FINANCIAL SERVICES
KYC workflow automation
An aggregator automates the extraction of hundreds of data fields—covering financials, investor profiles, fund details, board compositions, and more—from multiple documents across SEC-registered firms. This comprehensive, standardized repository enables financial institutions to swiftly validate client identities, perform in-depth due diligence, and maintain ongoing monitoring with minimal effort, strengthening both compliance and operational efficiency.
Institutions can spend up to $500 million annually on KYC, while fines for non-compliance have surpassed $10 billion—making even minor oversight potentially catastrophic
Mounting costs and fines
Manual processes and scattered data extend client onboarding by 30–40 days on average, frustrating customers and slowing business growth
Excessive onboarding times
Frequent regulatory updates across multiple jurisdictions require continuous process overhauls, forcing compliance teams to stay on guard to avoid legal and reputational risks
Fragmented, evolving regulations
Industry challenge
In a recent industry survey, global financial institutions reported spending up to $500 million annually on KYC and customer due diligence, with 73% of compliance teams citing challenges in verifying identities across multiple jurisdictions. Additionally, fines for non-compliance soared to over $10 billion in 2021, underscoring the high stakes of getting KYC right.
The reliance on manual processes—often involving spreadsheets and paper documents—coupled with inconsistent data formats, can extend client onboarding times by 30–40 days, frustrating customers and stifling business growth. Evolving regulations add another layer of complexity, pushing organizations to continuously update their procedures or risk significant financial and reputational damage.
HerculesAI for KYC workflows
Hercules revolutionizes KYC workflows by automatically ingesting and interpreting large volumes of documents from multiple SEC-registered sources, standardizing all data points to ensure timely and accurate risk assessments. By eliminating manual data entry and implementing real-time validation, it reduces errors, accelerates due diligence, and streamlines compliance. As a result, KYC teams can devote more time to high-value activities—such as risk management and client engagement—rather than repetitive administrative tasks.
THE STATS
70%
faster client onboarding from automated data capture and validation, minimizing manual reviews and reducing the average onboarding time from weeks to days
50%
reduction in compliance errors from advanced AI data cross-checks against regulatory requirements that spot inconsistencies before they become major issues
30%
decrease in operation costs due to fewer manual interventions and streamlined workflows, lowering overhead expenses and freeing resources for higher-value tasks
AI-powered data pipeline
In a typical aggregator-based KYC workflow, large volumes of SEC filings—such as 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks, S-1s, and proxy statements—along with prospectuses and annual reports, must be processed rapidly and accurately. An AI-driven platform ingests these varied formats, standardizes their structure, and extracts key details like financial metrics, board compositions, and investor data. Any discrepancies are flagged for real-time validation, minimizing manual reviews and ensuring higher accuracy. Once verified, the enriched data seamlessly flows downstream for compliance checks, risk assessments, and reporting.
AI CAPABILITY
Hercules ingests and standardizes all formats automatically
01
Data gathering + normalization
Aggregator collects documents (usually in varied formats) from multiple SEC-registered entities
AI CAPABILITY
Hercules captures and structures these fields at scale
02
AI-powered extraction
Aggregator identifies key data points that must be extracted for compliance, analysis, or distribution
AI CAPABILITY
Hercules applies context-aware verification to flag and correct errors in real time
03
Tiered validation + reconciliation
A second layer of validation checks for and flags discrepancies, incomplete fields, or potential errors
AI CAPABILITY
Hercules seamlessly hands off clean, organized data, speeding up access and insights
04
Downstream submission
Data is fed to downstream systems like client portals, risk assessment tools, or third party integrations
Examples of KYC documents Hercules handles
Annual Reports
Yearly summaries of a company’s operations, finances, and strategic direction intended for investors
10-K (Annual Financial Statements)
Comprehensive annual report detailing a public company’s financial performance, risks, and management discussions
10-Q (Quarterly Financial Statements)
Quarterly updates on a public company’s financial performance and ongoing corporate activities
8-K (Current Reports/Event Disclosures)
Real-time disclosure of significant corporate events, such as mergers, leadership changes, or bankruptcies
A series of industry surveys and research reports—by Thomson Reuters, Deloitte, and Accenture—underscore the mounting pain points of KYC, including lengthy onboarding times, repeated data requests, skyrocketing operational expenses, and high error rates. AI-powered tools drastically cut processing times—by as much as 40–70%—while improving accuracy and compliance. Solutions like Hercules tackle these issues by standardizing disparate data sources, automating validations in real-time, and ultimately driving lower costs and higher client satisfaction.
