Know-your-customer (KYC) audits are of great importance in the cooperation between companies and their bank. The regulatory requirements contribute to a secure financial sector. It is therefore no wonder that so much attention is paid to the KYC processs. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for KYC audits to pose challenges for both banks and companies: Slow processes and inefficient communication can cause dissatisfaction. The hope is that digital solutions will provide a remedy and significantly speed up the process.
KYC audit: an ongoing nuisance
Know-your-customer (KYC) audits by banks have been a source of annoyance for financial managers in companies for years. Companies often criticize banks for being too lengthy, bureaucratic and inefficient. This is a major factor that often leads to resentment on the part of companies: KYC processes are still not standardized. Banks often require different data and documents from companies, which they have to research and provide at great expense. However, the subsequent length of the check and often inefficient communication are also problems that burden both sides.
Banks, on the other hand, have to take a closer look more and more often due to increasing regulatory requirements and also have to accept an enormously time-consuming process on their part. According to a survey by software provider Fenergo, around one in five German banks invests 60 percent of its compliance budget in KYC processes. Despite this, 43 percent of respondents state that they have already lost potential customers due to a lengthy onboarding process.
Digital onboarding with InsideBusiness Portal
To make the onboarding process easier and more efficient for all parties, ING has added a new feature to the internationally available application "InsideBusiness Portal" for its corporate customers The tool now continues to offer general daily banking features , but also the option for users to initiate fully digital onboarding for new legal entities. This option is based on the self-service concept and is intended to support the collection of the necessary documents in the first phase of the KYC process. Another advantage is the fast and secure transmission of documents to the analysts.
If a company is already an ING customer and a registered user of the InsideBusiness Portal, the onboarding of a new business unit can be initiated via the portal itself. ING activates it as required to start the onboarding process and the customer is guided through a digital journey in which they can upload and send all relevant information directly online. The benefit: the necessary documents are transmitted securely and are available in a structured form. ING then checks all the information submitted in a customer due diligence process and provides the customer with rapid feedback. If the company is not yet an ING customer or not yet registered for the InsideBusiness Portal, the digital onboarding process is initiated by the bank.
The advantages are obvious: both sides are dealing with an optimized process that queries all relevant data in a standardized way and transfers it securely to the bank. The customer can onboard several companies at the same time. Guided navigation through InsideBusiness Portal prevents missing mandatory documents or relevant evidence This saves time for the analysts. ING also offers its customers the option of adding further team members as users, so that the company can also react flexibly. Compared to traditional paper-based onboarding, time savings of up to 20% are possible.
DEUTZ AG shows the way
One company that has already successfully gone through this process is DEUTZ AG. In 2023, the supplier of diesel, gas and electrified drives in the off-highway sector used the InsideBusiness portal to complete the onboarding process quickly. "Normally, a process like this is very lengthy and time-consuming for us as a company. With ING's digital onboarding, the responsible employees were able to upload the required data quickly and easily. A first step in the right direction that gives us hope for more and can solve further manual challenges. A digital tool like this can be a blueprint and, in our view, offers potential to digitize further downstream steps - such as legitimations," says the responsible department.
"The onboarding of DEUTZ AG through the InsideBusiness portal clearly shows the advantages the tool offers for companies and us as a bank: a clear and digital process that ultimately saves time and resources for all parties," confirms Steffen Atzbach, Tribe Lead Wholesale Banking at ING Germany. "Despite all the advantages of the InsideBusiness portal, we are continuously working on optimizations. Our team is already so flexible that we can find quick solutions together with the customer, even for short-term problems," adds Till Konieczny, Customer Journey Expert Wholesale Banking at ING Germany.
We believe that digital onboarding can make KYC checks much easier and more efficient for both companies and banks. In the coming years, it will therefore be all the more important to further improve the application so that headaches over KYC checks are a thing of the past.
