De Surinaamsche Bank N.V. (DSB), the largest commercial bank in Suriname, serving both private and business customers, has automated the reconciliation of several general ledger accounts using RPA (Robotic Process Automation) in collaboration with Tacstone Technology. This automation has led to significant time savings and noticeable improvements in data quality.
Alexander van Petten, Director at DSB, explains: “Our processes at DSB involve routine and repetitive activities that must be carried out daily. These are often intensive processes with numerous manual tasks, making them prone to errors. The more people involved, the greater the risk of mistakes.”
In search of a solution, DSB connected with Tacstone Technology, which has been active in the Surinamese market for some time. Jimmy Nanhekhan, Manager of E-Banking & Payment Services, says: “We compared Tacstone with a provider from India that we already knew, and Tacstone emerged as the better choice.”
Niven Boerleider, Manager of ATM/POS, adds: “We wanted to identify bottlenecks in our work and explore where automation could bring efficiency improvements. We presented our findings to Tacstone, and they conducted an analysis, which became the foundation for designing a process flow for RPA.”
A Complex Process
The first process tackled was a complex challenge. Nanhekhan explains: “When transferring money to another bank, the funds are temporarily placed in an intermediate account. This occurs with all individual transactions throughout the day, and at the end of the day, these transactions are processed in a single batch. For example, if there are one hundred transactions totaling two million, each transaction appears individually in the intermediate account. At the end of the day, the sum of two million is transferred to the central bank as a single transaction.”
“We used to reconcile the total amount with individual transactions manually in Excel, and vice versa for transactions received from other banks. This process required a significant amount of man-hours. That’s why we developed an RPA tool to automate the reconciliation of six general ledger accounts across multiple intermediate accounts.”
Involvement in the Process
Van Petten appreciates Tacstone Technology’s role: “We worked closely with Tacstone to map out the processes. At one point, they understood our processes so well that they were almost like DSB employees. They were deeply involved and provided valuable insights on how to improve efficiency. This external perspective was crucial, as it’s easy to overlook certain things when you’re too close to the process internally.”
However, efficient project setup is critical. “To automate a process effectively, it’s important to do as much internal preparatory work as possible and involve the right people in the analysis. This is not a cheap exercise, and the more hours you spend on external support for process analysis, the more expensive it becomes.”
“The robot’s license costs are manageable; most of the expenses come from building the scripts. Usually, you don’t have that expertise in-house, so a thorough initial analysis and clear requirements for your partner are crucial. The better the requirements, the faster the development, and the lower the costs.”
Employees Welcome Automation
Employees were pleased to be freed from the labor-intensive manual work. Van Petten notes: “This project did not lead to job losses. Instead, it allowed more time for other tasks. The previous process was time-consuming, and these efficiency improvements have freed up time for other responsibilities.”
Nanhekhan adds: “Our employees were happy with the automation. Instead of performing all those manual tasks, they could now initiate the process with the push of a button and receive the output they needed to continue. In one department responsible for local transfer reconciliations, what used to take about three hours a day is now completed in fifteen minutes.”
Eliminating Human Errors
Van Petten highlights another benefit: “The system performs all calculations, providing automatic output. This isn’t just about saving time but also about minimizing human errors in the process. Given the complexity of managing multiple general ledger accounts for different transactions, errors, such as double bookings, could be difficult to identify—like finding a needle in a haystack.”
“This process is now much more efficient. When a complaint arises, or a customer requests an investigation, we can quickly determine where the issue lies and whether a corrective booking is necessary. This improvement in efficiency greatly benefits our customers. As a bank, we now have more time to focus on sales.”
