Customer onboarding technology: How FSIs should prepare for change

• Bank-verified data that reduces friction while enhancing security
• Next-generation biometric and liveness checks
• AI, machine learning and accelerated automation capability

While cryptocurrency, the metaverse and web 3.0 will have their part to play in the years to come, onboarding professionals should prioritise sign-up solutions that can demonstrate fast ROI, contribute to lower costs, and improve operational efficiency.

Bank-verified data – a critical part of open banking – shows particular promise. In Norway and Sweden, the "BankID" digital identity scheme - which has a 90% take-up rate among adults in Sweden - has already proven successful as a way to offer customers frictionless experiences, onboarding them securely in a matter of seconds by leveraging pre-authenticated personal information. 

How should FSIs respond to disintermediation?

FSIs face intense competition from agile fintechs who have appealed to customers with mobile-first onboarding solutions. Though established financial institutions are catching up fast, a trend towards disintermediation - popular examples of which include Apple Pay, app-based banking and Bitcoin - will only continue.

To outperform digital-first challengers, FSI businesses will need to fight fire with fire. Customer demand for frictionless onboarding journeys has never been higher. So only a holistic, all-in-one solution will do - ideally one that can verify users, autofill their details and set up regular payments easily, all in a few seconds.

How to confront big tech's incursion into FSI

The question for FSI businesses is how to take advantage of what disintermediation has to offer, as well as counteracting its negative impacts. Doing so will take a multi-pronged onboarding strategy that:

• Proactively engages with regulatory bodies
• Invests in digital transformation initiatives
• Prioritises frictionless solutions
• Exceeds minimum requirements for compliance
• Innovates with advanced digital identity verification

Adopting industry-leading onboarding technology

In our recent study – titled "How are leading FSIs disrupting the sign-up experience?" – industry leaders identified due diligence, customer data capture and account set-up as the biggest sources of friction to sign ups. 

So your next customer onboarding solution will have to spin lots of plates. It will have to: 

• Adhere to regulatory requirements
• Protect customers from scams 
• Streamline customer experience 
• Help cut costs via anti-fraud measures

To succeed, FSIs will need to embrace innovation by anticipating evolving trends and nimbly adopting technologies that help both customers and their business thrive.

Find out more about how 400+ FSI leaders are preparing for the future of onboarding and disrupting the status quo in our new report.

How are leading FSIs disrupting the sign-up experience?

Dive deeper into the top operational priorities and challenges of your peers and explore the future of onboarding in our new report here.