Modern Investment Operations Demand Modern Data Infrastructure—Moving Beyond Manual Reconciliation

A Top 30 U.S. Asset Owner recently discovered that its most significant operational risk was not in the markets but in its data. With 33 managers, multiple custodians, and both public and private assets, the organization was struggling to trust the numbers it relied on to make billion-dollar decisions.

When Data Becomes a Bottleneck

The investment team was drowning in manual aggregation and reconciliation, spending 120 hours a month working on spreadsheets instead of managing risk and returns. Month-end close took 8–10 days; critical discrepancies could remain unresolved for up to three weeks; and a 2.3% data error rate eroded confidence in every report sent to trustees and regulators.

Fragmented feeds from 33 managers, inconsistent formats, and limited real-time visibility meant the organization could not see a unified view of its portfolio or validate security master data as markets moved. Regulatory reporting further amplified the burden, pulling scarce talent away from higher-value work and into firefighting.

Creating a Single Source of Truth

To break the cycle, the asset owner implemented FinMason’s FinCore data platform as the backbone for its data aggregation, validation, and reconciliation workflows. FinCore automated ingestion from 33 managers and custodians, standardized more than 180,000 securities, and delivered real-time validation with immediate discrepancy identification.

An intelligent reconciliation engine now handles position and cash reconciliation with exception-based workflows and configurable tolerances, so teams only focus on what truly needs attention. A unified data platform provides a single source of truth for all portfolio data, a standardized security master with automated processing of corporate actions, and API‑enabled delivery to reporting, analytics, and risk systems.

Measurable Results in Days, Not Months

The transformation was quantifiable. Month-end close dropped from up to 10 days to just 3, freeing the team to focus on analysis, strategy, and governance instead of chasing down breaks. Manual reconciliation time fell from 120 hours per month to 18 hours—an 85% reduction that immediately improved productivity and morale.

Data quality improved dramatically as well: the error rate fell from 2.3% to 0.12%, with discrepancies now identified and resolved within 24 hours instead of weeks. Trustees receive reports five days earlier, enabling more timely conversations and better‑informed decisions, and leadership can now respond to portfolio questions with confidence and speed.

Why This Matters for Asset Owners

For pension funds, endowments, and institutional asset owners, the stakes around data are high. Legacy, manual processes are not only inefficient; they directly undermine fiduciary responsibilities, regulatory readiness, and the ability to act quickly in volatile markets.

FinMason makes institutional-grade analytics and data infrastructure accessible without forcing organizations to build and maintain their own complex systems. With a scalable, flexible, and cost-effective modular cloud-native platform, FinMason enables asset owners to modernize their data foundation and turn operational pain points into a strategic advantage.

What are your data validation challenges? How much time does your team spend on manual reconciliation?

If you’d like to discuss how FinMason can help modernize your investment technology, let’s connect.