At the Finovate Europe 2022 conference in London, FinTech Futures caught up with Jethro MacDonald, product manager at SmartStream, to chat about how the firm is utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to help companies achieve regulatory alignment and accurate MiFID II transaction reporting. FinTech Futures also spoke with SmartStream CEO Haytham Kaddoura ahead of Sibos 2021 to discuss the most prevalent technology trends and opportunities as finance moves into the future. You can read the full interview here. You can also watch our video interview with Peter Dehaan, new business director for cash and liquidity management at SmartStream, here. We discuss how new technology and operational strategies can help firms better manage their data in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Behind Sahej, hanging on the wall, Nayana could see rows of colorful masks, which, she learned, Sahej had carved and painted himself. On the first day of the new term, the teacher had asked Sahej about the masks, and the new student shyly gave a show-and-tell, explaining how the masks combined Indian gods and spirits with the powers of superheroes. Now, in an invitation-only room on her ShareChat, some of Nayana's classmates were gossiping about Sahej. From the way his room was furnished to the fact that his surname was hidden from public view in school records, these girls were certain Sahej was among the "vulnerable group" that the government mandated make up at least 15% of their student body. At private schools across India, such children were practically guaranteed spots and their tuition, books, and uniforms were covered by scholarships.

In 2019, SmartStream rolled out Air, a cloud-native reconciliations platform. At the time, it was described as "the birth of all our AI and machine learning products." While Air is a standalone product that a user can license on the cloud, the AI that underpins the system can be used across SmartStream's suite of products. To that end, SmartStream has already added that AI functionality for matching to its TLM Aurora and TLM Reconciliations Premium platforms. The next step is to add Air's data

Additionally, it takes away the demand for firms to hold out expensive and time-consuming tasks to redesign the technical architecture of theirs. Product manager, SmartStream: Roland Brandli said, "Imagine working with a virtual operations staff that never sleeps, continuously comparing and fixing. Having a complex reconciliations solution working completely entails access, cost, and effort to experienced IT staff members. At times, it could be appealing to allow maintenance problems slide and not maintaining a continuous eye on such matters may be unsafe. If matching rules aren't reviewed and reconfigured frequently, matching rates will probably reduce. Investigating these may involve hiring extra operations staff members and impose added expense". Transaction Service Life-cycle Management (TML) Aurora Digital Payments Control solution is the new module created to work with SmartStream.

It also takes away the need for firms to carry out time-consuming and expensive projects to redesign their technical architecture. Roland Brandli, Product Manager, SmartStream, states: "Imagine having a virtual operations team that never sleeps, constantly comparing and fixing. Having a sophisticated reconciliations solution working perfectly entails effort, cost and access to skilled IT staff. Sometimes, it can be tempting to let maintenance issues slide and not keeping a constant eye on such matters can be risky. If matching rules are not reviewed and reconfigured regularly, matching rates are likely to decrease. Investigating these can involve hiring extra operations staff and impose added expense". The new module is designed to work with SmartStream's TLM Aurora Digital Payments Control solution. The module is easy to deploy, providing a speedy and convenient boost to efficiency for managing reconciliations daily.

It also takes away the need for firms to carry out time-consuming and expensive projects to redesign their technical architecture. Roland Brandli, Product Manager, SmartStream, states: "Imagine having a virtual operations team that never sleeps, constantly comparing and fixing. Having a sophisticated reconciliations solution working perfectly entails effort, cost and access to skilled IT staff. Sometimes, it can be tempting to let maintenance issues slide and not keeping a constant eye on such matters can be risky. If matching rules are not reviewed and reconfigured regularly, matching rates are likely to decrease. Investigating these can involve hiring extra operations staff and impose added expense".

SmartStream Technologies, a provider of financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions, has launched the next phase of its innovations team – which is working with financial institutions to optimise workflows, using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and blockchain technologies, in the areas of reconciliations, cash management and fees and expense management. The new innovations team has been recruited to help design new AI and ML techniques to drive down costs and improve work flow efficiencies, taking advantage of advanced data analytics to re-engineer traditional work models across back office processing. Highly skilled members of the team include mathematicians, applied data scientists, computer scientists and PhDs, who will focus on the deployment of AI/ML and blockchain models with financial institutions. This includes evaluating optimal AI/ML modelling, data interpolation, running tests, implementations and analysing how AI processes best work within the current product environment by monitoring achievements and optimisation of processes, to enable better business outcomes. In the areas of reconciliations and cash management, AI/ML will help to monitor, watch and learn.