Financial Translations: Why Working with a Reliable Translation Partner Simplifies Challenges
Banks and financial institutions are among the industries that can benefit the most from professional translation services. They need to perform tasks with multiple documents on a daily basis. Since such organizations deal with economic transactions, which leave little room for error, the companies that provide suitable services in this regard become great allies. But why?
New Globalization Trends in the Financial World
In the retail and commercial banking industries, institutions with a global-wide scope require appropriate translation services. Many entities have subsidiaries all over the world that provide services to clients who speak a variety of languages and participate in international transactions.
In this sense, having resources available in different languages is key in order to be able to grow in international markets. Companies must meet their client’s needs regarding international communication; otherwise, they could lose their competitive edge.
The U.S. banking, finance and insurance industry generated revenues amounting to USD 4.9 billion in 2021.
Source: Statista
Like other specialized translations, financial translation involves a thorough understanding of specific concepts and vocabulary. It becomes critical to properly convey the meaning of terms, tools, products and services into a foreign language, it is a task that should be left in the hands of professionals with a vast experience, a meticulous attention to detail and an extensive knowledge of financial instruments and their meaning.
Financial Markets: What Kind of Documents can Require Translation?
- Corporations: annual reports, balance sheets, and shareholder communications.
- Insurance: financial reports, regulatory documentation, terms and conditions.
- Investment: bonds, stocks, acquisition prospectus and reports for local authorities.
- Real Estate: contracts, insurance documentation, income statements, listings, local regulations.
- Start-ups: cash flow statements, financial forecasts, business plans, expansion plans, income statements, investment summaries.
- Taxes and Accounting: tax audit documents, tax and expense reports, income statements and national tax regulations.
On another note, the demand for financial translations is not limited to large multinational companies. Differentiation through multilanguage support regardless of the size of the company is a great strategy specially during times of specific country/region crises and for the purpose of being able to quickly intensify initiatives in growing foreign markets.
53% of financial service companies consider that their strategic priority is to rethink and digitalize interactions with their clients.
Source: Deloitte
The Advantages of Hiring an Efficient Translation Service
First of all, an efficient translation service partner is one that provides a great scope of services and more comprehensive coverage in terms of languages and countries. This is critical because financial regulations differ from country to country, and in consequence, a good translator should be familiar with the differences between such regulations. There are also cultural aspects to be considered: in Europe, a balance sheet begins with long-term assets and liabilities, and ends with the short-term ones, while in the U.S., these same concepts are organized the other way around.
Greater accuracy and consistency in language is essential, since the same financial term can have very dissimilar meanings across two different languages and sometimes even between countries that use the same language. Experienced translators should continuously research and be up to date on new terms, tools and connotations which are quite dynamic in the financial sector.
On the one hand, financial documents are almost always confidential, which makes it key to work with companies that, not only hold strong professional ethics, but also have a robust security infrastructure in their translation management system such as multi-layer security for the client to provide content in a quick and secure manner.
A Holistic View of Digitalization
As the financial industry embraces the digital transformation, digitalizing customer experience requires adapting products, services and how financial institutions interact with their customers. As a logical consequence, such tasks often times require translation services into multiple languages.
A mistranslated shade of meaning in a quarterly report by the Japanese company Sharp caused a 10% drop in its market value.
Source: Wall Street Journal
In addition, chatbots and live chat apps are becoming a common form of financial communication, capable of handling a variety of transactions. Thus, when companies go global, all of their content must be available in multiple languages.
This type of tasks make it necessary to work with translation companies with a comprehensive view, that not only works alongside high-quality translators and proofreaders, but also web designers, IT experts, programmers and voiceover actors, among other professionals who help make the difference in a new market.