Typically, when a trader, salesperson, customer or manager needs information or resolution on an outstanding transaction, they send an email. As a result, I hear from customers that it’s not uncommon for a broker-dealer operations organization to send and receive north of 5 million emails every month. In addition, one customer shared that the average number of back and forth emails it takes to resolve a transaction exception is 57. And despite enormous innovation for operations processes including the rise of new FinTechs over the last several years, ops stakeholders are still drowning in emails related to the 1% of transactions of which Straight Through Processing breaks.
Sending an email, wondering if and when the recipient read it, and waiting for them to respond with the requested information seems too cumbersome and inefficient a process to make T+1 settlement a ‘seamless’ reality. Many things need to be done. As it relates to streamlining communication, stakeholders would benefit from delivering information their counterparties need proactively rather than waiting for them to ask for it or be alerted to an error. In addition, rather than defaulting to email, we should all be more deliberate and targeted when it comes to communication methods. Tools like instant voice, targeted notifications, alerts and, when necessary, embedded auditable & compliance enabled chat can be more efficient ways to exchange time-sensitive information, in particular given the reality that batch processing will continue.