Streamlining the Trading Industry:
The Power of Document Automation

Streamlining the Trading Industry: The Power of Document Automation

A lot of documents are important in the trading industry, from trade confirmations to compliance forms to client agreements. Traders and operators teams are spending huge amounts of time managing these documents, time that should be spent making money. However, document automation technology can change the way document processes occur, freeing up valuable time and cutting costs and risks.

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The Document Challenges Facing Today’s Trading Firms

Trading firms face an array of document-related pain points:

1. Manual Document Processes Waste Time

In trading firms, the documentation process is still largely manual, with paper forms, PDFs, spreadsheets and email. Let’s take onboarding new clients as an example: It’s a never-ending process of filling in endless PDFs and comparing information across different systems. Traders, operations, compliance and client services professionals all find these manual processes hugely labor intensive. Using automated mechanical systems can help to greatly cut the time and effort needed.

2. Fragmented Systems Cause Inefficiencies

Trade and client data is often key but stored in core trading systems, while documents are stored in file servers or in SharePoint sites. This means that professionals spend time looking for documents that are spread across various systems and trying to build data to verify information.

Recommended reading: Document Automation Software: What Is it and How to Use

3. Security and Compliance Risks

Manual document management raises security, compliance, and operational hazards as well. Between systems, data can vary; there might also be no audit trail. Furthermore, generating cybersecurity and data privacy risks are the antiquated PDF systems.

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How Document Automation Streamlines Work

Document automation and document management solutions are being used by leading trading firms to transform legacy, manual document processes. The friction, risks and costs in key document processes are greatly reduced by these technologies that offer centralized document storage and automated workflows.

1. Automating Document Creation

Document automation tools enable firms to create reusable templates for client onboarding forms, trade confirmations, statements and much more. Data flows directly from the core trading systems into templates, and documents fill themselves out automatically without any manual work.

Document automation eliminates the need to manually enter client and trade details into forms, improving efficiency by over 90% while also reducing operational risks. Businesses can spread low-value, repetitious labour to more strategic initiatives, so encouraging profitability and growth.

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2. Streamlining Document Workflows

Firms can electronically push personalized documents directly to client and employee inboxes automatically by integrating document automation with secure online portals. Eliminating paper processes, customers can e-sign documents online. They also get immediate visibility into review and approval workflows for compliance teams.

Document workflow automation brings transparency into the bottlenecks while helping ISDAs to progress quickly through approvals. Smooth digital document workflows improve productivity by improving client satisfaction and making it easy for firms to manage and monitor document processes.

3. Centralizing Documents in a Searchable Repository

Gathering trade confirmations, client agreements, and other documentation in a cloud or on-site document repository completely integrated with central trading systems is the function of a document automation solution.

Instead of rummaging through file drives and emails, authorized staff members can quickly search and access client or trade records from one central system, as all documents are kept digitally in a single central database. Centralized documents also make audits and compliance reviews much simpler.

Recommended reading: What Types of Documents Benefit from Document Automation?

4. Maintaining Data Integrity & Security

By connecting data directly from upstream trading systems into templates, document automation ensures consistency between documents and systems of record. Firms can validate that data in documents matches data in trading platforms, improving downstream reporting accuracy.

Integrations also enable automatic data syncing. If client details are updated in the CRM, connected documents will stay up-to-date with real-time data flows, eliminating manual verification and reducing risk. API-based integrations further bolster security, using modern protocols instead of FTP or email.

Finally, restricting document access by user role and securely storing all documents in the document repository enhances data protection and privacy.

Key Document Processes to Automate

While every firm has unique documentation needs, these are some of the most common document processes that trading enterprises should prioritize automating:

Client Onboarding Documentation

Client onboarding involves a lot of paperwork, from account forms to W-9s, corporate resolutions, KYC documents, and more. Automated templates connected to CRM systems streamline data flows, while workflow tools simplify collaboration between client services, compliance and operations.

Client Onboarding Documentation

ISDAs / GMRA / Other Agreements

ISDAs are complex agreements that need input from many stakeholders, slowing turnaround time to finalize documents. Using automation, authorized parties can work on one document digitally and from any location to speed agreements along.

Recommended reading: Document Management: Systems, Examples, Tips

Trade Confirmations

Confirming trades with clients traditionally requires manual entry of trade details into fillable PDFs. Automating confirmations accelerates the process from hours to minutes while also improving accuracy.

Statements / Reports / Notices

Firms create volumes of statements, client reports and notices that need to be delivered quickly and securely. Automating document generation and delivery ensures customers get personalized, accurate documents instantly.

Audit & Compliance Documentation

Automation technology helps gather, manage and report on all documentation required during audits and compliance reviews, reducing the burden on strained compliance teams.

Efficiency, Lower Costs and Better Client Experiences

In a competitive trading market, improving efficiency and reducing costs makes or breaks profitability. Document automation solutions deliver significant quantifiable results across key metrics:

  • 80% less time spent on document processes through the instant automated population of clients and trade data into templates
  • 60-70% lower documentation costs by eliminating manual work, paper and postage
  • 90% faster document turnaround times, enabling firms to onboard clients faster and speed up trading
  • 99% data accuracy between systems and documents by automatically syncing data
  • Improved visibility into bottlenecks, allowing teams to streamline issues before they impact clients
  • Enhanced security and compliance with role-based access, e-signatures, and centralized storage

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With major gains in productivity, efficiency and security, document automation allows trading firms to reallocate resources towards more valuable work. Teams spend less time on administrative work and more time focused on revenue-generating trading activities and strategic initiatives to gain competitive advantages. Automation also smooths client interactions, leading to improved customer satisfaction, loyalty and referrals.

In an industry where every second counts, automating key document processes powers trading firms to accelerate business and delight clients. The time and cost savings translate directly to higher profits and shareholder value.

Overcoming Resistance to Technology Change

While document automation delivers tremendous productivity and efficiency gains, some trading professionals resist moving manual document methods to digital automation due to misconceptions:

“We’ll lose the personal touch with clients”

Reality: Relationship-building comes from high-touch service, not manual documents. Automation improves interactions by removing friction and delays from the process while freeing up client teams to focus on value-added advisory services.

“Our complex documents don’t work on automation platforms”

Reality: Modern software easily handles complex, multi-page documents with dynamic fields mapped across integrated systems.

“We’ll have to change our whole system landscape”

Reality: Purpose-built fintech document automation solutions integrate seamlessly with existing core trading systems via APIs, eliminating rip-and-replace upgrades.

“Our IT team doesn’t have the bandwidth to implement this”

Reality: Specialized solutions come pre-configured for capital markets firms and trading operations, so your IT team doesn’t need to build from scratch.

While some employees initially resist moving from legacy processes, user-friendly automation technology simplifies adoption. The benefits of efficiency, transparency and risk reduction quickly become apparent across the organization. Proactive change management and training help employees at all levels understand the major gains.

Recommended reading: Document Automation: Which Documents Can You Automate?

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Evaluating Document Automation Solutions

With many document automation and document management vendors now targeting financial services, conducting detailed evaluations is crucial before selecting a platform. Key criteria to assess include:

  • Domain expertise. Seek specialist fintech vendors with extensive experience automating capital markets/trading documents vs. generic software.
  • Integration capabilities. The platform should seamlessly integrate with core trading systems like OMS, risk and middle office via APIs without major coding.
  • Security model. Look at security protocol, encryption standards and permission control to make sure that the documents are safe as well as accessible to authorized employees and clients.
  • Scalability. As your firm grows, the system must scale up without performance degradation. Assess technical architecture.
  • Configurability. As you change and digitize new document templates over time across various business units, you need to have the flexibility to do so without relying on vendor resources.
  • Client portal. Smooth external workflows require an intuitive portal for clients to e-sign and approve documents.

Trading enterprises can transform legacy document processes into competitive differentiators by choosing automation technology that is purpose-built for capital markets and by evaluating both features and vendor experience. The result is improved efficiency, lower costs, reduced risk and better client interactions. In a fast-moving industry, document automation delivers the agility and responsiveness required for trading firms to accelerate business.

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