An action research on improving the end of day check in XYZ financial markets operations

• Main Author: Almeda, Gizella Marie E.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Automation; Financial institutions—Management; Finance and Financial Management
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/7050
• Institution: De La Salle University

This action research increased the reliability and mitigated the risk of human intervention of the End Of Day (EOD) check process in financial markets operations team of XYZ bank. EOD check process is one of the internal controls of the organization, and by increasing its reliability, the risk of settlement failures will be mitigated. This is important, especially for banks, as settlement failures can incur reputational damage and financial losses to the company. By means of first, second, and third person inquiries made in this research, automation is identified as the best solution in the problem. Using the Lean First Then Automate framework, the process was streamlined first and then automated. In streamlining the process, the team collaboratively identified five wastes in the EOD check process, and these were addressed by automating the manual checking of EOD reports. In automating, two weeks of parallel tests was deployed to ensure accuracy of results. Two cycles of action research cycle were applied in this study. For the first cycle, the macro program that is used in automating the manual checking was created and tested by four pilot testers. Results showed that the time spent in doing the EOD check process becomes faster and manual intervention was minimized. For the second cycle, the automated process has been formally implemented in the organization by accomplishing process change requirements such as technical documentation, workplace instruction, and departmental training for disseminating the changes made.