UBS’ Swiss compliance officers are getting a hand from a new employee: Oscar, the robot. finews.com highlights one product of the Swiss bank's push into agile-based work methods.
«Dear colleagues, I'll be responsible for finding various documents and information for a control decision,» began the new UBS Swiss risk staffer's email. «Like a kitchenhand, I'll prepare everything so that the chef – in our case, the hub expert, for example – can work effectively and efficiently.»
The message is standard for a new employee – except it was written by a robot named Oscar (pictured below) to 180 risk experts in Switzerland led by Barbara Koch-Lehmann. «He» is the product of an agile-based project in UBS' domestic business, a push to change the bank’s processes or automate more existing ones.
UBS' use of robotics comes against the backdrop of rising automation within finance, particularly for routine, thankless tasks. J.P. Morgan is using machine learning to police banker expense reports, for example. Credit Suisse began rolling out compliance robots more than two years ago, under top overseer Lara Warner, for run-of-the-mill spot checks.
At UBS, the project stems from a new «factory» approach – one in Zurich’s former industrial west with 600 workspaces – to design and test apps, robots, and other digital-based solutions for UBS, as finews.com reported in March. The Swiss bank eventually aims to have as many as 1,000 of its domestic employees working in a so-called agile fashion.
IT vs Business
UBS is combining that approach with an «agile» set-up – which aims for a lean production of goods and services of what clients demand. The hallmarks include self-organization versus management orders, ceremonies such as daily huddles with «brutal» transparency, twice-monthly «sprint» reviews – and lots of Post-it notes in between.
«We’re trying to apply this not just in a 'plain IT'-style way, but to embed it into our business since we work day-to-day in cross-functional teams from all areas,» said Kaja Bertoli (pictured below), who is head of business management for Swiss operating chief Karin Oertli. Bertoli is the linchpin in roughly 15 «agile» projects in the wider Swiss unit.
Atrium, a Swiss mortgage matching platform, is the result of one, and a new digital mail-room for wider use, which is currently in broader rollout, is another. «Oscar» the compliance robot was built by risk staff, robotics and IT experts, and an agile coach, in an automation bid in Swiss business risk management under Koch-Lehmann.
«Oscar freed up a lot of 'dead' time that my team spends on opening documents, cross-checking dates, and looking through files,» Koch-Lehmann said. The effort comes as UBS struggles to lower its cost – though both Bertoli and Koch-Lehmann argue this isn’t the driving factor.
«This wasn’t about reducing staff in my area – it was about freeing up capacity to do more demanding or interesting value-added work,» Koch-Lehmann said. Specifically, Oscar carried out relatively mundane checks on documentation and checked whether papers like investor protection material had been filed on time.
Lightening Load
Since July, the robot has lightened the team’s load by opening more than 35,000 documents and evaluating roughly 2,000 different «control» cases, or scenarios. «What Oscar cannot do is to combine or conclude certain things,» Koch-Lehmann said. «It still requires a person to do the work which is more value-added in nature.»
Both Bertoli, a former consultant, and Koch-Lehmann, a compliance veteran, are eager to identify more «agile»-potential projects. «The projects in my area have led to brutal transparency, specialists become more generalists, the single-person dependency is reduced, and we’re more efficient and effective,» Koch-Lehmann said.
Expanding Agile
The Swiss bank’s domestic operations are looking at expanding the workplace set-up next year, due to «excellent» demand. UBS bank also launched an «academy» of information and training sessions to become more «agile»-fluent.
«It’s like skiing without snow: it’s hard to explain so you have to experience it yourself, but it becomes more tangible if colleagues who aren’t working in an agile set-up are included,» Bertoli said.
