Deutsche Bank, an existing user of SmartStream's reconciliation technology, is the pilot customer for the utility, called TCS Aspire Service. The utility service is powered by SmartStream's Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) platform and delivered by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The companies say that by using the TCS Aspire Service, total cost of ownership (TCO) of the reconciliation process can be reduced by 20-40% within six months.
They claim that by moving to this new utility structure organisations are able to convert their fixed costs to variable costs, customise the service in line with their own strategic objectives, manage volatile transaction volumes, and provide the ability to rapidly adopt the processing of new instruments.
Martin Slumbers, Head of Investment Banking Operations, Deutsche Bank, said: "As we develop our operations strategy, there are considerable benefits in being able to move our reconciliation requirements across our organisation onto a single enterprise wide solution and benefit from the scale effects that such internal and external utilities will ultimately deliver."
N. G. Subramaniam, President, TCS Financial Solutions said, "TCS Aspire Service will allow financial institutions of all sizes to access best practice and expertise from the leaders in business services and reconciliations. By improving the STP efficiency of transaction reconciliation, financial institutions will be better able to deal with market volatility, without the need to expand the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs)."