Localization in the Global Finance Sector
Any commercial and non-profit institution has a wealth of financial-related content. The host of stakeholders is broad, including central, investment and commercial banks, insurance companies, mergers and acquisition brokerage and investment capital firms, accountancy firms and investor relation agencies, as well as non-financial organizations. Within these organizations and at the corporate headquarters of any publicly traded and private company, there are millions of financial documents that must be understood by parties and often in more than one language.
Financial information often needs to meet local laws and compliance regulations and therefore the accurate localization of financial content is an important part of any global organization’s business strategy. Financial translation work must pay particular attention to security, as critical financial information has privacy concerns and any exposure of protected details can be detrimental, as well as put the company at risk. In addition to security, accuracy is key and specialist linguistic and financial subject matter expertise is required to conduct financial translation work to the highest levels of quality. It is important that any organization undertaking financial translation work meets the relevant industry ISO standards.
Here are some of the areas in the global finance sector that benefit from professional financial translation services:
Global Banks:
Many international banks have standard marketing communications, especially if they have retail outlets. Customers all over the world have to be able to understand products and services in the native language, from product and marketing brochures to banking statements. A bank’s brand has to be retained in all target markets and experienced financial translators must localize any information relating to local product features, adhering to local financial regulations.
Some banks do not have retail outlets; however, they still have a wealth of documentation, for example disclosure and foreign investment documentation that must be understood by individuals and organizations outside of the domestic market.
Investment Banks (iBanks):
A lot of localization needs within the investment banking sector resides within the research activities carried out, typically for equities research and fixed income asset management. Other types of localization may be required, such as company reports, both annual and quarterly, account statements or disclosures for significant audiences such as private equity investors. Earnings reports generated during the earnings period can contain thousands of words and can require translation into a number of language pairs. These documents must meet compliance and regulation standards, as well as stringent deadlines.
Accountancy Firms:
Global organizations make money in many countries and each subsidiary will have its own set of accounting documents, often prepared by external accountancy (also referred to as accounting) firms and consultant groups, required to meet local accounting, compliance, regulatory and legal standards.
Insurance Companies
Considerable volumes of content generated by global insurance firms is financial. As well as customer information, including marketing and support materials, there are many complex financial documents that may need to be shared with international subsidiaries, as well as local governments and regulatory agencies.
Investment Firms and Mergers & Acquisition Companies
Any company that takes part in due diligence as part of the mergers and acquisition process, understands translating and sharing with all relevant parties is an important step. These documents, often shared in a data vault, need to be understood by all parties that take part in debt negotiations, mergers, acquisitions or capital raise — especially of one or more of the entities speak another language. Due to the number of people that will review content, from legal professionals, financiers, corporate executives and deal-makers, the content must be available in source languages as well as the languages of those reviewing the content. Quite often on-site interpretation services are needed for M&A meetings and negotiations.
Non-financial organizations
Public and private companies have to produce a number of financial documents on a regular basis to distribute to investors, shareholders and government agencies. Content ranges from company reports, annual and interim statements, contracts, tax and auditing documents.
As with many industries, the financial industry is a global industry and this generates a demand for content to be localized and culturally adapted for international purposes. One of the most important factors in financial translation is accuracy. One zero out of place in a translated annual report could seriously misrepresent the performance and damage the credibility of an organization. Using a professionally language service provider who has a proven track record and relevant standard accreditation within the finance industry is so important.
Welocalize has specialists that focus on the delivery of financial content. In 2014, Welocalize acquired Agostini Associati, based in Milan, Italy, because of their experience in working with financially-related content. They are one of Welocalize’s centers of excellence that deliver solutions to the financial and insurance industry. You can read more about our language services for finance here: https://www.welocalize.com/finance/.
