Client Profile:
A wealth management firm managing over $1.8 billion in assets with 45 financial advisors and operations across 7 states. The firm serves approximately 620 high-net-worth clients with complex investment portfolios and estate planning needs. As a registered investment advisor (RIA), the firm faced increasing regulatory scrutiny from the SEC, FINRA, and state regulators. Their compliance team consisted of 3 full-time compliance officers struggling to keep pace with transaction volumes that had increased 37% over the previous two years, while regulatory requirements had become significantly more complex.
Business Context:
The firm had experienced rapid growth through both organic expansion and the acquisition of smaller advisory practices, resulting in inconsistent documentation practices and fragmented compliance approaches. A recent mock audit had identified several areas of risk, including documentation gaps, inconsistent approval processes, and delayed transaction reviews. Additionally, the firm was planning to expand into two new states within the next 12 months, each with distinct regulatory requirements.
Challenge:
- Compliance reviews taking up to 15 days for complex transactions, creating a backlog of 40-60 transactions at any given time and delaying client investment activities
- Financial advisors spending an average of 8.7 hours weekly on compliance documentation, reducing client service capacity by 22%
- Manual tracking of changing regulations across 7 jurisdictions with quarterly updates requiring approximately 40 person-hours to review and implement
- 8% error rate in compliance documentation, creating significant regulatory risk
- Inconsistent application of compliance rules between different advisors and offices
- High-risk transactions (>$250,000) requiring an average of 22 days for full compliance review
- Audit preparation requiring an average of 3.5 weeks of preparation and document gathering
- Compliance team working at 127% capacity with frequent overtime and increasing burnout
Discovery Process:
Techseria conducted a two-week comprehensive compliance assessment that included:
- Shadowing compliance officers during their daily activities
- Documenting 37 distinct compliance workflows
- Analyzing transaction processing times across different transaction types and amounts
- Reviewing regulatory findings and near-misses from the previous 24 months
- Evaluating the existing compliance technology stack and integration points
Our Approach:
Techseria implemented a comprehensive Power Automate compliance solution with multiple integrated components:
1. Smart Document Classification:
- Deployed AI Builder with custom models trained on 2,500+ previously processed documents
- Implemented automatic categorization of incoming documents by risk level (low, medium, high) based on 14 distinct parameters
- Created intelligent extraction of key compliance data points with 98.7% accuracy
- Developed automated completeness checking with advisor notification for missing information
2. Automated Compliance Checking:
- Built 27 compliance rule sets based on current regulatory requirements across all jurisdictions
- Implemented automated verification against 143 distinct compliance checkpoints
- Created real-time validation of client risk profiles against proposed transactions
- Developed automated exception reporting with risk-based prioritization
3. Dynamic Approval Routing:
- Implemented intelligent multi-level approval workflows based on:
- Transaction type (22 distinct categories)
- Transaction amount (5 threshold levels)
- Client risk profile (4 tiers)
- Advisor experience level (3 classifications)
- Created automated escalation paths for time-sensitive transactions
- Developed parallel processing capabilities for complex multi-part transactions
4. Regulatory Update Integration:
- Established connections to regulatory update services via API
- Created automated impact analysis for new regulatory changes
- Implemented rule-based flagging of affected transactions and clients
- Developed automated compliance officer notifications with prioritization
5. Audit-Ready Documentation:
- Built comprehensive audit trail system capturing all compliance touchpoints
- Created automated documentation packaging by client, transaction type, or time period
- Implemented one-click audit response capability with role-based security
- Developed searchable compliance repository with version control
Technical Implementation:
- Phase 1: Document classification and automated extraction (3 weeks)
- Phase 2: Rule-based compliance checking and routing (4 weeks)
- Phase 3: Approval workflows and escalation paths (3 weeks)
- Phase 4: Regulatory integration and audit documentation (4 weeks)
- Phase 5: Testing, training, and optimization (2 weeks)
Results:
- Compliance review time reduced from 15 days to 36 hours on average, with routine transactions completed in under 4 hours
- Transaction backlog reduced from 40-60 items to an average of 7
- Financial advisors reclaimed 7.4 hours weekly (85% reduction in compliance documentation time), increasing client service capacity by 18%
- Documentation error rate reduced from 8% to 0.3%
- 100% documentation of all compliance decisions with complete audit trails
- Regulatory update implementation time reduced from 40 person-hours to 6 hours
- Zero regulatory findings in two subsequent audits, compared to 7 findings in the previous audit
- Audit preparation time reduced from 3.5 weeks to 2 days
- High-risk transaction review time decreased from 22 days to 4 days
- Compliance officer capacity increased by 43%, enabling support for firm expansion without additional hiring
- Client satisfaction scores increased by 22% due to faster transaction processing
- Estimated risk mitigation value of $1.4 million annually (potential regulatory penalties avoided)
- ROI achieved within 9 months when including both direct cost savings and risk reduction value
Technology Components:
- Microsoft Power Automate: Primary workflow automation platform
- AI Builder: Document classification and data extraction
- SharePoint: Document repository with version control
- Power BI: Compliance dashboards and analytics
- Azure SQL: Transaction database and audit repository
- Microsoft Teams: Compliance officer collaboration and notifications
- Power Apps: Mobile approval interface for compliance officers
Client Testimonial
“In financial services, compliance isn’t optional, but it was consuming an unsustainable amount of our advisors’ time and creating risk through inconsistent application. Techseria’s Power Automate solution transformed compliance from a burden to a competitive advantage. Their team demonstrated an exceptional understanding of regulatory requirements in our industry, which allowed them to create automation that’s both efficient and extremely thorough. We now process transactions faster while maintaining even higher compliance standards, and our recent regulatory examination went smoother than we ever thought possible. The ability to instantly produce complete documentation for any transaction has revolutionized our audit readiness.”
– Chief Compliance Officer