Investec Bank Switzerland considers the client services department important in differentiating its offering. Happy and productive client services associates are key to achieving this differentiation, yet the bank was struggling with complex and out of date onboarding processes.

Relationship managers were spending too much time processing onboarding forms from new clients, which were then passed to the client services team for analysis and data entry. This work was extremely cumbersome for both parties — a manual process involving a vast amount of paperwork.

Daily work simplified with seamless onboarding

In partnership with FNZ’s onboarding team, they deconstructed and rebuilt the entire process landscape around client onboarding. The teams used FNZ’s automated and streamlined processes to reduce friction and error and increase time spent on high value activities.

The new solution guides relationship managers through the entire onboarding process within a single, seamless application. Client profiling has been simplified; it is more detailed and the data is conveniently accessible at any time.

With insights and knowledge about their clients at their fingertips, relationship managers now have the power to deliver a differentiated and specialized level of client service throughout the entire client lifecycle.

Happy relationship managers are crucial to providing great service to clients. Now, our relationship managers have the right tools and technology to excel at their jobs. This leads to greater work satisfaction and a more intimate yet efficient service to our clients. We are delighted with the results.

Stephen Brooks
Head of Client Services at Investec Bank Switzerland

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months to fully implement the new client onboarding process

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relationship managers benefited from an increase in job satisfaction

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clients enjoyed a more intimate, tailored and valued service as a result

Improved compliance with a step-by-step KYC process

This efficient process has also profoundly impacted compliance for wealth managers. To perform the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) checks in the past, relationship managers had to remember tasks and activities or rely on complicated lists in Excel spreadsheets. This was time consuming and a margin for error had to be catered for.

FNZ’s onboarding team customized Investec Bank Switzerland’s KYC process with specially designed business rules. This ensures compliance with regulations from Swiss authorities as well as internal policies. Additionally, activities that were problematic are now closely tracked by the system — adding a new layer of visibility and security to the whole area of compliance.

We now have an excellent tool that effectively manages our client data and provides our management team with deep insights into our client base. The impact on business has been extremely positive.

Peter Gyger
Investec Bank Switzerland’s COO and Interim CEO

Next? A high performance environment — for everyone

The introduction of online banking for its clients and an automated client onboarding process has put Investec Bank Switzerland a step ahead of many of its competitors. However, the drive to improve does not end there. The Swiss wealth manager plans to roll out the new client onboarding process to its international jurisdictions such as South Africa.

The steps taken by Investec Bank Switzerland to achieve process excellence are a monumental shift in the right direction. The boutique wealth manager now has the framework to create a high-performance environment for its relationship managers all over the world together while delivering differentiated service to its clients.

Read Forrester's Total Economic Impact report on how wealth management firms and private banks have transformed their bottom line and increased margin by more than 10% through digital onboarding.