attrition

Banks spend more than $384 million each year on KYC process compliance, according to Thomson Reuters. Small errors in your banking processes can lead to customers leaving your business.

With RPA, you can automate processes that lead to customer attrition, which will reduce the chances of these mistakes happening. This means that you won’t need to hire additional staff to fill the gaps in your business, which can help you keep your overhead costs low and also continue to operate without shedding people as a result of client attrition.

7. Helps Improve Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Your customers’ satisfaction is likely to decline when they’re unhappy with a product or service they’ve received from you, whether it’s over price or because their expectations were not met. This can lead to a bad review, which can make it more difficult for you to grow your business.

However, your customers may be more satisfied with your products and services if they are delivered faster and without errors. By automating repetitive tasks, you will increase the number of satisfied customers who will recommend your business to others – including in social media reviews.

8. Improves Customer Retention

Customer retention is becoming increasingly important for financial institutions as industry shifts towards digital banking. It’s an industry trend that has many advantages, including convenience for both the bank and the client – especially when it comes to banking from a mobile phone or tablet device.

It’s also convenient for the client as they don’t have to carry around multiple cards, which means they’re likely to remain with your business.

9. Decreased Need For Staff Training

RPA can take away much of the physical labor involved in tasks that your employees are doing manually, especially repetitive tasks that require a great deal of human interaction; such as cashiering or banking.

Although tasks may still require a small amount of human interaction, this can be alleviated with automation technology and robots and software programs. This will reduce the need for additional staff and training, which is often a significant cost and not one that you can afford to continue if you want to grow; especially when it comes to RPA.

Risks Of RPA In banking

The banking sector is under pressure to improve customer service while reducing operational costs. To validate customer data is one way for banks to achieve this. This helps to ensure that the information banks have on customers is accurate and up-to-date, which in turn can help to improve customer service.

According to a 2016 Accenture poll, 73% of respondents said RPA could be a crucial facilitator in compliance. RPA increases productivity with 24/7 availability and the highest accuracy improving the quality of the compliance process.

Banking processes are becoming increasingly automated, with robotic process automation (RPA) playing a major role. However, there are still many manual processes involved, such as employment verification. The KYC process is also becoming more automated, but there are still many manual steps involved.

1. Your Business Risks Becoming Obsolete

When we’re living in a world that is becoming increasingly digital, automation and robots are becoming more and more common. You may not worry about your bank’s purchases of software for robotics, but many banks must buy RPA today to stay competitive, which means that you will need to pass on these expenses to your customers.

Of course, this is the real risk of RPA: that your bank will become outdated. This means that you will be leaving behind those customers who want traditional banking and take advantage of new technology such as mobile banking – a cost you’ll have to pay when they move their accounts elsewhere.

2. Automation Could Increase Your Costs

Robots are able to carry out repetitive tasks with ease, which means that your bank will be able to deliver its services faster. However, the fact that you need RPA in order to deliver these services reduces the revenue you can make from customers.

If a customer is only visiting your bank or calling your hotline for simple tasks, you can expect to lose money on them because automation systems aren’t cheap. However, if a customer needs advice or assistance on larger financial issues or problems, then RPA can save you money by being able to handle his or her request with minimum human interaction.

3. RPA Could Result In Exposed Vulnerabilities

Since your customers’ physical security is at risk with RPA, you’ll have to be careful about which data you share with third parties; especially when it comes to personal and sensitive information.

You will have to have a system of checks and balances for this data to remain secure, which ensures that the individuals who share it aren’t able to betray your bank’s security. You’ll also need a facility for people who deal with customers’ bank data, as well as controls on how they access it – all of which require security systems that can help keep this information safe.

4. You Could End Up Having To Deal With Complaints

Because you’re likely to have a growing number of customers who have automated bank accounts, you’ll need to make sure that they can reach your customer service department easily. If they can’t, then they’re likely to call your hotline, which will require you to handle their calls rather than the automated banking software that’s handling the same task.

This is one of the biggest risks with RPA: making it so easy for people to contact you rather than simply calling your automated system that some customers are going to complain about this. For example, if someone wants to verify a direct debit but can’t get through to a person, then they’re likely to complain about it.

5. Robots And Automation Software Have Security Risks

As with any type of computer program, there are always cyber threats against computers, mobile devices and other technology. RPA systems will be no different when it comes to these threats.

In order to keep your bank safe from these attacks, you’ll have to implement security protocols that will help detect and prevent cyberattacks from affecting your bank’s systems. Otherwise, a cyberattack could prevent your customers from being able to access their bank accounts and investing their money, which would be a disaster for your business.

6. You’ll Need To Ensure That You Have Enough Staff For Customer Support

Automation software will decrease the number of employees you’ll need in order to deliver your products, but it will not eliminate them altogether. Even with automation systems, you will still need adequate staff in order to support customers who are having problems with your bank’s services or products.

In the case of online banking, this may include setting up access and providing training to handle any issues that they’re having with the new banking system they’re using.

7. You’ll Have To Worry About Savings And Investment Funds Drying Up

For many people, it’s important to have a decent amount of money to save and invest in order to create the kind of future they want for themselves. With RPA, there’s no need for the bank to play this role since they can now connect directly with investors – making it possible for them to invest their money by depositing cash directly into their accounts.

For example, most mobile banks now allow you to deposit cash on your smartphone or other device when making an online bank transfer (often through apps).

8. RPA Could Lead To The Decline Of The Middle Class

The impact of automation is always a concern for those who work in banks, such as its potential for disrupting businesses and people’s jobs in some cases. Although RPA does have the potential to take your bank workers’ jobs, it also has the ability to increase their productivity by reducing the time it takes them to carry out tasks.

This means that you’ll still need humans so that they can handle those things that don’t require automation software – and some of this will actually be better than your employees carrying out tasks themselves.

Final Note

Robotic Process Automation has proven itself to be a powerful tool for business owners who are looking for ways to reduce costs, handle repetitive tasks and boost employee productivity.

However, it’s important that you understand the risks involved with using this technology, which includes the potential for security breaches that can affect your bank’s systems.

You’ll also have to deal with complaints from engaged customers who don’t want any kind of automation in their financial lives.

Last Updated on September 29, 2023 by Priyanshi Sharma