The Challenge
The UK-based Index team at an European headquartered global bank manages a vast and varied portfolio of over 6000 indices. From monitoring market trends to conducting thorough research on index methodologies, their workload is extensive and demanding. The managing director of the team recognized the need to streamline and modernize the entire index administration process from creation to distribution. He decided to partner with Evalueserve to reengineer the bank’s index management framework, streamlining operations around the clock, five days a week.
Our Solution
Evalueserve acknowledged the importance of accuracy in managing this large volume of indices and the potential financial implications of errors in the process for the bank. To manage this process effectively, several key components were necessary:
- Expertise in quantitative modeling, in-dept understanding of capital markets dynamics, proficiency in programming across a range of languages, including VBA, Python, and Excel
- 24-hour operations, 5 days a week
- Knowledge covering a wide range of asset classes
- Comprehensive understanding of the bank’s operational framework
- Regulatory & governance reporting experience
Given the requirements, the optimal solution for managing thousands of indices would require a blend of services and automation.
Evalueserve strategically positioned various experts across asset classes in delivery centers located worldwide, enabling round-the-clock support. This setup facilitated seamless collaboration with onshore counterparts, ensuring a resilient and efficient workflow throughout the index management process.
As part of the governance framework, Evalueserve implemented quality standards, ensured timely responses, and established an effective feedback mechanism. Regular calls were held to assess operational performance, facilitate discussions with global and regional leads, and promptly resolve any emerging issues.
Subsequently, Evalueserve helped the bank implement an index governance framework that required diverse levels of expertise and automation. Within this tiered team structure, experienced senior domain experts supervised back-testing and index development, while junior analysts were responsible for daily governance tasks. An adaptable mid-level layer was incorporated to provide flexibility for both development and maintenance activities. The team showed proficiency in quantitative modeling, an extensive understanding of capital markets, and expertise in programming across various languages.
The index calculation framework provided pre-calculation sanity checks and validations, managed index lifecycle events, and offered comprehensive automated position reporting at both the index and constituent levels.
The team also deployed several accelerators:
- A health check monitoring tool for index calculation and data quality checks, operating hourly. This tool has improved response times and established standardized check processes across regions, significantly enhancing issue tracking and response times throughout the day.
- Custom automations specifically tailored for the client equity team which resulted in significant efficiency gains. These automations optimized tasks such as multiple day rebalance treatments, corporate action application on the client’s index calculator, publication checks, and selection calculation and validation.
- An Excel toolkit, featuring functions essential to every team process. These functions include data extraction from the production database, email creation, and text formatting. This toolkit has helped standardize models across all teams and accelerate the implementation of micro automations within these models.
In addition, Evalueserve has assisted the bank in setting up its own in-house automation team, which focuses on creating task templates and developing micro automations and accelerators. These initiatives aimed to optimize processes across various tasks and teams within the bank.
The onshore/offshore model efficiently managed shifts, prioritizing timely issue resolution, enabling onshore teams to focus on more strategic projects. With a highly experienced leadership team, collaboration seamlessly extended to working with the client’s quantitative research and other divisions.
Evalueserve deployed solutions across the index lifecycle, addressing tasks such as:
- pre-calculation sanity checks
- lifecycle events management
- post-calculation index levels validation
These processes were standardized, reengineered, and automated to improve efficiency and reliability. Automation and accelerators were successfully implemented in a diverse range of processes, including:
- rebalance diary
- equity team micro automations
- equity selection and rebalance pre-checks
- fixed income indices rebalance
- health checks
- reconciliation processes
The custom accelerators designed for the equity team have delivered annual time savings exceeding 1000 hours and a significant boost in output quality.
The health checks micro tool, which operates hourly, has not only accelerated response times but also ensured a standardized check process across all regions.
Collectively, the automated processes engineered by Evalueserve have played an essential role in minimizing errors, enhancing efficiency, saving time, and elevating the overall quality of work for the client.
Business Impact
The partnership with Evalueserve has resulted in an impressive 20%-time savings for the bank. This achievement was possible through the development of an in-house automation team dedicated to creating task templates and micro-automations. Our tech-enhanced managed services model, combining cross-domain expertise with technology, along with the round-the-clock support from the global delivery team, has been instrumental in nurturing a successful collaboration.
Our custom accelerators and automated processes have significantly helped the bank in reducing errors, boosting efficiency, saving time, and enhancing the overall quality of work. Furthermore, Evalueserve has seamlessly integrated additional work streams, including reporting, quality assurance, and regulatory task support, all achieved without requiring additional headcount.
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20% time savings in their index management process
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Comprehensive governance framework
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Automations and tech accelerators to enhance the process
Talk to One of Our Experts
Get in touch today to find out about how Evalueserve can help you improve your processes, making you better, faster and more efficient.
Overview & Impact
Evalueserve helped a leading bank achieve a remarkable 20%-time savings in their index management process by implementing a comprehensive governance framework enhanced by automations.