Author: Manish Pandey

Why Clients Feel Dissatisfied Even Before They Begin, And How AI Helps You Reimagine Client Onboarding

In wealth management, first impressions aren’t made during a portfolio review—they begin during onboarding. And when that process is clunky, time-consuming, or overly manual, investors don’t wait around. According to Fenergo, 74% of firms are losing investors due to delayed and inefficient onboarding. In an age of real-time everything, client patience is running thin.

The traditional onboarding process is one of the biggest culprits. Think multiple document submissions, endless forms, repeated verifications, and long wait times. McKinsey reports that 40% of the onboarding journey is consumed just by account opening tasks. That’s time that could be spent building trust and starting the investment journey.

It’s no surprise then that the wealth management industry is turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to fix the onboarding friction.

Transforming the Client Onboarding Experience

AI is not just another layer of technology—it’s a catalyst for meaningful client onboarding transformation. It enables wealth management firms to automate repetitive tasks, personalize journeys, and dramatically reduce drop-off rates by delivering what today’s digital-first clients expect: speed, accuracy, and ease.

And the results are real. Firms using AI in onboarding have reported 40–50% reduction in manual effort and a 30% cut in onboarding costs—all while delivering a faster, smoother experience.

Addressing the Core Onboarding Challenges Head-On

One of the biggest reasons for drop-offs is complexity. Wealth clients are often required to submit more than 100 pieces of data across multiple forms. Add to that fragmented systems, siloed operations, and evolving compliance regulations, and you have a recipe for onboarding fatigue.

But AI-powered digital onboarding solutions offer a way out by addressing the core challenges:

• Onboarding different client types with dynamic workflows that adapt based on entity, geography, or account structure
• Onboarding various registration types with built-in logic and compliance
• Automating decision paths through pre-built client onboarding validations, reducing delays due to manual reviews
• Integrating with CRMs, custodians, and TAMPs to ensure data flows seamlessly across the ecosystem

These capabilities eliminate repetitive back-and-forth interactions and give clients a unified, intuitive journey from first click to funded account.

Creating Onboarding Experiences That Stick

When onboarding is frictionless, clients feel it—and so do advisors. AI lets wealth managers move beyond back-office efficiencies and toward truly personalized onboarding experiences.

Guided self-service tools walk clients through every step, while conversational AI interfaces capture intent and data in real time. The result? A faster time to engagement, higher completion rates, and a more satisfied, loyal client base.

At the same time, with the automated workflows and integrated views, advisors can focus less on paperwork and more on meaningful client conversations.

AI-led Digital Onboarding Is No Longer Optional

Digital-first clients expect digital-first experiences. And with 62% of wealth executives saying their web onboarding experience needs improvement, there’s a clear gap to close.

Whether it’s helping clients fund accounts faster, simplifying KYC, or supporting bulk onboarding with shared ownership, AI is enabling wealth firms to reduce onboarding drop-offs and kickstart long-term client relationships on the right foot.

Ready to Reimagine Onboarding?

Reducing drop-off rates starts with rethinking onboarding—not as a checklist of regulatory tasks, but as a critical moment of truth in the client journey. Learn what leading wealth firms are doing to build intelligent, efficient, and client-centric onboarding frameworks.

Download our Point of View article: “AI-Driven Investor Onboarding: The First Step to a Delightful Client Journey” for deep insights, real-world stats, and a blueprint for change.

The current state of the customer onboarding process in financial institutions (FIs) in general and Bank & Trust firms in particular is largely disorganized and far from efficient. With lengthy, complicated documentation requirements and stringent rules and regulations, the onboarding process causes many would-be customers to tap out. In fact, Deloitte research found that at least 38% of banking clients drop out during the onboarding process due to the sheer frustration of having to go through complex processes and the reams of paperwork required.

What’s wrong with the process? Here are five of the biggest gaps: 

1. The KYC process is broken: Reuters reports that 85% of its corporate banking customers don’t have an appropriate Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure – the mandatory process of identifying and verifying a client’s identity during onboarding and again, periodically, over time. Some legal frameworks still exist that require customers to visit bank branches or submit physical documents. Such shortfalls in digitizing onboarding end-to-end can lead to delays and inconveniences for customers, who prefer a seamless online experience.

2. Limitations in self-service: While many banks have made progress in providing self-service capabilities to customers, there are often limitations, and certain complex transactions and requests still require the customers to speak to customer service representatives. What’s more, most self-service platforms lack personalization features, and customers often receive generic information that fails to address their needs. 

3. Insufficient education and support: Banks often assume that customers are knowledgeable about their products and services, which may not always be the case. Providing comprehensive educational resources and easily accessible support channels within self-service platforms can help customers navigate and make the most of the available features.

4. Painful integrations: Integrating various banking systems and platforms can be a significant challenge, leading to fragmented self-service experiences. Customers may find it hard to access and manage their accounts in a seamless manner across various channels – from mobile apps to websites and ATMs. 

5. Security concerns: As self-service options expand, it becomes crucial to implement robust security measures – multi-factor authentication, encryption and fraud detection – to protect customer information and transactions. 

McKinsey researchers found that 40% of a customer’s time spent onboarding involves KYC due diligence and account opening. Simply automating these processes and giving the customer more control can remove onboarding bottlenecks and alleviate much of the dissatisfaction that drives customers away.

Filling in the gaps with an automated, personalized approach

A user-friendly, fully digital onboarding process enables customers to create their own accounts, verify their identities and submit all required documents online, without having to visit a physical branch. This would not only reduce the time and effort that onboarding requires, it would save banks a lot of money – the average time to onboard business banking customers is now 32 days, and up to  90 days for retail customers.

Personalizing the onboarding process based on the customer’s profile, preferences and specific banking needs is also essential to deliver exceptional customer experiences. By collecting relevant information during onboarding, processes can be tailored with personalized recommendations, product offerings and features that align with the customer’s financial goals. 

Guided self-service tools with clear instructions and user-friendly interfaces can guide customers through complex tasks, as well, reducing their reliance on customer support staff. Incorporating support channels like chatbots, automated email support and live chat can be used to deliver prompt assistance and clarification, in case customers encounter issues or have questions during their onboarding journey.

Finally, as cybercrime continues to increase, robust security measures are critical. Implementing  multi-factor authentication, encryption, real-time fraud detection and other advanced security protocols not only protects your financial organization, but helps to build customer trust as well.

Simplify Onboarding and Facilitate Self-service with beta.jiffy.ai/

Leading financial institutions are closing the gaps in the onboarding process and offering seamless self-service capabilities by relying on third-party expertise such as the no-code, ready-made HyperApps developed by beta.jiffy.ai/. These HyperApps, purpose-built for banks and FIs, combine advanced technologies such as AI, ML and natural language processing to provide end-to-end process automation for Bank & Trust firms.