Thousands of clients delegate aspects of their middle- and back-office operations to SS&C GlobeOp. Expert professionals collaborate with clients to tailor a perfect combination of outsourced solutions and services. For many financial services companies and fund managers, executing stock trades is a daily and critical aspect of their business. But when data entered for a trade contains an error, the trade “breaks” and cannot be completed. SS&C GlobeOp turned to digital workers from SS&C Blue Prism to improve accuracy in trade break investigations and to assist employees with this important but repetitive task.

Challenge

Nearly 35 million trades are executed globally daily — and they’re increasingly complex. As trade volumes rise, so does the volume of trade breaks. Trade breaks occur due to data mismatches — like share price or commission rate — between the buyer and the seller. These discrepancies must be resolved, and a correct daily net asset value (NAV) must be calculated and sent to the client.

Clients and prime brokers send daily trade requests to SS&C GlobeOp. Data relating to these requests are automatically reconciled by an internal tool, SS&C GoRec. If the data matches, the trade is resolved. If the data does not match, the trade breaks. SS&C employees then open each break in GoRec and check the trade field-by-field to determine what caused the break. Once they determine the cause, the employees write a specific comment for the broker or client for resolution. Each employee has an individual way of noting the reason in the comment section, resulting in inconsistent or confusing feedback to the client or broker. Making matters more complicated, employees often spot one error, assume it’s the sole reason for the break, and pass the trade back for reconciliation, only to have it break again due to additional errors.

Solution

To improve accuracy and consistency, SS&C GlobeOp deployed a team of SS&C Blue Prism digital workers to investigate trade breaks for 150 clients. Digital workers log into GoRec, sort through the breaks, evaluate them based on a predefined set of rules, classify them and comment on the reason for the break so that both parties can fix it. If the break is more complex, the digital workers send the break to an employee for resolution.

Digital workers now issue standardized comments so clients clearly understand how to fix the breaks. They methodically check each field, and fully research and update the comment accurately, so the trade is resolved on the same day unless the client makes any updates. Clients can rest assured that their trade breaks will be resolved accurately, completely and consistently. They no longer need to wait for employees to come into the office because digital workers are on the job 24/7, eliminating wait times.

The large team of digital workers can also handle fluctuations in volume with ease. They review 800,000 trade breaks each month, which has given staff more time to focus on other work.