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Feedback from Wilson Bank & Trust and Bank of Tennessee + our development = FedTransaction Analyzer

November 2011

Developed based on feedback, the FedTransaction AnalyzerSM service provides access to a historical transaction database and helps automate manual reporting processes. Available since June 2011, this tool enables financial institutions to automate and standardize after-the-fact analysis of payment transactions. To learn more about similar products that were enhanced or developed based on your feedback, read the article, "Partnering to better payments" in this FedFocus issue.

As an enhancement to the FedLine Advantage® Plus access solution, the FedTransaction Analyzer service helps financial institutions aggregate, save and analyze transaction data and assess potential exception activity, eliminating much of the time-consuming and error-prone processes related to manual risk management and compliance support. Some 36 data elements are captured and provided as part of the service. Access to an 18-month historical database of Fedwire® Funds Service data is available today, with transaction data for additional services planned in the future.

The FedTransaction Analyzer service was developed for individuals with responsibilities associated with compliance, risk management, finance or payment operations.

 

How is a service such as FedTransaction Analyzer developed?

We often include financial institutions in development efforts, using input to help shape products. By listening to your feedback, members of our development team designed the FedTransaction Analyzer service to meet your needs. 

Such was the case with Glen Cross, electronic banking manager at Wilson Bank & Trust, (Off-site Link) headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee. “I was part of the customer development advisory group for FedTransaction Analyzer,” reports Cross. “It was a great process.” Today, staff members at this $1.5 billion institution enjoy product features and benefits that they themselves helped to design. “Risk mitigation is one of the tool’s key benefits,” Cross states. "Previously, we had to manually key all daily wire activity into a spreadsheet, leaving ourselves open to potential keying errors. With FedTransaction Analyzer, we know we have every transaction’s detail downloaded automatically.”

 

How easy is it?

Another early adopter of the FedTransaction Analyzer service was Bank of Tennessee, (Off-site Link) a $633 million northeast Tennessee organization with 12 branches, an operations center and a business center. Patrick Prillhart, the bank’s manager of electronic payments, explains why his employees were particularly excited to get started once the product became available. “The FedTransaction Analyzer tool allows us to gather wire information on a larger scale than we had been able to do before. Now, we can search a wide time period and dollar amount when looking for an item. Our risk management department searches items for an entire month, which allows them to analyze trends they might not otherwise notice.” As a FedLine Advantage Plus access solution customer, all Bank of Tennessee had to do to get started was review the applicable terms and complete a short Subscriber Requerst Form; the necessary “Information Central” function was then available for use by the bank's authorized Subscribers. 

In addition to risk mitigation, both of these financial institutions include time savings and employee efficiency in their lists of key service benefits.

 

Staff members enjoy many key benefits afforded by the FedTransaction Analyzer Service

“Our staff at Bank of Tennessee previously hand entered up to 1,000 wire items per month into a tracking spreadsheet,” states Prillhart. “Downloading transaction reports using FedTransaction Analyzer eliminates all that tedious work, allowing employees to become available for more valuable cross training opportunities.” Prillhart continues, “In addition, FedTransaction Analyzer captures the payments data we need, providing much improved reporting. Our risk management department is enjoying the enhanced search capability."

At Wilson Bank & Trust, Cross reported, “Staff members who had been spending as many as two hours each day entering data are tickled pink to be freed up to do new tasks. Compliance reporting has been streamlined to about 10 minutes per day and, as a result, their jobs have become much more fulfilling.”

 

What does the future hold?

Looking ahead, we are working to include additional reporting capability in the FedTransaction Analyzer service. “We’ll be glad to see the tool’s reporting abilities grow,” says Prillhart, adding, “More information, better search capabilities, enhanced risk mitigation…it just makes life easier with all this information at our fingertips.”

“I enjoyed working with the Federal Reserve to develop the FedTransaction Analyzer tool,” says Cross. “As a growing institution, Wilson Bank & Trust’s daily wire volume is likely to increase, making our manual recording of wires grow more time consuming and less efficient. I would say that any financial institution recording more than 25 incoming and outgoing wires each day would enjoy the time and error-reduction efficiencies of the service."

 

For more information

If you would like to learn more about this new service, review the FedTransaction Analyzer product sheet (PDF), view a list of Frequently Asked Questions or contact your account executive.

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