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Paper vs Digital Client Onboarding (KYC)

Would you prefer to complete this form with a pen or a keyboard?

Financial services software either makes you money, saves you money or reduces your risk. Some do all 3.

In a world where everything has gone digital, and according to a statement made back in 2011, by the highly successful
entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen, ”software is eating the world”, why do people still want to fill out a form with
a pen?

More secure? More authentic? Even nostalgic?

Or is it just easier to unload a lot of information via a pen rather than a keyboard? The end users completing these forms
can be from different generations so it’s hard to nail down a good stat on whether someone prefers digital to analogue.
From the people we have spoken to over the years and asked them the direct question:

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Is all my data secure?

Is my client’s personal and/or company data secure?

The answer we get most often is actually “It depends”. But if you ask the entities who are collecting the
information, the overwhelming preference is digital. Why?

Data accuracy
Process streamlining
Speed through automation
Single source of truth
Simplified reporting and compliance

So with all these benefits, what has stopped the majority of entities going digital before now? We see 3
major issues that seems to appear at the top of the list of concerns:
1. Costs
This seems to be the highest on the list when talking to executives and key decision makers. They have a system that ‘works’
now and spending money to save money is not easy for everyone to get onboard. They understand they need to move with the
times and go digital but when they explore the options in the market they seem to reach the same conclusions:
• High upfront costs
• High maintenance/ongoing costs
• Expensive change requests for customisation
• Training programs and specialist requirements
As entities grow, compliance/operations teams grow and the regulatory pressure stacks up, it all amounts to a much larger set
of moving parts that become harder to manage. The knee-jerk reaction to alleviate pressure on business units being swamped
by increasing workloads is to add staff, not technology. This does not scale.
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Is cybersecurity and its effects on compliance something you discuss at management meetings?

2. Time to Value 3. Integration

From the time it takes to get buy-in from executives/senior Most entities have already invested in technology in
management to actually seeing results, one might think it’s various areas of their business. Most of the core systems
never going to happen and the costs mentioned above can that keep your business alive are digital. But how do we
really stack up. Long integration times with vendors, internal IT integrate and take advantage of data we already have?
push back, aligning the business with the technology, internal
procurement processes etc. Thanks to advances in modern software and the
A lot of things can get in the way. proliferation of API’s (Application Programming Interfaces)
that let applications talk to each other securely, the
Some vendors are trying to reduce this time and the concerns integration times have dropped significantly. What can
around it by offering more of a turn-key solution. But can one happen is the integration times get slowed down (affecting
size fit all? In terms of KYC & AML/CTF Client Due Diligence, Time to Value) because various business units want to
the same regulations apply to everyone within that region. Fro control the applications and data they use every day. The
example, if you’re onboarding clients in Hong Kong with the hand off between middle office and back office functions is
SFC, you will need to abide by the same regulations as your not always clear cut and they may be at different stages in
competitors. The process can vary from company to company application deployment lifecycles. “Let’s wait until we
but the variations shouldn’t be too large to require an entire upgrade before we integrate”.
bespoke solution for every company.

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Who in the organization is the owner for the Information Security program?
Does the organization encrypt data at-rest?
Does the organization multi-tenant data or processing on the same system? If so, how is confidential client data kept secure?

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Software doesn’t replace people, it enables them.

Digital Transformation

According to strategy consultants, Altimeter Group, companies should consider the OPPOSITE framework when considering
digital transformation. The breakdown of this framework builds up the acronym O.P.P.O.S.I.T.E

1. Orientation: Establish a new perspective to drive meaningful change.

2. People: Understand customer values, expectations and behaviours.
3. Processes: Assess operational infrastructure and update (or revamp) technologies, processes and
policies to support change.
4. Objectives: Define the purpose of digital transformation, aligning stakeholders (and shareholders)
around the new vision and roadmap.
5. Structure: Form a dedicated digital experience team with
roles/responsibilities/objectives/accountability clearly defined.
6. Insights & Intent: Gather data and apply insights toward strategy to guide digital evolution.
7. Technology: Re-evaluate front and back-end systems for a seamless, integrated and native
customer (and ultimately employee) experience.
8. Execution: Implement, learn and adapt to steer ongoing digital transformation and customer
experience work.
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When people talk about digital and technology, you will always hear the word ‘’scale’. Is scaling with humans (the patch job
solution) going to eventually outweigh the costs involved with going digital? With changes in technology and trying to find that
tipping point, “it depends”. With the proven benefits of going digital and the reasons against going digital waning, the shift has
begun and everyone will benefit from it. If a compliance officer eventually becomes a HR person trying to manage a team and
set of processes while trying to scale with humans, should they buy HR software?

We don’t go over it here in these slides, but the biggest benefit of going digital is the data. Once you have enough clean, quality
data, you can extract value from it through analytics and data science. Both within reach of even SME businesses today with
advances in technology and highly competitive marketplace. We’ll discuss this in our next set of slides…

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Digital & Automated Client Onboarding
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