BNY Mellon has seen profits grow, thanks to the launch of robot-driven pilot projects to automate processes by the bank. The bank adopted robotic process automation (RPA) in 2016, integrating RPA bots to increase efficiency and accuracy whilst reducing risk and cost.

RPA bots are essentially software applications intended to run automated tasks. It is predicted that machine learning will become an increasing trend across many industries including the financial sector. The RPA team at BNY Mellon is actively working with business leaders while a transformation team identifies locations where RPA bots can be used.

The Power Of RPA Bots Have Simplified Processes And Increased Productivity

Bots have simplified trade settlement by conducting research on orders, resolving discrepancies, and clearing trades, according to BNY Mellon. For example, RPA bots can reconcile a failed trade in just a quarter of a second, while those tasks take up to ten minutes for human workers. Doug Shulman, Senior Executive Vice President and Global Customer Service Delivery Manager at BNY Mellon, said in the American Banker magazine, “If you think of smart automation, robotics is a piece, workflow is a piece, and we combine smart forms, optical character recognition, workflow and robotics to get momentum around automation tasks.” According to the International Robotics Federation (IFR), the adoption of automation is accelerating globally, powered by increased global competition and the need to boost productivity and quality while extending the production lines. Although automation may pose a threat to some jobs, the IFR argues robots have the ability to improve the quality of work by taking on dangerous, dirty, and tedious jobs that can not be performed or are safe for humans.

By turning to robotics and automation, BNY Mellon’s efforts to transition staff members to more cost-effective venues have resulted in massive, sustained cost savings and increased productivity. The projects have made processing more accurate and faster, reducing transaction time and eliminating manual steps. This allows the organization to redeploy resources into activities that add value for its clients.

Leaders In Their RPA Journey Should Monitor These Items

Despite the success of BNY Mellon, there remain limitations. Leaders should be able to:

  1. Maximize value from existing outsourced operations when improving operational efficiency.
  2. Avoid expensive technology change expenditures while attaining expected targets.
  3. Support business development, processes, products and inventions with no high-cost technology within the business model.

Big banks will use automated robotics and machine learning techniques to remove “non-value-added work” and through automated workflows improve productivity.

In order to create greater value, automation and digitization have the potential to free human workers from mundane and repetitive tasks and focus on knowledge and expertise in the industry.