Belgian private bank Banque Nagelmackers is overhauling how it manages financial data, as growing regulatory demands expose the weaknesses of traditional accounting and reporting processes. The bank has introduced a centralised finance platform to improve data accuracy, reduce manual work and bring its accounting and regulatory reporting operations closer together.
The project, delivered with Regnology, centres on giving the bank’s Finance department greater ownership of its accounting processes and the data behind its regulatory submissions. As supervisory expectations continue to increase, financial institutions are under pressure to provide more detailed information, improve reporting accuracy and meet tighter deadlines. For banks operating with fragmented systems, achieving this can become an increasingly expensive and time-consuming exercise.
At Banque Nagelmackers, the challenge stemmed partly from the way accounting information was managed across its existing infrastructure. Much of the logic used to calculate financial figures was held within upstream applications outside the direct control of the Finance team. This created a disconnect between financial accounting and regulatory reporting, leaving employees to resolve discrepancies through manual adjustments, particularly towards the end of reporting periods.
Rather than continuing to address these issues through additional reconciliation work, the bank decided to tackle the underlying infrastructure. Its objective was to create a more transparent and automated environment where Finance could oversee the rules determining how raw transaction data becomes reported financial information.
Regnology Finance Hub now acts as the central platform for the bank’s financial data and accounting logic. It brings together financial balances and detailed transaction-level information, providing a shared reference point for accounting and regulatory reporting teams. Core accounting processes have also been automated, including the mapping of financial information to regulatory frameworks such as FINREP.
This is particularly important as banks face increasing expectations around the consistency of information submitted to supervisors. When accounting records and regulatory returns are maintained across disconnected systems, discrepancies can be difficult to identify and resolve. By bringing these processes together, Banque Nagelmackers aims to reduce the gaps between its general ledger and regulatory submissions.
The platform also supports multiple accounting standards, including International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Belgian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). This means the bank can produce different accounting views of its financial position without having to maintain separate data processes for each framework.
Another important change is the move towards daily access to granular financial information. Previously, potential inconsistencies could emerge late in the reporting cycle, leaving teams with limited time to investigate and correct them. With more frequent access to transaction-level data, the bank can carry out validation checks earlier and identify problems before they become last-minute reporting issues.
According to Regnology, the implementation is expected to deliver several operational improvements. These include a singledaily data, faster financial close and reporting cycles, and a lower total cost of ownership. The approach is also intended to give the bank greater flexibility when responding to future regulatory changes
The wider significance of the project lies in how financial institutions are rethinking the relationship between accounting and regulatory reporting. Rather than treating supervisory submissions as a separate process that requires information to be extracted and reconciled from multiple systems, banks are increasingly looking to build shared data foundations that support both functions.
For mid-sized banks, this shift could be particularly important. Maintaining complex reporting infrastructure can place considerable pressure on finance teams, especially when much of the work still depends on manual intervention. Improving data ownership and automating repetitive processes can help institutions manage regulatory obligations without continually increasing their operational workload.
Banque Nagelmackers’ chief financial officer said, “For a bank, trust in financial information is non-negotiable. Regnology Finance Hub has given us a sustainable platform that improves control, reduces operational effort, and helps us adapt to new reporting requirements with greater confidence.”
The partnership with Regnology highlights how banks are moving beyond short-term reporting fixes and investing in the underlying infrastructure needed to maintain reliable financial information. As regulatory requirements become more demanding, having accurate, accessible and auditable data could become an increasingly important competitive and operational advantage.
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