Institute of Financial Services Zug IFZ

Case Study «Online

Relationship Onboarding»
In collaboration with Appway
and Credit Suisse
Authors Prof. Dr. Nils Hafner and Stefan Grob

www.hslu.ch/ifz

Sponsor
 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

Digitization in the
Banking Sector
Digitization is one of the biggest challenges can be automated, and where personal
that banks are currently facing. This can clearly interaction with the customer can be a decisive
be seen from the annual retail banking study factor to ensure a profitable, long-term
prepared by the Institute of Financial Services customer relationship.
Zug (IFZ) in Switzerland. Interestingly, few
financial service providers are tackling this This case study aims to illustrate how a bank
challenge with the required amount of can choose between focusing on automation,
determination to gain a specific market process simplification or customer dialogue
advantage from digitization. In many cases, it when designing customer interactions. With
is unclear which of a bank’s digitization Credit Suisse’s new Online Relationship
activities follow a strategic plan, and how these Onboarding, an example for the simultaneous
digitization plans can benefit the institute's application of simplification and automation
customers or increase its profitability. will be provided, and the specific benefits of this
for the bank and its customers will be
The IFZ has reacted to the challenge of highlighted.
digitization by examining the topic through
various research projects, dedicated The basic idea is that a financial service
conferences and seminars as well as by provider should first analyze processes where
launching the degree program “CAS Digital the bank and customer are both interested in
Banking” in 2016. The goal of these projects is personal contact. These are the touch points
to highlight the potential of digitization to where value-adding discussions take place. This
banks with regard to managing costs and applies when it comes to banks providing advice
earnings as well as customer benefits. to customers. One well-known tool in this regard
Furthermore, the retail banking blog of Prof. Dr. is the Value-Irritant Grid (Figure 1) developed
Andreas Dietrich, Head of the IFZ, provides a by Bill Price.
new case study each week that deals with
Following the Value-Irritant Grid, the bank
digitization projects of large and medium-sized
needs to decide at the outset if it wants to
banks in Switzerland and beyond.
interact to service its customers. This would be
Research conducted by the IFZ shows that the case when there is an opportunity, for
banks are often unsure where customer contact instance, to learn about its products and

Figure 1: The Value-Irritant Matrix (source: Price, Jaffe 2006)

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 Case Study Online Relationship Onboarding

services, explore ideas for cost savings, or to use Simultaneously, the onboarding process
the interaction to sell additional products and generates significant costs for the bank. This is
services. especially true when the process is carried out
exclusively by highly qualified personnel, such
At the same time, the Value-Irritant Grid as client advisors, as has been the case for
systematically considers the customer’s Credit Suisse. It is obvious, however, that during
perspective vis-à-vis service contact. Are this process, communication occurs mainly in
customers interested in personal contact one direction, i.e., the customer transmits
because they will receive answers or advice, and information to the bank by speaking with the
ideally save money? Or do they not see any client advisor.
need for contact with a company and instead
view it as an annoyance? The contact should be Now consider the role of the advisors in this
automated if interests diverge (e.g., the scenario. They mainly create value for the bank
customer wants a solution to a problem, but the by documenting customer information using
company views this contact primarily as an forms, which are then used to enter the
additional cost). Automation is particularly information in the bank's systems.
beneficial where customers frequently ask the
same questions. Such issues often relate to Definition of “Onboarding”
understanding how products and services work
in a self-service environment. For example, the The term onboarding originally comes from
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) produces the field of personnel management and
explanatory videos for the most common means getting someone on board or
service issues within e-banking, providing obtaining a new staff member.
significant added value to customers in the self-
service area. Banks also use the term onboarding in
relation to acquiring new customers. In the
The Value-Irritant Grid, however, can also banking sector, digital onboarding refers to
provide support in the opposite direction, such the process of purchasing bank products
as when the company contacts a customer in online.
relation to compliance requirements, where
customers need to provide or confirm certain With Online Relationship Onboarding
information. Such contact is often annoying to (ORO), the customer relationship is initiated
customers. Here the aim is to make customer entirely online.
contact—which could be a check-in or another
touchpoint within a process—as simple as
possible. The advisor’s core competence of “advising” is
not called upon until a future date. For all
intents and purposes, onboarding activities
Onboarding as automated, non-value- could be carried out by less qualified bank
adding contact personnel. The information could even be
entered into the bank systems by customers
Such divergence in interests is something that themselves. This is where the potential of
virtually every bank experiences during the
automation lies, which is the focus of this case
client onboarding process. On the one hand, study.
customers view traditional onboarding
processes as (overly) complex. This makes
sense, as very few customers understand the
regulatory requirements mandating banks to
obtain certain data from them. The customer
does not see the value related to collecting such
information. There is therefore a need for
simplification.

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 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

Credit Suisse, process. As a result, the bank has a single,

consistent database for front, middle, and back
a Major Swiss Bank office areas. This, in turn, enables all employees
of Credit Suisse to collaborate more effectively.
Founded in 1856 and based in Zurich, Credit
Suisse is now a global bank that conducts For both the traditional and digital onboarding
business in over 50 countries and employs processes, the bank interacts directly with
customers and multiple internal business units
46,720 people from more than 150 nations.
are involved in the process. The bank clarifies
In November 2016, the Swiss business activities the needs of the customer, asks about the goals
of Credit Suisse Group Ltd were moved to the of the business relationship, and then
newly formed Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd documents them in the onboarding application.
within the scope of the Too-Big-To-Fail The opening of the business relationship
regulations of the Swiss Financial Market requires multiple physical documents, which are
Supervisory Authority (FINMA). signed by the customer and retained by the
bank for documentation purposes.
A strong presence in the home market of
Switzerland is a core part of Credit Suisse’s The core competence of Credit Suisse is
strategy. In Switzerland, Credit Suisse runs 170 providing advice to customers. Numerous
branch offices. Around one in five people in relationship managers (RMs) support
Switzerland is a private customer of Credit customers with their investment and financing
Suisse, and around 30,000 customers visit its inquiries from retail to UHNWI segments as
branches each day. well as institutional and corporate clients. RMs
therefore play an important role during the
entire onboarding process. The onboarding
process for residential customers in a branch
Starting Point and office usually takes between 45 and 60
Context minutes. During this meeting, front office staff
provide product advice, collect all required
Since July 2017, Credit Suisse has provided all information and customer documentation,
Swiss residents with the option to initiate a including “Know Your Customer” (KYC) details
relationship with the bank through a along with the required customer signatures.
completely digital onboarding process. The front office staff then records the customer
data in the bank’s system. Via an electronic
Before this, Credit Suisse maintained two workflow, this information passes to the back
different onboarding processes: the traditional office, which reviews the data again.
form-based process in branch offices and the
digital onboarding process. The digital process Once Credit Suisse has all necessary data and
is also branch-based but involves digital data forms and the customer relationship has been
entry and increasingly automated processing of approved, the bank services are released, and
customer information in the bank. With the RM informs the customer. During the entire
traditional onboarding, the process runs process, the front office staff are the link
through multiple departments sequentially, between customers and the bank’s back office.
each of which must manually open and close They remain in this role until the customer
the various applications involved. At the relationship is ultimately approved or rejected.
functional level, customer and process data The discontinuity between the physical
were saved across multiple, separate IT customer interaction and the digital
applications. Compared to this, the digital information processing represents the main
onboarding process—enabled by Appway and weakness of the branch-based processes.
operated in branch offices since 2015— Processing is delayed if customer data is
represents a significant improvement in incomplete and needs to be amended.
efficiency. The front office collects customer Furthermore, manual data input is a potential
data and dedicated software links it with the source of error.
other business areas involved in the onboarding

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 Case Study Online Relationship Onboarding

Credit Suisse recognized that customer includes all basic services such as private and
acquisition in the age of digitization should not savings accounts, EC card, credit card, and e-
be dependent on the broker function of the RM banking access. A prerequisite for this was the
nor solely on a physical presence (i.e., branch ability to support reliable video authentication,
office network). Knowing that most of the tasks digital contract generation, and electronic
during the onboarding process can be signatures. With the new Online Relationship
standardized, and given the fact that it had Onboarding (ORO) process, onboarding should
already implemented digital onboarding only take around 15 minutes. The bank also
internally, Credit Suisse wanted to create a new wanted the IBAN number generated during the
process that would also digitize the interaction process to be available for the customer
with customers. This would enable self-service immediately upon completion of the process.
client onboarding, thereby giving customers the The provision of the selected products after
choice to select the onboarding channel they completing the process would then take
prefer. It would also remove the front office between two and five bank business days due
from the entire process, as it would no longer to the usual clarifications needed within the
need to record the data. bank. Finally, the ORO process should reduce
the burden on the front office while providing
Until March 2016, however, financial users with a novel experience. For retail Credit
institutions in Switzerland were unable to Suisse customers who live in Switzerland, the
onboard customers via a completely digital ORO process went live on July 3, 2017.
process due to regulatory requirements. They
could only open a business relationship through
a personal meeting or by mail. The original
identification document had to be viewed by
Motivation and Goals of
the branch office, or confirmation of the Project
authenticity had to be provided if identification
was completed via mail. The bank staff With ORO, Credit Suisse’s goal was to digitize
responsible had to obtain all further the interface to customers and connect them
information from the contractual party during seamlessly to the internal onboarding process
a meeting, and then had to enter this into the to be able to onboard new customers more
bank's system. quickly and easily. Bank customers should be
able to open a business relationship using the
On March 18, 2016, the FINMA circular on
channel that is most convenient for them,
video and online identification entered into
resulting in a win-win situation for both the
force, which describes the due diligence
bank and the customer.
requirements for financial service providers
when opening business relationships via digital
channels. Banking customer requirements
This FINMA regulation enables financial service Credit Suisse wanted to fulfill a common
providers in Switzerland to conduct identity customer demand for simplified onboarding
checks online through video identification if the while delivering an entirely new kind of
ID in question has corresponding security experience. Below we will look at some specific
features. This means customers can digitally customer requirements.
open an account themselves. Credit Suisse
formed a project team to manage the Prior to the introduction of ORO, customers had
implementation of such an offer. The project limited options for opening a business
team was to take a holistic perspective of the relationship with Credit Suisse, namely through
issue to link the digital front-end to internal personal meetings or onboarding via mail.
bank processes.
ORO provides an attractive option that allows
Potential customers should have the option— customers to choose between traditional
using a device of their choosing—to subscribe onboarding in a branch office and online
to a complete banking package online that onboarding. Customers want to be able to

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 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

“Our clients should have the possibility to open an account

with us in 15 minutes from the comfort of their home.”
Aaron Mechelke – VP, Digital Solutions & Delivery, Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd

choose between the traditional onboarding demand for simplicity is by offering a

process in a branch office or the online comprehensive package of traditional banking
channel of Credit Suisse, which makes a trip products and services, including transaction
to the branch office to open a business and savings accounts, cards and payment
relationship superfluous. The ability to choose instruments, as well as online and mobile
means customers are no longer restricted by banking offers.
the branch’s office hours and can avoid filling
out paperwork. Moreover, those who opt for Customers from around the world should be
online onboarding eliminate a trip to the able to open a banking package online. The
branch office to open the relationship. This also nationality of an applicant should not prevent
implies that customers want to avoid using interested persons from becoming customers of
paper and would rather identify themselves Credit Suisse. Additionally, because Credit
and sign contracts online. Suisse clientele is quite international, the ORO
process needed to support multi-lingual
Credit Suisse also needed to ensure customers communication. This would enable customers
have fast access to their services. Customers to communicate with Credit Suisse using their
want to know what their account numbers are preferred language.
as quickly as possible. Thus, immediately
getting the IBAN number is a major advantage, Customers want to know all their options
especially for customers who have just started when it comes to onboarding channels.
working in Switzerland. The amount of time a Therefore, the online onboarding option should
customer has to wait for account access is a be integrated seamlessly into the product range
typical pain point. that Credit Suisse advertises online, and
specifically into the various Bonviva banking
If the onboarding process is interrupted packages Credit Suisse offers.
unexpectedly, the customer must be able to
continue the process without having to re-
enter their information. This continuation of Credit Suisse’s goals
data entry should also be possible using
different devices, including laptops, tablets, As people become accustomed to new ways of
and smartphones. interacting with businesses, customer
interaction represents a core differentiation
If the customer has doubts or questions, they opportunity. Customers want to choose how
should be able to obtain assistance. And, if the and when they interact with their service
customer decides to visit the nearest branch provider and on which channel. Nevertheless,
office for personal advice, they should be able many banks still focus too much on back-office
to easily switch channels. Customers that lack systems and generally prioritize internal
“digital affinity” often require information and functions and processes over customer
details about the nearest branch office. communication. By integrating front- and back-
end processes, banks can provide a consistent
Customers should be able to use the entire customer experience at all levels of interaction.
portfolio of banking services offered by Credit
Suisse without being flooded with too much
information or too many options. An
attractive way the bank meets customer

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 Case Study Online Relationship Onboarding

From a strategic perspective, many drivers led

to Credit Suisse introducing an online
Evaluating the Solution
onboarding process.
Onboarding new customers is a classic retail
process. Therefore, Credit Suisse decided to
By automating such a highly-standardizable
introduce the ORO process first to its retail
process, Credit Suisse aims to improve its cost
customers in the Swiss market. In contrast to
efficiency. The front office should benefit from
many other banks, where customers need to
reduced administrative tasks, thereby
order their products one-by-one, Credit Suisse
allowing it to focus more on providing advice
offers standard products within a banking
and engaging in value-adding customer
package, enabling it to effectively meet the
contact. The elimination of routine activities
banking requirements of its customers. At the
increases front office efficiency.
same time, it also prevents customers from
Another core goal of Credit Suisse is to increase submitting multiple contracts. To this end,
efficiency in the middle and back office Credit Suisse made its existing Bonviva bank
through consistent data quality. With all data packages available via the ORO process.
entered via the self-service function, the bank
From the start, Credit Suisse asked itself
hopes to avoid erroneous or missing details,
whether it should design the onboarding
incorrectly completed forms, unreadable
platform in-house or engage a partner for this
handwriting, or invalid information. This, in
purpose. To answer this question, a preliminary
turn, will also enable it to automate recurring
evaluation is unavoidable. The bank defined a
process steps in the back office such as
list of criteria outlining what the new platform
compliance and suitability checks.
should be able to do and what it should offer
Digital initiatives such as ORO facilitate Credit the bank’s customers. Decision-making criteria
Suisse’s search for more customer-centric included the ability to seamlessly integrate
solutions. As one of the first banks to allow web-based customer interactions into the
customers to initiate a banking relationship existing branch office-based onboarding
through a digital, self-service onboarding process. Other factors included development
solution as an alternative to onboarding in a outlay, development costs, adherence to
branch office, Credit Suisse wants to increase its timelines, integration with the back-end along
share of customers from the growing online with other internal instances, as well as the
market with a dedicated interaction channel. ability to offer an attractive user interface.

The bank is also trying to learn more from its Based on this multi-dimensional analysis, Credit
customers. By analyzing and evaluating the Suisse chose Appway as its partner. One of the
steps its customers take online, Credit Suisse major benefits was that the Appway solution
can continually improve the ORO channel. could be easily integrated into Credit Suisse’s
Moreover, it can use customer insights to deliver existing IT infrastructure. This allows Credit
further service and product innovations. A Suisse to place the required focus on the front-
scalable platform enables Credit Suisse to use end while ensuring its integration into the
the new onboarding channel in other business bank's internal processes, especially into the
areas that could benefit from digital branch office-based digital onboarding.
onboarding, such as wealth and asset
Appway onboarding covers all activities that
management, where digital onboarding could
are related to the initiation, administration and
also add value.
conclusion of business processes. It also enables
financial institutions to adapt quickly to
changing conditions, such as with financial
regulation.

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 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

Appway Implementation and

Appway is the global leader in client Testing
onboarding for the financial services industry.
The company guides financial institutions, both As mentioned above, customer interactions
big and small, as they build sustainable and were designed to be user-friendly to ensure
scalable solutions that quickly adapt to Credit Suisse meets customer expectations and
changing conditions. Headquartered in Zurich, fulfills their needs with an effective ORO
Switzerland, Appway has branch offices all over process. To optimize the user experience,
the world. Appway's customers include Appway’s User Experience Team worked closely
renowned international private banks, wealth with Credit Suisse and assumed a central role
and asset managers, as well as retail banks, during the platform design phase. Specific
insurance companies, and other financial personas were defined to help the development
service providers. team grasp the attributes of the target groups
they were developing for. Once the target
Appway has worked with Credit Suisse for many groups and their associated personas had been
years. In 2013, Credit Suisse Private Banking defined, the first user tests were carried out.
APAC introduced digital customer onboarding
in Asia in conjunction with Appway. It was
subsequently introduced in North America. The Personas
bank’s digital onboarding platform has,
however, evolved significantly since it was The use of personas also proved useful because
introduced in Asia. At the beginning, only empirical research has provided very little
existing Credit Suisse customers could use the assistance to date when it comes to integrating
solution to activate additional bank products new customers in retail banking. These four
online or switch to a Bonviva package. Now, archetypal user groups (i.e., personas) were
new customers can use it and complete the defined and used to start development of the
entire onboarding process themselves. platform:

From the perspective of Credit Suisse, Appway - Career starter

offers a comprehensive onboarding
infrastructure, which is scalable in many - Young professional
respects. The solution can also support the front
office across multiple channels. ORO represents - Millennial mom
an additional element of this onboarding
- Experienced professional
infrastructure.
The personas were identified based on age,
residence, language, work experience, marital
status, income, and assets, as well as the
cultural background of the target groups.
Furthermore, the team made assumptions
regarding social media habits and needs.
Finally, foreseeable barriers and problems
related to a self-service onboarding solution
were defined for the different personas.

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 Case Study Online Relationship Onboarding

Figure 2: Example Persona

Appway then developed the platform based on Testing

these four personas.
The user tests were an important component of
An example of one of these personas is the front-end development. From the
provided in Figure 2, the fictitious young beginning, they were carried out within the
professional, Amélie Frey. For this user group, scope of an agile process. This allowed the
we see that an overly complicated ORO process project partners to quickly incorporate the test
with too many options and too much subjects’ feedback into the development
information can trigger frustration. Young process. Above all, the testing showed how and
professionals value clear, relevant, and to what extent users wanted to be guided
comprehensive product information. They also through the process. Another requirement was
want simple and fast access to applications. that the process had to be simplified as much
as possible for the user by keeping the number
Based on the defined personas, Appway of data entry fields to an absolute minimum.
recruited both customers of Credit Suisse and
non-customers that fit the defined user profiles One step that proved to be challenging was
for testing purposes. These recruits tested the authenticating users via video call. This step
various prototypes and provided valuable was viewed as a potential risk that could result
feedback. Credit Suisse’s Design Team in the onboarding process being abandoned by
developed additional prototypes for the the user. Thanks to the user tests, it was possible
platform based on the data analyzed from the to identify how users could best prepare for
test personas and in cooperation with switching from an “anonymous” interaction to
Appway’s developers and User Experience a live interaction via a video call.
Team.
The tests also enabled the developers to
determine the optimal design of the online
questions to ensure the bank obtained
complete data records as easily as possible.

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 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

Focus on required data entries A complete database eliminates the need to

recapture additional data or signed forms,
In line with compliance requirements, the bank which involves additional costs and delays to
needs to obtain a complete set of customer providing the banking services. What's more,
data. The bank should have the possibility to the solution must be designed in a way that
work with the data in a targeted manner, as has allows it to quickly be amended in line with
been traditionally the case. One of the continuously evolving compliance
challenges for the online interaction was to requirements.
avoid annoying the user with too many
mandatory data entries.

Customers must both understand these fields

and be willing to accept the use of the data by Project coordination
Credit Suisse. The bank was thus forced to view
the process from the customer’s perspective. Setting up a user-friendly platform that is
Credit Suisse carefully reviewed each data field streamlined, visually appealing, and fulfills all
to see if it was necessary, resulting in the requirements from a legal and compliance
removal of data fields that required identical perspective requires close cooperation between
answers. For example, customers need to several departments. In order to optimize the
provide job details to request a credit card. This onboarding phase, all organizational processes
means the occupation data field in the KYC and interfaces were analyzed. This made it
questions should be removed. possible to better exploit the additional
automation potential resulting from a digital
During this process, various questions were also front-end.
reformulated. For example, during the pilot
phase, not all of the users understood what was The close collaboration between the User
meant by “beneficial owner.” The question was Experience Team, Appway’s developers, the
therefore reformulated to ask whether the Testing Team and the business analysts
customer is the “only user of the account.” ultimately ensured better coordination across
all areas.
To help customers move more quickly through
this step, the process called upon technology
that supports data input. For example, when
entering personal and contact data, the
The New Onboarding
customer is assisted by an automated address Process
search function. It offers address suggestions
after the user has entered just a few letters and The new Online Relationship Onboarding (ORO)
checks the validity of the data given. is a digital process that integrates the customer
seamlessly into the onboarding workflow. The
From a technical perspective, the ORO process core of the ORO process differs from the digital
had to allow the bank to quickly transfer the onboarding process in the branch office, as the
customer data to existing databases and the customer can directly enter data in self-service
user environment of the branch offices. mode. All relevant customer data is directly
Furthermore, the process had to be designed to available to Credit Suisse and its suppliers (such
meet all relevant regulatory requirements. as credit card issuers), speeding up the
Complete and accurate data are core activation phase. Customers are now
requirements for complying with such responsible for triggering the onboarding
regulations. process and work through it on their own.
Consequently, ORO offers a scalable process
template for Credit Suisse’s entire Swiss branch
office network.

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 Case Study Online Relationship Onboarding

From a technical perspective, customer data During the second phase—the activation
directly links to the bank’s middle and back phase—the bank checks the customer’s data
office applications. Customers can only finish and completes suitability and compliance tests.
the ORO process by supplying complete data The subsequent activation generally takes
records, resulting in better data quality. around two days due to the required
Moreover, smart services like the semi- clarifications in the second phase. This can
automated address search function ensure increase to five business days in complex cases
accuracy. The customer portion of the process or cases that require manual processing.
is also linked to the IT back-end of the institute
that issues the credit card—Swisscard AECS—
which enables credit card applications to be The process steps
processed more quickly.
Online Relationship Onboarding provides all
As the process can only be finished with participants with a holistic view of the process
complete data records, the number of times and thus facilitates cooperation across all
Compliance and other operations teams have departments and divisions. We will now explain
to request missing information has dropped the process in greater detail, with a focus on
significantly with ORO. Thanks to seamless data customer requirements:
processing, all standard compliance and
product approval checks are supported through Choice of customer language
automation. As a result, back office employees
In the online application, customers can choose
can better concentrate on exceptional cases or
from German, French, English, and Italian as
problems instead.
their preferred language to work through the
The onboarding process now consists of two ORO process.
phases. During the first phase, the actual Online
Choice of banking package
Relationship Onboarding outlined in Figure 3,
the customer starts to interact with the bank
The potential customer registers as a user by
through Credit Suisse’s website. They select
entering their email address and password and
their preferred banking package, enter their
accepting the terms and conditions of use. This
personal details, and complete the
early registration enables the bank to identify
identification step via video call. Meanwhile,
interested parties, which is a real advantage,
the ORO front-end automatically feeds all
especially if the user abandons the onboarding
required customer information into Credit
process.
Suisse’s systems. Customers can complete this
first phase in around 15 minutes.

Figure 3: Customer onboarding in the front-end

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 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

Following this, the user is provided with an or a different channel (such as in a branch
overview of the available packages and office) without having to reenter their details.
corresponding products. As shown in Figure 4,
the user can select a banking package without Customer and ID authentication
being overwhelmed by too much information or
too many options. If the potential customer During the next step, a live video meeting is
needs additional details, they can access completed to identify the potential customer
further information with the click of a button. online. Credit Suisse has outsourced this step to
Swisscom. This change of provider is hardly
noticeable, however, as it is completely
integrated into the Credit Suisse user interface.
During the call, they show their ID by holding it
in front of the camera. The identification takes
place in real time and is confirmed via facial
recognition carried out by Swisscom. During this
time, Swisscom’s underlying software checks
the security features of the ID. The customer
enters a six-digit code sent via text message to
confirm they want to participate in the video ID
procedure.

The Swisscom employee and the applicant

simultaneously see whether or not the
document has been accepted. The
authentication details and decision regarding
the ID documents are then stored in Credit
Suisse’s back-office systems. A positive decision
automatically generates a contract, which is
available for download in a matter of seconds.
Figure 4: Package selection Bonviva Silver
Confirmation
Providing detailed information
The interested person signs the digital contract
It’s essential for the bank to collect basic data online. Contract signing is completed
as well as data related to KYC. The prospective electronically in two steps. During the first step,
customer therefore needs to enter their contact the customer requests another Transaction
details, place of residence, job details, and other Authentication Number (TAN), which is sent to
personal information during the next step. With their mobile phone. During the second step, the
the KYC questions, the bank tries to identify applicant submits this TAN to the bank, which
why the applicant would like a business triggers the electronic signature. The request is
relationship with Credit Suisse, the source of the sent to Credit Suisse, which completes the
assets and income, the client’s fiscal domicile, application for the desired bank package. As
and other details. This data is needed to soon as the onboarding process is complete, an
prevent money laundering. However, it can also IBAN number is reserved for the customer. This
help the bank to segment its customers at a can be seen directly by the customer and is
later stage. usable as soon as the activation phase has been
completed. Neither the customer nor the bank
The bank can use the details provided by the
needs any paper.
applicant up to this point to create a customer
profile. The data is then fed into Credit Suisse’s
back-office systems. This way, the applicant’s
data becomes immediately available to all
process stakeholders. The user benefits from
this as well, because if they interrupt the
process, they can continue it on another device

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 Case Study Online Relationship Onboarding

Activation customer advisor who is assigned to such cases

will contact the person in question. Therefore,
The activation phase takes place directly after ORO does not compete with the onboarding
the online application phase and is triggered process in branch offices.
automatically when the prospective customer
electronically signs the application. In this The use of an innovative and user-friendly
phase, the bank takes care of both compliance interface provides a certain “fun factor” and a
tests and authorization for requested services. unique customer experience from the start of
Case processing is much easier, as the customer the business relationship. The resulting high
data is already complete and available. In fact, level of customer satisfaction is a solid
processing of “standard cases” can be foundation to further develop the customer
automated to a significant extent and as a relationship. ORO therefore represents a trend-
result, Credit Suisse’s back office has more time setting service innovation when it comes to
to process critical cases. capitalizing on the growing market of digitally
aware customers.
The data is also forwarded to Swisscard AECS,
which uses the data for credit card applications.
The high quality of customer data means Implications of the ORO
Swisscard can also automate many routine implementation for Credit Suisse
checks associated with processing credit card
applications. Back office teams at both Credit With ORO, Credit Suisse has an onboarding
Suisse and Swisscard benefit from a complete solution with global potential, geared towards
view of the onboarding process, which client centricity and not just a specific branch
facilitates decision-making. office. This inevitably impacts all levels (front
and back office) within Credit Suisse.

Implications of the ORO Front office

implementation for Credit Suisse’s
If new customers complete the onboarding
customers
process themselves, the front office is
ORO offers additional convenience to new uncoupled from the onboarding process, as
Credit Suisse customers. They can use their shown in Figure 5. In turn, the role of the front
preferred onboarding channel and device to office shifts to customer support during the
select and authorize the desired bank products onboarding phase.
with full autonomy. They do not need to visit a
When a potential customer performs digital
branch office either, meaning they are not
onboarding, client advisors will not know the
restricted by the bank's office hours.
customer personally. All relevant data must be
Applying for bank products takes a lot less time made available to the front office as quickly as
thanks to ORO. It also takes far less time for the possible, in order to be able to provide the
bank to process customer requests. As a result, customer with competent advice. Thanks to the
the customer can use bank products and ORO process, the front office can access
services much more quickly. information on new customers who have
successfully completed the onboarding process.
Once the potential customer has registered, the These records enable the front office to provide
user interface does not ask for the data to be re- qualified personal advice.
entered. And if the applicant interrupts the ORO
process, they can continue with it later using an If the potential customer does not want to use
alternative device or even a different channel. digital onboarding, the front office is notified to
The information that is entered is saved contact the customer using his or her email
automatically. Moreover, a “Branch Locator” address. Each applicant is assigned to an
was integrated into the website, providing the employee, who will interact with them.
potential customer with details about the
nearest Credit Suisse branch office. A specific

12
 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

Back office Market launch and communicating the

solution
The Compliance and Bonviva Operations
Teams take care of the following tasks for both Credit Suisse announced the market launch of
traditional and digital onboarding: they check ORO in a press release. An online marketing
customer eligibility based on the applicant’s strategy was used instead of conventional
personal details and selected banking products. marketing. The new offer was also seamlessly
They also check to see if Foreign Account Tax integrated into the marketing strategy of the
Compliance Act (FATCA) provisions and Bonviva product series. Online, the launch of
provisions regarding the Automatic Exchange ORO was communicated via Google Ads,
of Information (AEOI) apply and whether the YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
interested person has the status of or a
relationship with a politically exposed person Credit Suisse did not want to promote
(PEP). Furthermore, they clarify the source of processes, but rather its products and services
the applicant’s assets and income and also the for potential online customers. This enables
fiscal domicile. Credit Suisse to test the attractiveness of the
new channel with potential online customers.
The ORO process has automated what was Customers can now choose between
previously manual work at this stage. The onboarding through ORO or the traditional visit
digital process makes information available to to a branch office.
all process participants, such as the Compliance
and Operations Teams, providing a complete
view into the potential customer’s background.
As a result, the back office can make decisions
in a more well-founded and accurate manner.

Figure 5: Onboarding process with ORO

13
 Case Study Online Relationship Onboarding

“The experience with the new digital onboarding

process shows that data quality has significantly
improved. Compared to the conventional process, the
error rate has dropped by 65%.”
Marc von Widekind – Head of Process Digitization and Target Operating Model within Digital
Solutions & Delivery, Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd

Benefits for Credit Suisse With traditional onboarding processes, bank

staff is sometimes confronted with incomplete
customer data. Additional work results from
The ORO implementation represents a win-win
missing or incorrectly completed forms, missing
for Credit Suisse and its customers. For Credit
signatures, unreadable handwriting, or invalid
Suisse, this process innovation has greatly
information.
improved efficiency. The customers are offered
a new experience with improved service quality.
When a potential customer enters data
Service innovation goes hand in hand with
digitally, the bank gets complete records, which
improved internal processes. The following is an
it can repeatedly use throughout the entire
overview of Credit Suisse’s key benefits: organization. Credit Suisse can also avoid
additional customer interactions, which involve
Faster process throughput times
paperwork, delays, and frustration for the
Normally, a bank needs around 7.5 days before customer and the bank. Furthermore, digitized
the business relationship and all associated data enables consistent decision-making for
services are open and functioning. On average, Compliance and Bonviva Operations as well as
new customers obtain a working credit card for the credit card service provider, AECS.
after 11 days. These findings were highlighted
Input for product development
by the Mystery Shopping Study produced by
Namics in 2016, which is based on an
The additional, higher-quality digital data also
assessment of the onboarding processes of 14
provides Credit Suisse with some insight into
banks in Germany and Switzerland.
the customer’s product use. This, in turn, allows
the bank to make additional offers that are
With Credit Suisse, the customer needs around
relevant to the customer and triggers ideas for
15 minutes to complete the onboarding
new, valuable products.
process. And thanks to ORO, the activation with
Credit Suisse generally takes around two
In the future, the bank might also be able to use
working days (due to required clarifications). As
the digital data for marketing purposes. The
a result, Credit Suisse cuts costs and new
Marketing Team could select customers in line
customers are more satisfied. Furthermore,
with the agreed conditions of service based on
Credit Suisse can employ ORO across its global
demographic criteria, product preferences,
business footprint, enabling the bank to
communication preferences, online behavior, or
significantly reduce process complexity thanks
other criteria to generate new customers and to
to a consistent process across all markets.
promote new products.
Better data quality

A complete and coherent database is vital for

any bank; the entire organization benefits from
complete and accurate client data. It is also a
prerequisite for processing customer
applications for banking services.

14
 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

With digital onboarding, Credit Suisse has

gained new possibilities to learn from
Next Steps and
customers, interpret their preferences and build Challenges
a more in-depth relationship with them.
Furthermore, by analyzing user behavior, the
bank can better determine interest in new Further development of the
service offers. organization through ORO: change
Addressing new customers management

Over the medium to long term, Credit Suisse will In 2015, Credit Suisse’s management team
use ORO to address the growing group of users defined a digital strategy for the entire
that are open to and capable of using digital company. A project like ORO must be supported
applications, and who require less personal by the entire management. The project also
contact when completing administrative work. gets people to question the existing
The bank will proactively engage these organization, which applies to both operational
customer segments online, allowing it to meet and organizational structures. To simplify and
the needs of customers while also benefiting drive the group-wide digital transformation,
from an early mover advantage. In other words, management set up a dedicated change
the business case for implementing ORO is management team. Credit Suisse’s leadership
based on greater operational efficiencies and team was thus able to demonstrate to all
new business opportunities. The digital employees that the company had a clear and
onboarding platform has the potential to entice uniform vision.
the target segment due to its ease of use and a
certain "fun factor." Moreover, Credit Suisse can
extend this digital onboarding channel to other
Further development of the system:
customer segments step-by-step. This includes, rollout in different segments and
for example, potential customers with higher countries
KYC requirements and new customers that live
abroad. One of the major advantages of Appway’s
onboarding platform is that it enables Credit
Simple handling Suisse to quickly scale the ORO solution for use
in any other business area. Although the ORO
New customers using ORO can now access bank service is initially only available to retail
documents online, eliminating the need to print customers domiciled in Switzerland, in the
them out. As bank customers can now dispense future the bank will be able to offer it to other
with paper when opening a new business markets and customer segments.
relationship, Credit Suisse can reduce internal
and external costs while saving time and The horizon, therefore, does not end with the
benefiting the environment. onboarding of natural persons. For instance, the
platform will enable legal entities to complete
the onboarding process via ORO. The bank can
also use it to activate additional products or
product ranges such as international wealth
management. In fact, Credit Suisse is running
multiple pilot projects. For example, as a next
step, the bank is planning on activating
international wealth management. As a result,
ORO will become available in 17 other countries
in addition to Switzerland.

15
 Case Study Online Relationship Onboarding

A decisive factor here is that the underlying process. Furthermore, Credit Suisse analyzes the
software can be scaled at any time. The days and times when customers start the
onboarding solution from Appway enables application, along with the browsers and
Credit Suisse to continuously improve the devices they use. It also takes the
experience of online users, with attention to demographics of potential customers into
specific user groups, thereby empowering the consideration. This information is retrieved
bank to maintain its position as a pioneer in the from the data the client entered such as the
market. What’s more, the bank can support the given address and the selected language.
work of its relationship managers on an Finally, the bank analyzes cases where the
ongoing basis through the complete service did not work when customers used the
integration of all interaction channels. application. These findings help Credit Suisse
improve the onboarding solution on an ongoing
basis.
Further development of the system:
learning from clients
Further development of existing IT
Even though the ORO solution has already been systems: architecture
introduced, Credit Suisse is continuously
analyzing customer behavior to improve the Ultimately, Credit Suisse’s management must
solution. Interactions with customers through determine the role of its existing IT
digital channels along with the continuous infrastructure regarding the new customer-
collection of customer data stimulate an oriented onboarding application. The bank’s
ongoing solution development in line with existing IT applications, which principally
customer needs, which is difficult through a satisfy the functional requirements of
traditional banking relationship that depends individual departments, provide limited support
on physical interactions. These insights fuel the for the new customer front-end as part of the
ongoing development of the system. For bank’s digital strategy. To address this, the
example, the bank analyzes aggregated bank linked all areas involved with the
customer behavior patterns. It then uses these onboarding process by integrating all relevant
findings to suggest ongoing improvements. IT systems. With Appway, the IT infrastructure
This allows Credit Suisse to provide a new was extended in a way that enabled all
software release each month, and continually stakeholders to be included in an optimized
improve the attractiveness of the digital workflow, which provided the bank with more
onboarding solution for specific customer agility and flexibility to adapt to continually
segments. changing business conditions.

More than half of customers who start the ORO The introduction of ORO encourages digital
process complete it. The customer’s initial customer interaction. Interested parties not
registration and acceptance of the terms and only compare ORO with other onboarding
conditions enable Credit Suisse to retrace the channels, but also with other commonly used
entire onboarding path. The bank recognizes online service providers like Google, Amazon,
certain behavior patterns, such as where and Facebook. Credit Suisse is thus in indirect
customers frequently interrupt the process, and competition with companies that specialize in
uses these to learn from customers. In doing so, optimizing user experience online. In response,
it takes breaks or interruptions in individual Credit Suisse is pursuing an agile approach to
process steps into consideration, as well as developing and continuously improving its user
process steps where customers often abort the interface.

16
 Case Study: Online Relationship Onboarding

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17
About Appway:
Appway builds software for today, and innovates for the technology of the
future. With over ten years of industry experience, Appway guides the
leading financial institutions, both big and small, as they build sustainable
and scalable solutions that quickly adapt to changing conditions.
Headquartered in Switzerland with offices around the globe, Appway’s
award-winning software suite serves over 420,000 users worldwide. More
than 225 institutions rely on Appway to improve internal efficiencies,
engage customers across all channels, and keep ahead of regulations.

About Credit Suisse:

Credit Suisse AG is one of the world's leading financial services providers
and is part of the Credit Suisse group of companies (referred to here as
'Credit Suisse'). As an integrated bank, Credit Suisse offers clients its
combined expertise in the areas of private banking, investment banking
and asset management. Credit Suisse provides advisory services,
comprehensive solutions and innovative products to companies,
institutional clients and high-net-worth private clients globally, as well as to
retail clients in Switzerland. Credit Suisse is headquartered in Zurich and
operates in over 50 countries worldwide. The group employs approximately
46’720 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse's parent
company, Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form
of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York.

About IFZ:
The Institute of Financial Services Zug IFZ of the Lucerne School of
Business is the leading financial institute among the Swiss universities of
applied sciences. The IFZ offers continuing and executive education and
provides research and advisory services. The IFZ's courses include Bachelor
and Master of Science degree programmes with a specialisation in banking
and finance. The IFZ also offers a large number of recognised continuing
and executive education courses.

Hochschule Luzern – Wirtschaft

Institut für Finanzdienstleitungen Zug
IFZ

Grafenauweg 10
Postfach 7344
6302 Zug

www.hslu.ch/ifz
ISBN: 978-3-906877-24-2