For stock traders and investors, time is money. In a volatile market, the right moment comes and goes in a flash. A second too late, and they could miss out on big returns.  

With such high stakes, organizations like Thanachart Securities Public Limited Company (TNS) are moving to eradicate unnecessary waiting time. 

TNS is the securities business arm of Thailand’s sixth-largest bank, Thanachart Bank. It provides services such as stock and derivatives trading as well as access to products including mutual funds and Equity Linked Notes.  

TNS wanted to help its customers avoid losing opportunities due to inefficiencies, by shortening the processing time while also reducing costs. Enter Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Since October 2019, TNS has employed robots whose accuracy and speed have streamlined cash deposits and other services.

Faster registration with RPA 

Before customers begin trading, they have to register and validate their bank accounts to use the company’s Automated Transfer System (ATS). Customer data is received in various ways such as emails, on the respective banks’ websites or other documents.  

Employees used to have to pore over the information and fill up digital forms. But with RPA, a robot consolidates all the input and updates the system at one go. Once done, it will send a notification to the customer, who can start trading. 

While the process remains semi-automated – with paper-based registration and the use of Thai language requiring human intervention – RPA has shaved the processing time from 45 minutes to less than 15 minutes. This has delivered cost savings of up to 60 per cent. 

Maintaining the robots is Natthaphat Soonthornsilsungworn. Armed with IT and .NET programming skills, he embarked on an RPA journey to support the company’s automation plans. His resources include UiPath Academy’s website and onsite consultation with TNS’s automation partner, KG Information Systems Private Limited. 

Zero-error checks

Manual, time-consuming processes work against TNS, whose customers count on it to swiftly prepare their trading funds. But it was not always so speedy. 

Previously, when customers deposited cash into TNS’s ATS channel, employees had to manually check transactions and key the data into the back office system, before exporting and uploading the organization’s partner banks’ websites. The data had to be manually verified and approved, which extended the waiting time for customers. 

With UiPath’s solution, the error-prone process is now automated. The robot processes ATS requests before exporting the data, verifying the transaction status and automatically updating the information in TNS’ system. With such a quick turnaround, customer satisfaction has improved. 

With RPA, the error rate has been reduced to zero, while customers are also notified of their successful deposits within 15 minutes, down from an hour. 

Streamlining staff for better workflow 

Customers can deposit cash through another channel called bill payment, where random checks are conducted before the transaction is verified and consolidated in TNS’ system. Prior to automation, there were four employees working on the ATS and bill payment channels each.

With UiPath’s RPA solution implemented, one staff member can handle both processes, it has also reduced manual effort to 15 per cent by validating customers’ transactions and updating the bank system, before sending out email notifications.

After its initial success with these three processes, TNS is identifying more areas for automation. However, Suwanarat noted that the firm has to be discerning of what can and cannot be automated.  

Her tip to companies planning to utilize RPA is to use a process assessment tool, which lists processes suitable for automation and prioritize them for development to maximize implementation. 

By the numbers