About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Greater Automation Could Pay Dividends for Banks in April

Subscribe to our newsletter

By Daniel Carpenter, Head of Regulation at Meritsoft, a Cognizant company.

With the first round of the dividends season upon us, it is not only the front office that is preoccupied right now. Dividends are one of many forms of claims that also require attention in the back office. The typically busy period in April, when vast numbers of companies issue their dividends to a huge number of investors, poses an inescapable challenge from a claims perspective.

Much can change between the allocation and apportioning of dividends to investors between the announcement and payment of the final dividend. Before the right funds can be sent, or recovered, to or from the correct shareholder’s account, a monetary claim is generated internally for validation and processing by the corporate actions team, notably on cross border activities.

Pulling together the many different pieces of data required to validate and process the dividend payment can be complex, particularly if you are relying on manual processes and disparate data sources across a range of different dividends and across borders and regions. It is easy to see why this tangled web of claims can tie up huge resources working long hours.

For dividends, as for other claims, the goal is to digitise and centralise the data into a single source in order to provide the levels of transparency that banks need to facilitate end-to-end automation of the claims process.

The issue is that too many financial institutions currently run slow receivable and payable cycles. Relying on manual approaches built up over numerous years, many are unable to efficiently process dividend claims, auto chase counterparties, make auto payments and settle balances. There is also a lack of real-time analytics covering the situation and funds involved.

With dividends season underway, many banks will be feeling the effects and costs of outdated systems and processes. Only by re-engineering the claims process can they lighten the load in dividend season and achieve improved straight-through-processing (STP) rates with fewer exceptions, and faster, more accurate delivery of requests for payment, greatly improving both balance sheet and client service.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: How to simplify and modernize data architecture to unleash data value and innovation

The data needs of financial institutions are growing at pace as new formats and greater volumes of information are integrated into their systems. With this has come greater complexity in managing and governing that data, amplifying pain points along data pipelines. In response, innovative new streamlined and flexible architectures have emerged that can absorb and...

BLOG

UK Budget Puts Corporate Actions Automation Back on the Agenda

By Yogita Mehta, Commercial Product Director – Corporate Actions, Financial Information, SIX. Expectations around the UK budget in October last month have been consistently making headlines since even before its was announced. One area that is expected to be impacted because of the changes announced by Rachel Reeves is market appetite for M&A activity, with...

EVENT

AI in Capital Markets Summit New York

The AI in Capital Markets Summit will explore current and emerging trends in AI, the potential of Generative AI and LLMs and how AI can be applied for efficiencies and business value across a number of use cases, in the front and back office of financial institutions. The agenda will explore the risks and challenges of adopting AI and the foundational technologies and data management capabilities that underpin successful deployment.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...