Managing a client’s finances involves more than just overseeing investments and accounts. As a wealth manager, building long-lasting, trusting relationships with clients is just as crucial as creating lucrative portfolios.
The foundation of these vital connections is built on day one with client onboarding. A well-designed user onboarding process goes beyond just filling out forms and teaching clients how to work with you and your financial software technology — it sets the tone for the future of your partnership.
Here’s everything you need to know about creating a client onboarding process in financial services.
What Is Client Onboarding in Wealth Management?
We often think of client onboarding as the steps taken to get your new client set up with a financial advisor — and while signing forms and granting account access is an important step, these tasks come much further down the onboarding process than you might expect.
In wealth management, client onboarding begins with your very first interaction with a lead.
Below is a checklist that encompasses various critical stages in the client onboarding process:
Client Background Check
During this phase, accumulate essential details about the client, including their financial aspirations and history. Understanding how they got interested in your services can also offer valuable insights into your marketing strategies. A meticulous client background check serves as a foundation to build a trusting and informed relationship moving forward.
Initial Contact
It’s an opportunity to introduce your team, introduce your firm’s investment philosophy, and provide a clear outline of the fee structure and services you offer. This transparent approach encourages conversations and sets the tone for a collaborative relationship.
KYC
At this stage, the focus is towards understanding the client’s individual financial landscape. By assessing their risk tolerance and preferences, you can craft personalized investment strategies aligned with the client’s goals and comfort levels.
Due Diligence
This phase involves gathering necessary KYC documents and conducting due diligence to adhere to the applicable regulations (FINMA, ESMA, CSSF, AMF, CCAF, FSMA) .
Education and Guidance
Educate clients on fundamental investment principles and the dynamics of the market. It can be a webinar or workshop where they learn about different investment strategies. It can also take forms of tutorials introducing the use of the digital client portal, how to personalize it and set up some alerts.
Wealth Management Strategy
This stage includes different analysis
- Financial Planning
- Legacy and Estate Planning
- Tax Strategy and Planning
- Insurance Review
Closing and Follow-up
Introduce a plan for continual communication and regular follow-ups to create a long-lasting, productive relationship, with clients feeling supported and valued.
The Digital Transformation of Wealth Management Onboarding
Traditional onboarding methods, with their inefficiencies and increasing costs, are becoming outdated. The digital shift, driven by advancements in technology and changing client expectations, is not just a fleeting trend but an industry imperative.
Recent Deloitte reports shed light on some startling statistics:
- Onboarding Duration: traditional onboarding takes between 20-90 days, and in some instances, it extends to 16 weeks.
- Onboarding Cost: the cost associated with this process ranges from $20,000 to $30,000 per client.
- Client Experience
65% of banks find their onboarding process inconvenient for clients.
Over 50% label their process as complicated or very complicated.
Approximately 50% still operate on a fully paper-based interface.
- Next Gen demand : 34% of millennials and 35% of Gen Xers emphasize digital capabilities when choosing a wealth manager, compared to just 16% of individuals aged over 55.
Given these statistics, the urgency for wealth managers to evolve is clear. The ideal digital onboarding experience should feature:
- Efficiency & Accessibility: Clients should be able to sign up for new products or services electronically, avoiding branch visits or phone conversations, and having the flexibility to undertake these actions at any time, from anywhere.
- Customized Offerings: The ability for clients to explore a variety of offerings and tailor products and services to align with their individual financial goals.
- Empowering Wealth Managers: With the integration of technology, wealth managers transition into roles as trusted financial planning experts, capable of offering personalized and highly effective solutions.
Digitizing Wealth Management Onboarding: Key Benefits
Wealth management usually involves one-to-one interactions and authentic relationship building — but that doesn’t mean digital shouldn’t be a part of your onboarding process. In fact, digitization can make it easier to build genuine connections with your clients.
Here are some of the benefits of digitizing your financial services client onboarding process:
- Automated workflows for efficiency and accuracy.
- Robust security measures to protect sensitive information.
- A centralized hub for information dissemination and gathering.
- Client autonomy through self-service features.
- Enhanced regulatory adherence.
- Interactive digital portals for portfolio management.
Critical Stages of Digital Client Onboarding in Wealth Management
The wealth management industry is actively embracing technology at various onboarding stages, each with its unique challenges and digital solutions. These stages include:
- Client identification: ensuring data privacy and security through integrated digital tools.
- Name screening: employing AI and machine learning for accurate risk assessments and regulatory compliance.
- Enhanced due diligence: Adopting platforms that offer standardized, accurate risk evaluations.*Internal approval: utilizing automation and collaboration tools for streamlined approvals.
- Account opening: minimizing manual tasks and errors through integrated solutions.
Elevate Your wealth management Client Onboarding with KeeSense
In the wealth management industry, selecting the right client onboarding solution is crucial. KeeSense steps forward as a prime choice for modern firms. With its user-friendly interface and advanced features, it effortlessly transforms the client onboarding process.
Here’s why KeeSense stands out:
- Integrated onboarding features : from KYC to due diligence to investment strategies, enjoy the powerful onboarding features of KeeSense.
- CRM: KeeSense natively includes a powerful CRM. It can also connect to your current CRM system thanks to its API, facilitating smooth transitions and improved client management.
- Compliance adherence: KeeSense adheres to stringent regulations, ensuring that your firm operates within the necessary legal frameworks.
- KYC Tools: KeeSense allows creating automated processes to Know Your Customer (KYC), making client onboarding swift, efficient, and reliable.
- Onboarding automated workflows : With KeeSense API, connect to a variety of onboarding and screening services (Dow Jones, Polixis, Pythagoras, Fircosoft, World Check, etc.), if necessary, creating an automated workflow that streamlines operations and enhances the client experience.
- Market Presence: A well-established player in the market, widely acknowledged for its robust performance and reliability and counting over 300 users worldwide.
KeeSense portfolio management solution provides not only adaptability but also a high level of customization.
Endorsed for its impeccable performance and reliability, KeeSense isn’t just a tool; it’s a transformation.
