Automating Customer Onboarding with Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Written by: Hassan Kirwa

Customer onboarding is a pivotal process for financial institutions, requiring efficiency and accuracy to ensure a seamless experience. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) offers a solution by automating repetitive tasks, reducing manual errors, and speeding up the process. Below is a breakdown of how RPA enhances customer onboarding:

✔️𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

One of the first steps in onboarding is collecting and verifying customer documents such as identification, proof of address, and financial history. Traditionally, this process is labor-intensive and prone to errors due to manual data entry.

•𝗥𝗣𝗔 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: RPA can automatically extract relevant information from customer-submitted documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). It then compares the extracted data with existing databases or standards for verification, flagging any discrepancies or errors for further review.

•𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲: This reduces the time taken for document verification from hours or even days to a few minutes, minimizing the likelihood of human error and enhancing accuracy.

✔️𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Once customer documents are verified, the next step involves inputting this data into the institution’s core systems, such as CRM and banking software.

•𝗥𝗣𝗔 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: RPA bots can input verified customer data directly into various systems, ensuring consistency across platforms without manual intervention. Bots can also integrate data between different systems to create a comprehensive profile of the customer.

•𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲: This reduces the workload for employees and ensures that customer information is stored correctly, reducing the risk of data discrepancies or loss.

✔️𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁

Onboarding in financial institutions must comply with regulatory requirements, such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks. These checks involve cross-referencing customer data against sanction lists, databases, and regulatory criteria.

•𝗥𝗣𝗔 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: RPA automates the compliance checks by instantly scanning databases for potential risks, alerting compliance officers only if an anomaly is found.

•𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲: The institution stays compliant with regulatory standards while accelerating the screening process, significantly reducing the time taken for onboarding and ensuring accurate risk assessments.

✔️𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Keeping customers informed during the onboarding process is crucial to maintaining trust. Regular updates about the status of their application enhance their experience.

•𝗥𝗣𝗔 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: RPA can send automated updates to customers regarding their onboarding progress. For example, a bot could generate a confirmation email when documents are verified or when an account is successfully set up.

•𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲: Customers stay informed throughout the onboarding process, leading to higher satisfaction.

💡 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗥𝗣𝗔: RPA boasts plenty of use cases in the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) industry, releasing workers to focus on more complicated tasks. Some of the robotic process automation use cases in banking include:

✔️𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

To comply with regulations, laws, and guidelines, financial institutions must compile reports on their performance to inform the board of directors. Such reports often contain human-introduced errors and are time-consuming to create, as they are based on enormous volumes of data.

RPA is good at collecting information from multiple sources, putting it in a coherent format, and generating reliable reports. RPA helps to automate a broad cluster of reports such as reconciliation, closing, and management.

✔️𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲

Accounts payable is a simple but repetitive activity that requires obtaining vendor information and approving it to process payments. RPA complemented by optical character recognition (OCR) technology helps to automate the accounts payable process.

Optical character recognition extracts vendor information from a digital copy of a physical form and provides this data to the RPA system.

The RPA system then validates the data against data available in the system and processes the payment. In case of an error, the RPA system alerts the assigned person to resolve it.

✔️𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Client onboarding activities performed by financial institutions are complicated, mainly because of manual authentication of multiple identity documents. Know Your Customer (KYC), a key part of onboarding, requires substantial operational efforts for document validation.

According to a report by Thomson Reuters, the cost of running KYC compliance and customer due diligence may range from $52 million to nearly $384 million a year. An AML Study by RiskScreen reveals that eight in ten compliance professionals consider their compliance activities too labor-intensive.

To cut costs and automate the client onboarding process, you can create a software system powered with RPA, computer vision, and OCR technologies to retrieve important data and validate client identities.

✔️𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴

Without proper automation, it took a bank-weeks to approve clients’ credit card applications. The long wait led to clients’ disappointment. Now, thanks to RPA technology, the bank can approve and grant credit cards rapidly.

Within several hours, RPA allows for collecting a client’s documents, performing credit and background checks, and deciding if a client is eligible for a credit card according to established criteria.