Key Results
- ✓Trade confirmation matching time reduced by 75%
- ✓Settlement discrepancy identification accelerated from days to hours
- ✓Multi-currency reconciliation across USD, SGD, JPY, CNY, and THB automated
- ✓Counterparty document processing across 50+ trading partners standardised
- ✓Real-time position and settlement status dashboards for management visibility
The Challenge
An APAC-based commodity trading firm processing over 2,000 transactions monthly was overwhelmed by the document complexity of multi-counterparty trading. Each trade generated a chain of documents — trade confirmations, contracts, shipping documents, quality certificates, invoices, and settlement instructions — flowing between 50+ counterparties across different markets, currencies, and time zones.
Trade confirmation matching was done manually in spreadsheets. Settlement teams cross-referenced documents by hand, chasing counterparties via email when details didn't align. Discrepancies in quantities, pricing, or settlement terms often weren't identified until days after execution, creating financial exposure. Management lacked real-time visibility into settlement status and open positions.
The firm's operational headcount was growing faster than its trading volume — an unsustainable trajectory.
Our Approach
We deployed an intelligent document processing and reconciliation layer across the firm's existing trading and settlement systems — automating trade confirmation extraction and matching, multi-currency settlement reconciliation, and counterparty document standardisation, with real-time dashboards for management oversight.
Results
- 75% reduction in trade confirmation matching time
- Settlement discrepancy identification accelerated from days to hours
- Multi-currency reconciliation automated across USD, SGD, JPY, CNY, and THB
- 50+ counterparty document formats standardised through intelligent extraction
- Real-time dashboards for open position tracking and settlement status
- 3 FTEs redeployed from manual reconciliation to exception management and counterparty relations
The trading firm had previously invested in a commodity trading and risk management platform upgrade that improved trade capture but didn't address the document processing and reconciliation bottlenecks between the platform and counterparty communications. The intelligence layer approach solved the workflow gap in 7 weeks.
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Related Industry Insights
- Supply Chain Intelligence in APAC — Moving from reactive visibility to predictive intelligence across APAC trading and supply chain operations.
Related Case Studies
- Operational Intelligence Platform — Cross-system orchestration and operational dashboards for an APAC trading firm.
- Corporate Card Reconciliation — Intelligent matching and reconciliation automation for complex financial records.
- APAC Consumer Goods Trade Operations — Multi-market document processing and reconciliation automation.
Further Reading
- Form Matching at Scale — Why reconciliation across systems is harder than it looks — and how to solve it.
- The 30% Problem — Why the edge cases in reconciliation are where the real value lives.
- Our Workflow Automation capabilities — Cross-system orchestration, intelligent matching, and exception routing.