Bangor Savings Bank Automates Reconciliations, Cuts Manual Work by 80%, and Future-Proofs Finance Operations with Trintech

Overview

Bangor Savings Bank, a growing financial institution, faced mounting operational risk and inefficiency as their reconciliation processes buckled under manual, spreadsheet-heavy workflows. With increasing transaction volumes—especially from fintech partners—they needed a scalable, reliable, and automated solution.

Enter Trintech.

Implemented in 2019, Trintech empowered Bangor Savings Bank to modernize their reconciliation process, streamline workflows, and support rapid business growth—without growing headcount.

Challenges

Before Trintech, Bangor Savings Bank’s reconciliations were all handled in Excel, backed by paper documentation.

“We’d print everything off, scan it in, and archive it. It was incredibly labor-intensive,” said Christine Varisco, Accountant Analyst at Bangor Savings Bank. “And if someone keyed in the wrong number or missed a line? That recon didn’t balance. It was that easy to get it wrong.”

Beyond the manual errors and inefficiencies, the complexity of reworking reconciliations when clearing logic changed created delays and elevated risk.

“You’d clear items and then two weeks later realize they matched something else. We’d have to go back and rereconcile forward—it was a nightmare.”

Why Trintech

Trintech’s domain expertise in banking was a major differentiator. “When we talked about the Fed, they immediately got it. Other vendors didn’t even
know what we were talking about.” Bangor Savings also appreciated Trintech’s self-service model, which empowered their team to build out their own reconciliations without nickel-and-diming. “Trintech’s philosophy is a breath of fresh air. The training videos and support documentation made us self-sufficient,” said Varisco.

Implementation

The bank implemented Trintech just in time—shortly before COVID-19 hit. “We were fully remote thanks to Trintech. It made that shift seamless,” said Varisco. The team took a pragmatic approach: start with simple wins and progressively roll out more complex reconciliations. They prioritized high-risk accounts, engaged Trintech for complex setups like the Fed, and leveraged in-house analysts to steadily expand adoption.

Results

Advice to Other Banks

“Start with your hardest recons and commit to getting them automated. Don’t wait until you ‘have time.’ You have to make it a priority.” Christine also emphasized breaking it into quarters and setting goals—such as every analyst setting up five recons at a time. “Yes, it’s hard in the beginning. But every recon you automate frees up more time to get another one done. It snowballs.”

Was the Investment Worth It?

“Oh, definitely. Hands down.”