Known for extensive regulations and customer processes, the financial services industry has strict onboarding procedures called Know Your Customer (KYC) that add complexity and time to customer experiences. To streamline the process while ensuring that banks continue to observe all required regulations, Pegasystems today introduced a client lifecycle management (CLM) tool that speeds up the onboarding process.
Because of KYC, which was created to prevent money laundering and expanded after the September 11 terrorist attack to mitigate other illegal activities, banks and customers can't legally take part in transactions until all regulatory requirements associated with onboarding are met. "This becomes especially problematic when you have high-value customers across jurisdictions. It takes a toll on customer experience and service when a customer was already onboarded in New York, but now wants to open an account in the U.K. as well. They have to go through the process all over again, and it takes a long time," says Reetu Kholsa, senior director of risk, compliance, and onboarding for financial services at Pegasystems. With the new CLM product, banks can have access to a master view of customers globally to speed up the process across international branches.
Customers want to conduct business as quickly as possible, Kholsa says, and from a customer service perspective, onboarding has historically been a pain point for financial services organizations. "It's very easy for customers to say, 'I'm not getting the quick service and experience that I expect, so I'm going to take my business to a different bank,' especially when it's a customer that does business all over the world," Kholsa explains.
Pegasystems' CLM tool integrates with the entire Pega 7 platform and has delivered a 60 percent to 70 percent reduction in onboarding time. And thanks to a partnership with leading regulatory advisor and global law firm DLA Piper, Pega KYC will consistently update the technology based on regulatory rule changes that could affect client onboarding.
The CLM dashboard also provides customer relationship managers and clients with a single view and increased transparency into the entire onboarding process. The technology ensures that both customers and banks can engage seamlessly across channels (like email, chat, and co-browse) and devices (including laptops, tablets, and smartphones) so that "all parties know the latest status," according to a company statement.
Looking ahead, Kholsa expects integration and connectivity with the rest of the Pega 7 platform and continued enhancements to the CLM tool if and when other regulations are introduced. Regulations are the nature of the industry, Kholsa says, but the ultimate goal for Pega's CLM tool is to enable banks to overcome the challenges that they present. "It's about keeping things moving," she says.