From Back Office to Bottom Line: How Modern Account Analysis Empowers Treasury Management

Commercial account analysis—the process banks use to review business client accounts and determine service fees—was once a back-office tool for tracking and managing corporate billing. For decades, it saw little change. However, in today’s hyper-competitive financial landscape, outdated processes can no longer keep pace with client expectations and regulatory demands. Manual reconciliation and opaque billing risk not only revenue but also customer trust—two things banks cannot afford to lose.

Adding business intelligence (BI) tools to account analysis allows financial institutions (FIs) to eliminate errors, streamline workflows and deliver real-time transparency. What was once a routine bookkeeping process has evolved into a strategic lever—one that strengthens compliance, enhances client loyalty and drives revenue.

Manual Account Analysis Slows Banks Down—and Profits Suffer

Business Intelligence Turns Account Analysis Into a Revenue Engine

Smarter Account Analysis Deepens Client Relationships

Modernized Account Analysis Is No Longer Optional

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Manual Account Analysis Slows Banks Down—and Profits Suffer

Traditional account analysis is a labor-intensive undertaking that leaves plenty of room for inefficiency, delays and costly errors. In an environment where accuracy and timeliness are key, manual workflows are increasingly unsustainable.

Manual account analysis is slow and error-prone.

Traditional account analysis can be a daunting task, requiring the manual collection, organization and formatting of data from multiple internal and third-party systems before producing client statements. This cycle repeats monthly for every account, with each round opening the door to new mistakes and holdups.

Meanwhile, manual work ties up valuable resources and slows revenue collection—outcomes that can weaken a bank’s bottom line. Missed or delayed charges become especially problematic, as retroactive billing can lead to client frustration, making revenue recovery difficult.

$98.5M

Amount lost by FIs annually due to operational inefficiencies in reconciliation alone

Inefficient account analysis drains bank revenue.

In fact, operational inefficiencies in this process are bleeding banks of millions each year. FIS research finds that firms lose roughly $98.5 million annually from inefficiencies in the reconciliation process alone, largely due to manual workflows and siloed systems. These systems not only exacerbate delays but also heighten exposure to costly errors, even as regulators demand the highest accuracy from banks in capital reporting to ensure reliable risk.

In light of these findings, the business case for modernization is growing ever more urgent. In 2024, one multinational bank using FIS’s Optimized Reconciliation Service (ORS) slashed manual reconciliation tasks by 73%, eliminating the need to process 600,000 transactions by hand and cutting full-time employee (FTE) costs in half. These gains highlight why automation is quickly becoming indispensable to back-office operations.

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Business Intelligence Turns Account Analysis Into a Revenue Engine

Modern account analysis platforms don’t just streamline workflows—they capture every billable service, eliminate leakage and enable smarter pricing strategies that safeguard margins while unlocking new revenues.

Poor pricing governance quietly erodes bank margins.

15%

Potential FI revenue leakage due to weak pricing governance systems

In banking, “leakage” happens when earned revenue goes uncollected—often from untracked services or outdated pricing. Manual billing systems are especially prone to missing these details. Discounting practices add another layer of risk. While introductory rates can be effective for winning business, these discounts often extend beyond their intended expiration dates, eroding profitability. Left unchecked through manual oversight, such lapses can snowball into substantial losses.

Datos Insights estimates that institutions without strong pricing governance lose between 5% and 15% of potential earnings due to unauthorized discounts, inconsistent pricing and poor policy enforcement. Modern platforms, by contrast, provide robust governance through standardized pricing workflows, exception tracking and automated enforcement of expiration dates.

Beyond sealing leaks, automated account analysis can optimize revenue.

Modern BI-enabled platforms do more than plug gaps in billing—they unlock new sources of profitability. By maintaining comprehensive product catalogs and flexible billing points, they ensure that every service is captured and charged correctly, eliminating the silent drain of uncollected revenue. The real advantage, however, is forward-looking: These platforms can support dynamic pricing strategies that tailor fees to client behaviors, account balances and usage patterns, allowing banks to compete more effectively while still protecting margins.

In practice, automation turns account analysis into a continuous revenue life cycle. From negotiation to billing, settlement and renewal, banks gain the ability to model profitability, test pricing scenarios and respond quickly to market shifts. Institutions using these capabilities can cross-sell more effectively, align services with client needs and boost fee-based revenue. As a result, automated account analysis provides not just a defense against leakage but also a proactive engine for growth.

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Smarter Account Analysis Deepens Client Relationships

Accurate billing is just the start. Armed with client insights from BI-enabled account analysis, banks can personalize offers and services to extend and deepen client relationships for maximum lifetime customer value.

Outdated systems fail clients—and clear the way for competitors.

Datos Insights reports that 80% of North American banking executives acknowledge that their current capabilities lag behind client expectations for agility and transparency. These shortcomings have led to numerous missed opportunities with business owners, a potentially lucrative client base. Just 22% consolidate their personal investments with their business banks. Clients cite uncompetitive fees, doubts about investment expertise and stronger satisfaction with existing advisers as reasons for splitting these relationships.

Corporate clients increasingly expect the same kind of real-time visibility into service usage, fees and credits that they have come to expect from their consumer digital experiences. Opaque, one-size-fits-all pricing is no longer acceptable. Banks that deliver personalized, transparent and flexible pricing solutions will strengthen loyalty and maximize relationship value. By integrating BI and automation, institutions can effectively transform account analysis into a strategic relationship management tool.

80%

of North American banking executives say their current pricing and billing capabilities fall short of meeting customers’ expectations for product and service agility.

Stronger account analysis keeps commercial clients close.

For most United States banks, commercial relationships are the beating heart of profitability. Unlike retail clients, middle-market businesses generate broad, interconnected revenue streams spanning treasury services, lending, merchant processing, payroll and advisory offerings. Losing a single client can mean walking away from hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars in annual revenue. According to McKinsey, top-performing banks capture 40% or more of their revenue from fees, driven by cross-selling and long-term relationship depth.

Because these relationships carry such weight, banks cannot risk jeopardizing them with outdated account analysis. Modern BI-enabled systems give FIs the tools to serve clients more effectively, delivering the end-to-end service that strengthens loyalty and encourages them to consolidate accounts under one roof.

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Modernized Account Analysis Is No Longer Optional

Today’s account analysis has evolved from a back-office burden into a strategic differentiator for FIs. By integrating business intelligence and automation, banks can reduce inefficiencies, stop revenue leakage and deliver transparent, client-centric services. These capabilities improve billing accuracy, unlock new revenue streams and enhance client trust, all key advantages in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

PYMNTS Intelligence offers the following roadmap for institutions seeking to modernize account analysis:

Automate manual processes. Leverage application programming interfaces (APIs) and cloud-native solutions to eliminate repetitive data collection and reconciliation, freeing up staff for higher-value tasks.

Implement pricing governance. Standardize workflows to track exceptions, enforce discount expirations and capture every billable service.

Adopt BI-driven insights. Use analytics to identify profitable clients, model pricing concessions and strengthen long-term relationships.

Invest in integrated platforms. Provide real-time transparency and self-service capabilities to meet evolving customer expectations.

Empower relationship managers. Equip sales teams with modeling and account analysis tools to deliver personalized, competitive offers quickly.

By embracing these strategies, banks can transform account analysis from a compliance necessity into a revenue engine—streamlining operations, deepening relationships and securing lasting growth.

Extended account analysis is an area that institutions haven’t typically invested in but are realizing the importance of now. We at FIS believe the services we’re bringing to market will allow FIs to attract new businesses and make sure their treasury teams are offering commercial customers the best of what their FIs can do for them.”

Norm Marraccini
Senior Vice President, Products and Services, FIS