87 percent of corporate treasurers have abandoned banking applications for their business due to lengthy and inefficient onboarding processes, according to new research from Encompass Corporation, the global leader in Corporate Digital Identity (CDI).

It is not just banks losing customers, as 86 percent of treasurers also highlighted that their businesses had lost revenue as a direct consequence of a bank’s slow and disjointed approach to acquiring customer information.

The findings were revealed in a survey commissioned by Encompass via independent polling agency Censuswide, which questioned 250 corporate treasurers across the UK and US on their attitudes to banking processes and experiences of accessing financial products and services. Questions crossed areas including Know Your Customer (KYC) onboarding practices, customer outreach, and experience.

Overall, three-quarters (73 percent) admit to being dissatisfied with their bank’s KYC process – a figure rising to 80 percent in the UK, in comparison to 66 percent in the US.

Alex Ford, President, North America, Encompass Corporation, said:

“Banks are the backbone of thriving modern economies, but these results show that archaic approaches to core business activities are having a detrimental impact on many companies.

“Fundamental activities, such as client onboarding, are overly reliant on manual processes and physical documents, with disjointed and cumbersome client experiences damaging trust and reputation. We know that customers are no longer prepared to accept a level of service that falls below their expectations, so banks simply cannot afford to become complacent or take this trust for granted.

“Moving forward, it is crucial that they leverage CDI, taking advantage of this technology-led approach that combines corporate information with public and private data sources to verify and validate identity with speed and ease. The potential benefits, as customer experience is at the forefront, are huge.

“Not only will adopting CDI reduce the number of abandonments that we see but, crucially, banks’ future growth will be supported and boosted. In reducing repetitive and lengthy onboarding and outreach, as well as improving the quality of the data gathered, customers will experience the journey and service they are looking for, while banks find a level of efficiency that, ultimately, will help them to increase revenue.”

The survey reveals that 93 percent of respondents have been asked by a bank for the same information multiple times, with 56 percent having to deal with requests for the same details on several occasions. This shines a light on the inefficiency of existing processes and is in addition to it being found that, on average, it takes businesses 41 days to open a new banking account - a statistic almost identical across UK and US markets.

Wayne Johnson, co-founder and CEO, Encompass Corporation, commented:

“Friction during outreach is an issue that has been plaguing banks for decades, slowing down the process and preventing them from onboarding a higher volume of customers. Using CDI to create digital identities quickly and accurately for every customer enables easier verification and faster, better data sharing, greatly surpassing previous human-led approaches. CDI is the future of our industry, and it is time for banks to embrace it.“