We recently had a briefing with TCS' Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) industry advisory group to gain a deeper understanding of their capabilities and extent of coverage across the BFSI vertical. The discussion covered key strategic initiatives, recent experiences, and delivery capabilities in the area of finance and accounting (F&A).

The BFSI sector operates in complex regulatory environments emphasizing data sensitivity, compliance, and continuous financial reporting. Considering this, F&A functions within BFSI enterprises require tailored approaches distinct from those in other industries, given the unique nature of the business. They must deal with finances and associated risks, heightened regulatory oversight, continuous auditing demands, and pressure of maintaining financial data accuracy. TCS' BFSI-focused CFO  Strategic Initiative integrates Advisory, Technology Solutions, Analytics & Business Process Services to help BFSI CFOs address these challenges. With proven frameworks and digital accelerators, they deliver synergies through technology and data-related modernizations, process and controls-related transformations and optimizations.

Overview of TCS’ F&A Offerings for BFSI CFOs

TCS' F&A offerings for BFSI CFOs focus on leveraging technology for finance transformations covering:

• Front-to-back finance modernization
• Addressing regulatory & compliance challenges
• Implementing continuous accounting and daily soft close
• Empowering finance users with self-service reporting & analytics capabilities
• Modernizing finance policies & processes

TCS delivers long-term and short-duration advisory and transformation engagements and multi-year finance transformation engagements. It leverages a set of proprietary tools and frameworks tailored for F&A transformation. These tools are applied across transformation engagements to assess current states, define operating models, and execute targeted technology and process improvements.

Key tools used to support F&A transformation include:

• A maturity assessment tool for finance, evaluating maturity of finance policies & procedures, tools & technology, processes & controls, data & reporting and people. With a consultative approach, TCS also helps create a roadmap towards desired levels of finance maturity
• TCS Cognix, a cognitive automation platform supporting AI-driven process optimization in F&A with 100+ value builders
• GenAI-based decision intelligence solution that facilitates real-time decision recommendations to ensure a firm’s ongoing ability to meet short-term obligations
• TCS Compass, a framework with a combination of digital core capabilities and enablers for enterprise application modernization powered by cloud.

In addition to its TCS BaNCS platform, TCS has a range of tools and platforms designed explicitly for the BFSI sector. These include:

• TCS Crystallus, a suite of pre-configured business solutions to accelerate digital transformation and financial consolidation. In the BFSI sector, TCS Crystallus is used to accelerate the implementation of enterprise solutions
• Intelligent digital extraction suite, a vision-based machine learning OCR to identify textual patterns within images and capture data using NLP and ML algorithms for data extraction from documents/applications
• TCS Cognitive Automation platform (CAP) for BFSI is a suite of modular, API-enabled, innovative cognitive solutions leveraging AI/ML and NLP technologies, which are adaptable with accelerated business outcomes and assured benefit realization, and supports growth transformation.

Advisory engagements typically focus on specific pain points such as CoA modernization, controls rationalization, automations of EUCs, streamlining and standardizations of finance policies, strengthening and optimization of controls and compliances, while larger transformation programs address end-to-end finance modernization.

CoA Optimization & Finance Modernization

TCS engaged with a leading UK-based insurance company to address inefficiencies in its Chart of Accounts (CoA), with a low maturity level (1.8 on a 4-point scale). The CoA had over 35% redundancy due to unused and duplicate accounts, poor governance, and inconsistencies in reporting hierarchies. The solution deployed by TCS included an as-is assessment of Oracle cloud GL and CoA structure, gap analysis against industry best practices, recommendations for thin GL and thick sub-ledger structure, optimization of dimensions and hierarchies, and implementation of cross-validation rules for better control. The engagement resulted in a streamlined CoA, reduced audit efforts, and a foundation for future ERP transformation.

Elsewhere, TCS supported the modernization of payments accounting for a U.K. building society by transitioning its accounting model from single-entry to double entry on SAP Fiori. The engagement included process flow design, control framework development, and compliance alignments.

Addressing Regulatory Reporting Challenges

Unlike manufacturing or retail sectors, F&A in BFSI is driven by continuous regulatory scrutiny, stringent reporting needs, and rigorous data governance. Financial institutions face increasing expectations from regulators, including demands for direct data access, continuous accounting capabilities, and zero tolerance for compliance failures.

Additionally, for BFSI clients, compliance is a business critical need, an integral part of business-as-usual operations that demands minimal manual interventions across financial processes to enable continuous accounting.

Here, TCS supported a large European bank, with operations across 10 Asia-Pacific countries, to address the regulatory reporting challenges. The bank required automation of over 1,000 regulatory reports, each subject to local compliance standards and multilingual submission requirements. TCS developed a centralized regulatory reporting platform (RRP) with integrated ETL and reporting functionalities. The solution enabled the bank to consolidate financial and operational data into a single data store, apply configurable business rules, and automate reporting workflows. The outcome included accelerated report generation, enhanced data control through role-based security, and compliance adherence across multiple jurisdictions.

Implementing Continuous Accounting

TCS is working with European banks to implement continuous accounting, enabling daily soft close capabilities. This involves eliminating manual interventions, automating data reconciliations, and integrating compliance into the transactional processes. Key focus areas include automation of balance sheet substantiation, data quality frameworks, and policy alignment.

A major European bank faced challenges due to fragmented accounting systems, resulting in millions of manual journal entries per month. These manual interventions led to delayed closings, high reconciliation efforts, and regulatory compliance challenges and issues under SOX. TCS implemented a structured transformation under its risk, finance, and treasury program, covering five workstreams: GL, data warehouse, P&L, treasury, and German sub-ledgers. The engagement's key elements included implementing a data quality monitoring framework, deploying over 20 finance data dashboards, significantly reducing recurring manual adjustments in the initial phase, root cause analysis and systematic remediation tracking, and alignment with ECB BCBS 239 audit requirements. This engagement enabled the bank to improve data governance, enhance audit readiness, and swiftly progress toward daily financial close capabilities.

Elsewhere, TCS implemented a centralized balance sheet substantiation platform for a major bank, reducing the number of operational locations and automating most reconciliations. Segregation of duty conflicts was  addressed, leading to improved SOX compliance.

Summary

TCS' BFSI CFO Strategic Initiative delivers end-to-end F&A transformations, tailored to the specific needs of the BFSI CFOs. Its  approach of synergizing  technology modernization, data governance, regulatory compliance, and operational streamlining and deploying AI- and GenAI-based solutions has resulted in significant gains for financial institutions in terms of building effective and efficient finance functions. Leveraging structured frameworks, proprietary tools, and experience with a diverse BFSI client base, TCS enables finance functions to maintain compliance, generate real-time insights, and automate key processes.

These initiatives contribute to stronger financial controls, improved readiness for regulatory scrutiny, and the development of scalable, future-oriented finance operations. As organizations increasingly prioritize domain expertise and an understanding of industry-specific requirements, TCS' BFSI-focused CFO Strategic Initiative illustrates how service providers are evolving to offer specialized, sector-driven solutions.