In the rapidly evolving world of financial services, the onboarding experience has become a critical battleground for customer acquisition, satisfaction, and long-term loyalty. Nowhere is this more evident than in commercial and SME banking, where fintechs and challenger banks have redefined what is possible—transforming onboarding from a weeks-long ordeal into a seamless, digital-first journey measured in minutes. For mortgage lenders, the lessons from this transformation are both timely and actionable. By examining the innovations in commercial banking onboarding, mortgage providers can accelerate their own modernization journeys, delivering faster, more personalized, and more efficient experiences for borrowers.
Both commercial banking and mortgage lending have traditionally been hampered by complex, manual onboarding processes. In commercial banking, onboarding a new SME or corporate client could take anywhere from seven to 42 days, with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks as major bottlenecks. Similarly, mortgage applications often stretch over several weeks, burdened by paper-based processes, fragmented data, and multiple handoffs between departments.
The stakes are high: in commercial banking, onboarding inefficiencies are estimated to cost banks billions in lost revenue annually, while in mortgages, slow and disjointed processes drive up origination costs and erode customer satisfaction. In both domains, the imperative is clear—modernize onboarding or risk losing market share to more agile, digital-first competitors.
Fintechs have fundamentally changed the onboarding paradigm. By digitizing every step of the journey, automating compliance checks, and leveraging composable, cloud-native architectures, they have slashed onboarding times from weeks to as little as two to 48 hours. The results are striking:
These leaders achieve this by:
The transformation in commercial banking onboarding is underpinned by three key pillars:
Banks in Asia-Pacific are at the forefront of digital onboarding, driven by a customer-centric culture and intense competition. The region has embraced composable, modular onboarding platforms, AI-powered real-time document verification, and differentiated journeys for SMEs and corporates. However, rapid digitization brings regulatory complexity and heightened fraud risk, prompting banks to invest in advanced KYC and anti-fraud technologies.
EMEA banks are recognized for their strategic, regulatory-driven approach. Initiatives like PSD2 and open banking have compelled banks to modernize onboarding, prioritize data security, and enable seamless omnichannel experiences. Automated KYC/AML workflows and cloud-native architectures are now standard, with onboarding times reduced to under 10 minutes and 90% straight-through processing.
North American banks are accelerating digital transformation but face challenges in strategy alignment and regulatory fragmentation. The region is seeing a surge in transformational leaders investing in core modernization, cloud migration, and AI-driven eligibility checks. Competitive pressure from fintechs is pushing banks to close the digital gap and deliver onboarding experiences that rival global leaders.
Publicis Sapient has helped leading banks achieve:
These results are not theoretical—they are the product of a holistic approach that blends deep industry expertise, agile methodologies, and a robust partner ecosystem.
Mortgage lenders face many of the same challenges as their commercial banking peers: legacy technology, fragmented data, and high manual effort. The transformation in commercial onboarding offers a blueprint for mortgage modernization:
By applying these best practices, mortgage lenders can dramatically reduce time-to-offer, lower origination costs, and deliver the seamless, personalized experiences that today’s borrowers expect.
Modernizing onboarding is not just about speed—it’s about unlocking new business value. Banks and mortgage lenders that deliver seamless, digital-first onboarding will deepen client relationships, reduce operational costs, minimize compliance risk, and enable rapid scaling. The future of onboarding is here, and the lessons from commercial banking provide a clear roadmap for mortgage lenders ready to lead the next wave of digital transformation.
Ready to transform your onboarding experience? Connect with Publicis Sapient to benchmark your journey and lead the next wave of financial services innovation.