Andy Cease, a seasoned expert in financial technology at Entrust
Financial institutions face mounting pressure to adopt digital technologies, from both consumer preferences and a rapidly shifting competitive landscape. Customers increasingly seek seamless mobile and online experiences from their banks, while new fintech disruptors gain ground with digital-first offerings. This transformation aims to provide convenient, frictionless experiences to retain customers. However, rushing digitalization can also expose banks to new cyber risks if not approached strategically. Per IBM, data breaches and fraud could cost over $4 million per incident, severely damaging trust and brand reputation. As banks reshape operations, balancing security and experience is paramount.
Streamlining Onboarding
There are several key processes that banks are zeroing in on to innovate and win customers while developing better offerings. Improving the account opening and customer onboarding process is a priority for any bank undergoing digitalization. Research indicates consumers are only willing to spend 90 seconds to 5 minutes verifying identities and completing applications. Exceeding this brief time period often leads to users abandoning sign-ups before establishing the high-value relationship that banks need to achieve primary account status.
Therefore, fast digital onboarding solutions are key to prevent drop-offs. Fortunately, the most secure technologies often assist in streamlining the verification process customers want. For instance, integrating ID verification into the mobile experience accelerates onboarding by enabling features like form autofill. This not only enhances customer satisfaction, but significantly reduces application abandonment rates. It also provides secure verification without a paper trail by authenticating the customer’s ID with cloud-based AI, encrypting and storing the digital ID only on the customer’s mobile device.
Other capabilities like biometric identity verification, identity and device reputation authentication (also known as Electronic Know Your Customer, or eKYC), and digital contract signing enable remote, 24/7 account opening. This further enhances customer satisfaction whilst also saving substantially compared to brick-and-mortar onboarding.
Card Issuance
Traditionally, newly opened accounts came with physical debit or credit cards mailed to users’ homes, forcing customers to wait days or weeks before transacting while raising risks of mail fraud and theft.
Leading banks now increasingly offer instant digital card provisioning directly through customers’ mobile banking apps, allowing transactions to begin immediately. While this introduces potential cybersecurity risks, innovations like tokenization and biometric authentication help mitigate those concerns. Capabilities like digital wallets, wallet push provisioning, and card controls also improve security by avoiding physical card information sharing and enabling the end user to self-serve vital security tools.
Empowering users to swiftly access freshly issued payment cards through preferred digital channels—mobile, online or in-person—gets accounts active faster, boosting convenience while accelerating value for banks.
Realising the Full Potential of Digital Safety
While digital innovations provide attractive improvements, robust security is critical for maintaining customer trust and protecting the bottom line. Fraud, data breaches and cyber-attacks can rapidly spiral into financial and reputational crises. Major attacks like the Equifax breach or Bangladesh Bank heist demonstrate how vulnerabilities can enable large-scale theft and loss. But even smaller-scale breaches limited to thousands rather than millions of compromised records can still inflict severe reputational damage and erode consumer trust in an institution. Fortunately, advanced solutions can create seamless, end-to-end security.
Identity verification and credential verification supports regulatory compliance while reducing synthetic identity fraud starting with onboarding. Ongoing monitoring later assesses account usage and transactions, combining AI and machine learning with human oversight to catch bad actors before attacks occur. Specifically, capabilities like biometric authentication, device fingerprinting, behavioural analysis and risk scoring enable layered monitoring throughout the customer lifecycle. By identifying suspicious patterns early, banks can take preventative action.
Realising the full benefits of digital transformation requires evaluating and mitigating accompanying risks. Partnering with experts in financial security, identity and data protection provides access to sophisticated capabilities needed to safely transform digitally.
Banks can reinvent processes with a dual focus on experience and resilience. As consumers demand digital capabilities, institutions that embrace innovation thoughtfully can build trust and loyalty despite cyber threats.
Strategic Implementation for Security
To capitalise on digital promise, banks need a clear process. First, assess customer pain points and vulnerabilities to identify areas needing improvement – like onboarding, issuance and transaction security. Next, carefully select technologies and partners to streamline digitising high-priority processes. Implement scalable solutions for identity verification, documentation, card provisioning and layered monitoring across the customer lifecycle.
With the right partners, banks can accelerate value delivery while balancing experience and risk prevention. Finally, internal training and an agile, iterative approach based on continuous feedback are crucial for maximising adoption. This strategic approach allows banks to transform digitally, attracting customers while securing critical defences.
In summary, banks can realise the potential of digital innovation, but must mitigate risks in the process. By implementing new capabilities with security in mind, focusing on customer pain points, and working with partners, financial institutions can reinvent experiences while protecting trust.
