KYC client outreach

Tier 1 banks actively seek ways to optimize their workflows, with a particular focus on accelerating client onboarding and refresh. Learn how digital profiles are a game changer in transforming the KYC client outreach challenge.

Revolutionizing KYC processes

While strides have been made in digitizing retail onboarding, the corporate sector continues to grapple with complex Know Your Customer (KYC). Our research includes insights gathered from Corporate Treasurers, Tier 1 global banks and large corporations. They articulate the challenges faced in performing client outreach and the impact of manual processes on customer satisfaction, retention, quality control and regulatory compliance. Looking ahead we explore how digital profiles address these issues.

Navigating the complexities of corporate KYC

Intricate regulations, complex corporate structures, and varied jurisdictional requirements are a common KYC challenge for Tier 1 Banks. In addition, the sheer volume of clients amplifies the difficulty of KYC outreach. Often leading to resource strain and reliance on manual processes.

Our research showed the following as key reasons for client outreach:

Limited public data accessibility
Variable quality of public information
Privately held data

Unravelling KYC challenges

Participants in our research reported an average of two to three outreach instances per client. It was not uncommon to hear participants reference that the entire process can span up to 90 days. Common pain points included a lack of consistency for outreach instances with customers referencing intrusive requests for personal data, and disorganized scheduling.

Banks relying on fragmented technologies face challenges in comprehensive client data analysis. This can lead to vulnerability to human error and poor communication across internal systems and regional teams. The absence of a unified customer view becomes more pronounced when onboarding clients in multiple jurisdictions.

Addressing these concerns becomes crucial, especially considering heightened regulatory expectations for improved KYC practices.

Redefining client outreach: A path to efficiency

Efficient client onboarding processes offer a competitive advantage, as speed and client experience are critical in choosing banking partners. A Tier 1 global bank emphasized the commercial benefit of being the first to onboard clients seamlessly without redundant queries.

The ideal onboarding process, according to corporations, should take less than three months. Preferably with a single relationship manager or fully digitized process. From the bank’s perspective, reducing onboarding times by 60% is a target, with a focus on information reuse to avoid repetitive requests.

Reaping the benefits of technology with digital profiles

Digital customer profiles are created to address scalability challenges by replacing manual processes that hinder cost efficiency and adaptability with automation. Integrating technology enables a fully automated KYC data discovery process, connecting seamlessly to the Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) system through a unified platform.

This approach allows for data normalization, standardization, primacy rules and entity resolution. A comprehensive digital customer risk profile is generated, including data lineage and source documents, with a complete audit trail.

Automation provides opportunity for improvements in straight-through processing (STP) rates and paves the way for perpetual KYC (pKYC) adoption. pKYC relies on reusable, verified customer data, emphasizing the importance of accurate and complete initial onboarding efforts for a successful digital transformation journey.

Designing onboarding processes around efficiency and data involves upfront consumption from publicly available sources, potentially obtaining about 85% of required data without excessive client interactions.

Corporate Digital Identity – a game changer

By combining public and private information to automate the construction of digital profiles, banks create a Corporate Digital Identity (CDI). This valuable identity provides a unified source of truth and unrivaled visibility into the risk profile of each customer. With a standardized approach to identifying and verifying customers, there is a gold standard approach to KYC. In addition, there is a wider business opportunity to reuse valuable customer data by sharing with internal system and business functions where appropriate.

A strategic imperative for KYC outreach

The research underscores the need for a paradigm shift in corporate client onboarding methodologies. The integration of advanced technologies stands out as a strategic imperative, offering efficiency gains and a unified client experience.

The transformational potential of scalable solutions and reuse of this valuable data across the bank holds the promise of not just expediting onboarding but reshaping client outreach for corporate banking globally.

This practice serves as a strategic advantage, allowing the bank to capitalize on existing data assets for personalized client engagement, aligning with the broader goal of creating a comprehensive and interconnected ecosystem within the bank.

How Encompass delivers reduced KYC client outreach

Encompass revolutionizes KYC outreach by automating the search process. Consolidating global public data, ensuring adaptability across jurisdictions, and simplifying compliance. The Corporate Digital Identity (CDI) platform streamlines client outreach, reduces onboarding times, and enhances KYC process efficiency through strategic data management, hierarchy unwrapping, and seamless integration.

Encompass efficiently gathers public data and privately held customer information. Employing data primacy rules for conflict resolution, delving into corporate hierarchies for ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) identification. Digital profiles, crucial for KYC refresh and perpetual KYC, can be reused when relevant with full data provenance, lineage, and audit trail. This access to accurate customer information minimizes friction, improves customer insights, and unlocks efficiency gains.

Read our whitepaper to learn more.