Case Study: Hilltop Holdings cuts 3–5 days off SEC filing cycles with Merrill Corporation’s Merrill Bridge

Hilltop Holdings Cuts Days Off Filing Cycles with Merrill Bridge

Hilltop Holdings, a Texas-based diversified financial-services company with $11.7 billion in assets and 5,300 employees, struggled to prepare lengthy, entity-specific SEC filings (200+ page 10‑Ks and 90–100 page 10‑Qs) across a decentralized reporting structure. The team needed an intuitive document-management solution that could link internal Excel templates, reduce manual Word/Excel work, support XBRL tagging, maintain security, and shorten long review and draft turnaround cycles.

Hilltop transitioned to Merrill Bridge with Merrill’s XBRL consultants, integrating its SharePoint-hosted Excel templates and consolidated footnote/entity files into a linked workflow. The change was seamless and delivered immediate gains: links between Excel, Word and Merrill Bridge dramatically cut manual work (one user updated 850 links in five minutes), draft turnaround improved by 3–5 days per quarter, early drafts were cleaner for reviewers, roll-forwards became simpler, and overall productivity and confidence in filings increased.

Hilltop Holdings

Keith Bornemann

Senior Vice President