Meet Piedmont Trust Company
Piedmont Trust Company manages complex financial transactions for high-net-worth clients. For years, the firm served primarily one extended family. Then, more business growth opportunities emerged. They wanted to take advantage. But meeting compliance requirements with paper-based processes sucked up time and left them little time to focus on new business.
Piedmont Trust knew they needed to scale their operations to be competitive and grow, while also protecting their clients and their firm. After extensive research, they determined that they needed a reliable, secure automation and document management solution.
Daily Detour: Time-Consuming Manual Lookups
Piedmont Trust Company was confronted with a common regulated industry dilemma. They process large numbers of transactions daily that require a multi-step approval called OFEC (Office of Foreign Asset Control). Every name has to be checked against terrorist watch lists before processing disbursements, receipts, and transfers. In the past, entirely manual processes were a bottleneck. They limited the company’s capacity to serve more client families because the compliance burden was too heavy.
The Solution: Laserfiche
Piedmont Trust Company implemented Laserfiche document management with automated workflow capabilities. The solution digitized their OFAC compliance process while maintaining all required approval standards.
Automated Document Capture and Routing
The system automatically captures scanned transaction batches and routes them through the OFAC approval process. Workflow sends email notifications with document links to OFAC approvers, who check names against the terrorist list. Next, they approve the document with digital stamps—small images that can’t be changed once they’re applied to a Laserfiche document.
Meet Piedmont Trust Company
Piedmont Trust Company manages complex financial transactions for high-net-worth clients. For years, the firm served primarily one extended family. Then, more business growth opportunities emerged. They wanted to take advantage. But meeting compliance requirements with paper-based processes sucked up time and left them little time to focus on new business.
Piedmont Trust knew they needed to scale their operations to be competitive and grow, while also protecting their clients and their firm. After extensive research, they determined that they needed a reliable, secure automation and document management solution.
Daily Detour: Time-Consuming Manual Lookups
Piedmont Trust Company was confronted with a common regulated industry dilemma. They process large numbers of transactions daily that require a multi-step approval called OFEC (Office of Foreign Asset Control). Every name has to be checked against terrorist watch lists before processing disbursements, receipts, and transfers. In the past, entirely manual processes were a bottleneck. They limited the company’s capacity to serve more client families because the compliance burden was too heavy.
The Solution: Laserfiche
Piedmont Trust Company implemented Laserfiche document management with automated workflow capabilities. The solution digitized their OFAC compliance process while maintaining all required approval standards.
Automated Document Capture and Routing
The system automatically captures scanned transaction batches and routes them through the OFAC approval process. Workflow sends email notifications with document links to OFAC approvers, who check names against the terrorist list. Next, they approve the document with digital stamps—small images that can’t be changed once they’re applied to a Laserfiche document.
Built-in Backup and Redundancy
Each transaction requires approval from Piedmont team members. Depending on the amount, one or two approvals are needed. With the Laserfiche process, the entire team receives notifications. If approvers don’t respond within the specified timeframe, the system sends reminder emails until it gets enough signatures. This helps transactions move forward even if some team members are unavailable.
The Results
The automated processes, coupled with document management, provided Piedmont Trust Company with the scalability and security it was looking for.
Audit Preparedness
Digital workflows provide superior audit capabilities compared to paper processes. The system’s automatic documentation and tracking give regulators clear visibility into compliance procedures, reducing audit risks.
Improved Operational Resilience
Built-in redundancy and automated escalations ensure compliance deadlines are never missed due to staff availability issues. The system maintains regulatory requirements even during peak periods or staff absences.
Enabled Strategic Business Expansion
Edward noted the most significant business impact: “Integrating Laserfiche into our organizational technology infrastructure has enabled us to expand beyond serving one family.” The automated compliance workflows removed the processing constraints that previously prevented growth while maintaining regulatory standards.