Modernizing Commercial Banking: Transforming Client Onboarding and Experience
In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, commercial and business banks stand at a pivotal crossroads. With global commercial banking revenues projected to reach £3 trillion by 2026, the sector is primed for extraordinary growth. Yet, this opportunity is shadowed by a persistent challenge: the client onboarding process. For many banks, onboarding remains a significant barrier to growth, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. As fintechs set new standards for speed and seamlessness, incumbent banks must reimagine onboarding to remain competitive and capture market share.
The Onboarding Bottleneck: Where Incumbents Fall Behind
For commercial banks, onboarding new clients—especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates—often means navigating a maze of manual, fragmented processes. Industry surveys reveal onboarding can take anywhere from seven to 42 days, with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks as major pain points. These delays not only frustrate clients but also result in substantial revenue loss—estimated at £3.3 billion annually due to onboarding inefficiencies and compliance challenges.
The root causes are clear:
- Manual, fragmented processes with multiple touchpoints and handoffs
- Legacy systems that are inflexible and difficult to integrate
- Siloed data and lack of real-time information sharing
- Cumbersome compliance checks that slow down decision-making
As a result, 67% of commercial banking clients cite onboarding as the biggest hurdle to starting a new banking relationship, and over half are actively reconsidering their banking providers due to these friction points.
Fintechs: Setting the Pace for Speed and Satisfaction
Fintech challengers have fundamentally redefined what’s possible in client onboarding. By digitizing customer journeys, automating colleague interventions, updating policies, and modernizing legacy systems, fintechs have slashed onboarding times from weeks to as little as two to 48 hours. The results are striking:
- 80–90% reduction in manual effort for standard onboarding scenarios
- Net Promoter Scores (NPS) exceeding 70, reflecting high client satisfaction
- 85–90% completion rates from registration to submission
Fintechs achieve this by leveraging:
- End-to-end digital journeys that minimize manual intervention
- Real-time data checks and document verification
- Automated risk and compliance assessments
- Multi-channel access (web, mobile, chatbots) for client convenience
These innovations have set a new benchmark for what commercial clients expect—speed, transparency, and a frictionless experience.
Publicis Sapient’s Approach: From Weeks to Hours
At Publicis Sapient, we believe that incumbent banks can not only catch up but leap ahead by embracing a holistic, technology-driven approach to onboarding transformation. Our vision is to help commercial banks reduce onboarding times from weeks to hours, delivering a seamless, scalable, and client-centric experience.
Key Pillars of Modern Onboarding Transformation
- Automation and Straight-Through Processing (STP):
- Automate KYC, AML, and risk assessments using AI-integrated client lifecycle management systems
- Enable real-time document checks, OCR, and dynamic data validation
- Reduce manual Full-Time Employee (FTE) effort by up to 90% for standard cases
- Composable, Modular Architectures:
- Implement composable onboarding platforms that allow banks to swap and add best-of-breed vendor solutions as needs evolve
- Use orchestration and event-driven architectures to ensure modularity, encapsulation, and seamless integration with core banking and payment systems
- Digital-First, Omnichannel Journeys:
- Design self-service onboarding for business banking and lower-end SME clients
- Enable Relationship Manager (RM)-initiated journeys for higher-end SME and corporate clients
- Provide multi-user, multi-entity onboarding capabilities and real-time application tracking for both clients and RMs
- Real-Time Data and Collaboration Tools:
- Integrate internal and third-party data sources for instant eligibility and risk decisioning
- Deploy collaboration tools (chatbots, video calls) for complex cases
- Offer real-time notifications and status updates to clients and colleagues
- Scalable, Cloud-Native Infrastructure:
- Leverage cloud-native platforms for agility, resilience, and rapid scaling
- Ensure compliance and security through automated controls and continuous monitoring
The Future State: Seamless, Scalable, and Client-Centric
Imagine a future where:
- Clients can submit a pre-filled application in 5–10 minutes
- Standard onboarding is completed in under two hours, with complex cases resolved within 24 hours
- Real-time ID and liveliness checks, dynamic document requests, and instant account opening are the norm
- Relationship Managers have a 360-degree view of the client, enabling proactive service and cross-sell opportunities
- Clients receive instant onboarding confirmation and can access a suite of products and services immediately
This is not a distant vision—it’s achievable today with the right strategy, technology, and partner ecosystem.
Proven Impact: Real-World Results
Publicis Sapient has helped leading banks achieve:
- 90% straight-through processing, reducing onboarding to under 10 minutes
- 13 self-service options for customer independence
- 360° customer views for personalized service
- Expedited payments, with 90% of customers accessing funds within two hours
Our approach blends deep industry expertise, agile methodologies, and a robust partner ecosystem to deliver transformation at speed and scale.
Why Now?
With commercial banking clients demanding more—and fintechs raising the bar—modernizing onboarding is no longer optional. It’s a strategic imperative for growth, client retention, and operational excellence. By embracing automation, composable architectures, and digital-first journeys, commercial banks can turn onboarding from a pain point into a competitive advantage.
Ready to transform your onboarding experience? Connect with Publicis Sapient to lead the next wave of commercial banking innovation.