Remote onboarding challenges for banks

Johan Montelius Hedberg
January 8, 2021
5 min read

Onboarding is the process of acquiring new users, employees, and suppliers. It is a process that ensures a seamless and simple way for them to access all services and products a company may offer. Digitisation has increased the possibilities for onboarding remotely and the pandemic has fast-forwarded the demand for it. This puts less digitised financial institutions as well as other regulated entities at an operational challenge when adapting their physical routines to new, modern, and digital norms.

What is onboarding?

Onboarding has long been a buzzword in the field of Human Resources, describing the process of getting a new employee on board with company values and their business capabilities – basically getting someone “onboard” with the organisation and its culture. The buzzword also found its way into commercialism and is now also used to describe the process of acquiring new users and suppliers. It ensures access to all products and services the company has to offer in a simple and seamless way.

The onboarding process is the official start of a direct and consensual relationship between a client and a supplier. In the field of HR for example, this process often requires human interaction and physical interaction – especially because you want to get to know your colleagues or partners.

Remote onboarding is becoming the new normal

Onboarding clients and users remotely is not new, it has been exponentially growing with digitisation. The increased demand of remote onboarding is a direct result of the ongoing pandemic.

As more countries and companies are conducting stay-at-home policies, it is transforming physical operations to digital, automated processes when onboarding new clients. The human interaction steps that exist today are usually a result of old routines within a company’s compliance process, most commonly for identification and verification purposes.

This leads to banks, telecommunication firms, and even governments moving beyond traditional verification and investing in modern technology that can make these tedious and complex processes immediate and fluid

Banks are being challenged

The client onboarding process is often the first impression a customer has with a new financial provider. During this process a company sets up the information needed for the ongoing maintenance and management of the account. It is also regarded as a critical compliance step for gathering Know Your Customer (KYC) data. Identity documentation such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is collected and verified to meet regulatory requirements and reduce the possibilities of duplication while highly enhancing the customer journey. It is also vital to screen potential customers against updated criminal lists, sanction lists, PEPs and global watchlists to curb the risks of increasing financial crimes.

Traditionally compliance and regulatory processes are a paper-intensive, heavy operation that in most cases require manual imposition or are incorporated in complex technical infrastructures.

Digital ID verification

Bank clients want a frictionless and seamless onboarding process while the bank itself needs to comply with the fast-moving regulations by digitising their ID verification steps. An equation that traditionally was hard to solve. By utilising digital ID verification providers, it has become easier for banks to onboard their customers remotely. These systems also protect against fraud and comply with the latest regulatory requirements.

There are multiple ID verification methods that can be offered to clients which will secure the onboarding process for a bank. These offers can be provided as a full service or stand-alone product depending on customer traits and regulatory requirements. This is then implemented either through an API or as a integrated into the client's system.

A great remote onboarding experience takes both technology and humans into account when implemented in the right way. So, we believe and so we deliver here at ZignSec.

Let us show you what we can do

Contact us today at sales@zignsec.com or book a demo to learn more about how you safely and compliant can onboard your customers.

Share this post

Verify and validate the legitimacy of your corporate clients

Evaluating corporate clients involves digging, investigation, and complicated decision-making. Our extensive portfolio of KYB-focused products and workflow solutions mitigate these efforts.