Title and escrow companies will soon have a new cloud-based tool to accelerate escrow account reconciliation and make the process more efficient and intuitive. Viking Sasquatch will be unveiling 24|Seven Recon at the National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) June 16-18 at the Westin Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Traditional reconciliation processes that title companies use tend to be labor-intensive, error-prone, and difficult to scale, according to Viking. Industry research indicates manual reconciliation consumes as much as 80 percent of an accountant’s time and can hinder a firm’s operational efficiency.
Other drawbacks to the manual reconciliation process include lengthy reconciliation cycles that often last eight days or more; higher error rates that cause financial discrepancies; more vulnerability to fraud and compliance violations; scaling challenges during times of growth; and staff burnout due to performing repetitive tasks.
Industry pros asked for a solution
Viking’s leaders said they heard from industry professionals who sought a way to speed up the reconciliation process.
“We had several agents and underwriters approach us with a clear need,” Viking Sasquatch CEO Pat Carney explained. “They told us, ‘We need a fresh solution for reconciliation because there’s been limited innovation in this market for over a decade.’ They were actively seeking a more efficient approach to this critical process.”
The 24|Seven Recon platform enhances reconciliation through automation, including:
- Intelligent Transaction Processing: Identifies and matches transactions across systems
- Continuous Monitoring: Provides regular updates on escrow account activity
- Compliance Support: Developed with the American Land Title Association (ALTA) Best Practice Number Two principles for escrow account management, which deals with proper management and documentation of escrow accounts
- Risk Identification: Algorithms help identify potential issues and assess risk
- Comprehensive Reporting: Generates standardized and custom reports
“Our goal is to leverage cutting-edge technology that hasn’t been fully utilized in this space before,” explained Viking Sasquatch Product Manager Stephanie Davis. “We’re creating a solution that’s not only more current but also employs artificial intelligence (AI) to elevate reconciliation capabilities beyond what’s currently available in the market.”
A medium-to-large size title business typically has one or two employees who spend all of their time on reconciliation tasks, according to Carney. Meanwhile, the owners of small title companies normally spend their evenings and weekends doing this reconciliation work, Davis said.
How the tool works
Davis said 24|Seven Recon will collect a company’s banking information and run the data through reconciliation engines to generate reports.
The system is set up to generate standardized reports such as a three-way reconciliation report (which compares bank statements, book balances, and trust accounts), an adjustment report, and a clear transactions/outstanding transactions report. Davis said Viking representatives are speaking with their underwriter partners to determine what reports are most important to them and how they would like to view them.
Carney noted users will be able to select which types of reports they want to receive and even request creation of customized reports.
Title and escrow agency representatives will be able to access the reports on a dashboard on a password-protected website. An employee’s role with their company will dictate the types of information they will be able to access.
In addition to helping companies maintain accurate financial records, 24|Seven Recon will assist firms with regulatory compliance.
“We have the ability to show how you’re doing and whether you’re in compliance with those ALTA Best Practices,” Carney said.
24|Seven Recon will also give underwriters the opportunity to access title agents’ escrow accounts, if the agent provides access to that information. Davis explained that Viking’s platform gives agents the ability to generate monthly reports for the underwriter and allows the underwriter to more closely examine an agent’s escrow accounts.
“If the underwriter is concerned or has questions on a certain agent, they will be able to go into the system and look at that agent without having to wait or rely on reports to be sent over,” Davis explained.
According to Davis, the machine learning process will help the tool learn to identify instances of potential fraud and provide companies with a risk assessment score. She noted that 24|Seven Recon is designed to catch fraud but is also intended to help companies improve their safeguards.
“Reconciliation is essential but doesn’t directly generate revenue,” Davis noted. “For small title companies, owners often handle these tasks during evenings and weekends. Our platform will save them significant time by automating the majority of this work, allowing them to focus on growth-oriented activities instead.”
“Time savings directly translate to cost savings,” added Carney. “By automating these labor-intensive processes, we’re helping title companies improve their bottom line while enhancing accuracy and compliance.”