The loss of experienced operational staff is creating challenges for financial institutions as post-trade workflows become increasingly complex, according to a new white paper written by Yogesh Shenai, senior product manager at SmartStream Technologies.
Titled The Institutional Knowledge Imperative, the paper examines how staff turnover, offshoring and the growing reliance on junior employees are affecting the transfer of operational expertise. It notes that 60–70% of back-office effort is spent resolving exceptions, while shorter settlement cycles such as T+1 are putting additional pressure on existing processes.
Shenai argues that traditional rule-based automation has struggled to address complex exceptions that require contextual knowledge and human judgement. It identifies agentic AI as a way to capture decision-making processes and apply them across operational teams.
Smart Agents
The paper outlines how Smartstream’s Smart Agents use existing procedures and historical resolution patterns to guide exception handling. The system can retrieve information across systems, recommend resolution paths and record decisions, while allowing analysts to validate actions and retain oversight.
The white paper also sets out a roadmap for institutions to identify knowledge-heavy workflows, capture expertise and gradually introduce AI-driven execution, starting with areas such as cash breaks and securities settlement delays.