For Front Office Solutions clients, onboarding can be particularly complex given the breadth and depth of investment data involved. The platform provides performance and analytics for institutional investors, including foundations, endowments, pension schemes and large family offices. Onboarding can require Northern Trust to consolidate large volumes of investment and transaction data from multiple sources to reconstruct performance histories, particularly for alternative assets.
The challenge addressed by the new client onboarding agent reflects a broader industry trend: More than half of asset owners (57%) surveyed by Northern Trust cite consolidating data from multiple, disparate internal and external sources as their biggest challenge. The agent automates a key part of this process by converting clients’ historical transaction data into Northern Trust’s standardized format, cutting data preparation time by 83% — from two and a half weeks to three days — while achieving a 96.5% F1 first-pass quality score, a standard AI evaluation metric that combines precision and recall into a single quality metric. The solution has been designed with human oversight embedded throughout the workflow, enabling analysts to review outputs, evaluate reasoning, resolve exceptions and continuously improve performance through expert feedback and governance. By using the agent during implementation, before the client goes live, analysts can identify and reconcile errors while validating the client’s starting data.
Built on Microsoft Azure, the agent uses Microsoft Foundry for enterprise AI and integrates with familiar Microsoft 365 tools, including Microsoft Excel and SharePoint, so Northern Trust analysts can review, refine and approve its work. A governed intelligence layer powered by Azure preserves approved onboarding knowledge, allowing the solution to build upon institutional expertise over time and continuously improve the onboarding process. The result is less manual work for analysts, a faster and more predictable experience for clients, and a more efficient onboarding experience.
Designed for the rigorous requirements of the financial services industry, the client onboarding agent incorporates robust privacy, security and governance controls. Taking an “eyes-off” approach, Microsoft hill-climbed on F1 first-pass quality scoring and other evaluation measurements using only anonymized data, ensuring Northern Trust client data remained securely governed under the firm’s control throughout the process. This model has enabled the organization to achieve production-scale performance while meeting the stringent data stewardship expectations of a highly regulated industry. Through this collaboration, Northern Trust and Microsoft have established a model for how highly regulated institutions can adopt frontier AI while retaining ownership and control of their data, expertise and institutional knowledge.
“At Northern Trust, our close relationships with our clients give us a unique perspective on how their needs are evolving and where we can create value,” said Pete Cherecwich, Chief Operating Officer, Northern Trust. “The client onboarding agent is an example of an approach that combines Northern Trust’s asset servicing expertise with Microsoft’s AI capabilities to help get clients up and running more quickly during onboarding. The solution reduces the time required to prepare and validate clients’ data while maintaining the oversight and controls our clients expect, creating capacity for both sides to focus on higher-value work.”
Northern Trust is applying AI to the qualities that have defined the firm for more than 135 years: service, expertise and integrity. At the center of this strategy is augmented intelligence: using AI as a force multiplier for human expertise, while keeping judgment and accountability with people. The firm’s collaboration with Microsoft Frontier Company brings that approach to life through AI-powered agents designed to transform critical business processes, enhance decision-making and deliver better client outcomes.
“Advanced AI can turn deep industry expertise into better client experiences and new capacity for growth,” said Bill Borden, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Financial Services, Microsoft. “Through Microsoft Frontier Company, our collaboration with Northern Trust shows what next-generation enterprise operating models can look like: AI amplifying human expertise to accelerate service delivery and improve agility, with governance and human oversight built in. This approach points to a broader opportunity across regulated industries to transform complex workflows and deliver business value without compromising trust.”