The challenge

Customers settling transactions via T2S have to match approximately 20 different settlement instruction fields in order to settle a transaction. If the settlement instructions didn’t match, the customer needed to identify the issue. However, identifying the issue wasn’t always easy. “When we looked at the data, we could see that there were still a number of unmatched settlement instructions on the T2S platform,” states Amra Kovacevic, Customer Experience Manager at VP. “We also received a number of calls from customers looking for more information about why their instructions didn’t match. This helped us to see that there was a need to create a tool that would make it easier for our customers to quickly identify the root cause for unmatched T2S settlement instructions.”

Working together to define a solution

The Customer Experience team worked closely with customers and used their feedback to design the new match functionality, which makes it easier for them to find out why there are unmatched fields. “The new functionality, called ‘Show match criteria’, or VP-match, automatically identifies the fields that need to be matched,” Amra Kovacevic explains. “This helps operational employees match instructions more quickly thereby saving our customers’ valuable time and improving their overall efficiency.”

New functionality saves customers valuable time

Since the functionality launched in mid-June, the Customer Experience team has received a great deal of positive feedback from customers who have used the functionality. For example, one customer commented: “Prior to the new functionality, we needed to match each instruction manually. With the new interface, we’ve been able to greatly reduce our manual work, as the system provides us with all the details we need to match the instructions.” Reducing the amount of manual work helps the customer’s trade settlement team save valuable time when processing transactions. “The best thing about the new match function is that it saves us time and increases our efficiency. Having less manual work also reduces the likelihood of errors when compared to the old process.”

VP-Match offers both short- and long-term benefits

Another customer noted how the new interface greatly improves the user experience. “The biggest benefit we see for the new functionality and layout of vp.ONLINE is how compact and straight forward it is – it is very easy to find the needed function in the new Settlement tab. We’ve also noticed more clarity between different types of instructions. This, in combination with the guidelines and tooltips available in each screen, makes for a much easier user experience (especially for new users and team members).”

In addition to the immediate benefits of a more efficient operational process and an improved user experience, the settlement match functionality will also help VP customers satisfy CSDRII regulations when they go into effect next year. Under those regulations, financial institutions will be penalised for a ‘late match’.

On-going collaboration leads to further improvements

Following up on the successful launch of VP-Match, the Customer Experience team has continued to work with customers to make sure that the functionality meets their needs. “In addition to giving us positive feedback on the new functionality, our customers also provided a number of suggestions for how we could further improve the system,” Amra Kovacevic says. “Based on the input we’ve received, we recently introduced three new features that increase the interface’s flexibility, so users can customise their screen to better suit their internal processes and ways of working.” The new functionality enables users to filter the match settlement instructions results, so they only see matched or unmatched criteria. “Our goal with these changes is to help our customers save valuable time. We want our system to be as intuitive and user-friendly as possible, because that will help increase our customers’ efficiency.”

According to Amra Kovacevic, this new functionality demonstrates the benefits of having a close cooperation between the Customer Experience team and VP’s customers. “This is our goal whenever we work on improvements to our system. We don’t want it to be haphazard, or based on our own ideas of how the system should work. It has to be based on our customers’ actual needs; improvements that will make a concrete difference in their business, and I think the VP-Match is a good example of what we can accomplish when we work together.”

All vp.ONLINE users have been invited to participate in a webinar regarding the new Settlement menu.If you would like to learn more please contact me for more information.