Client Onboarding KYC onboarding for wealth management — faster, clearer, fewer errors
Overview
Problem
Wealth onboarding is complex (KYC/AML, multiple products, document capture) and legacy tools made it slow and error‑prone for both investors and relationship managers.
Goal
Design a configurable onboarding product that an investment manager can run collaboratively with a client — letting either party enter data — to reduce time, errors, and anxiety while staying compliant.
Challenges
- Designing a hub‑and‑spoke journey to make a long, compliance-heavy process feel manageable and non‑linear.
- Supporting advisor‑led and self‑serve modes with seamless handoff between manager and client.
- Building a configurable workflows component to reflect different firm offerings and jurisdictional requirements.
- Meeting KYC/AML needs while maintaining clarity and reducing data entry fatigue.
- White‑labelling across firms with consistent UX and accessible UI.
Role Lead UX Designer
Responsible for end-to-end UX and visual design, including research synthesis, journey mapping, wireframes, prototypes, high-fidelity design, and supporting developer implementation.
Team
7 product squads (2–3 developers and 1 product owner per squad), supported by product owners, business analysts, SME stakeholders, front-end and back-end engineers, QA specialists, and additional designers where required.
Responsibilities
- Consolidated BA research; mapped advisor + investor journeys and key scenarios.
- Designed hub‑and‑spoke IA, progressive disclosure, and dual‑mode data entry.
- Prototyped, tested, and iterated flows; produced high‑fidelity UI and assets.
- Defined configurable workflow patterns; supported engineers through build.
- Ensured accessibility and white‑labelling alignment with the platform Design System.
Approach
- Frame the journey clearly — hub‑and‑spoke IA so users can see progress, jump between sections safely, and avoid getting lost.
- Research → Journeys → Wires — synthesised research, captured core scenarios, and storyboarded the end‑to‑end path for both advisor and investor.
- Low‑fi to hi‑fi prototyping — iterated from greyscale to production UI to validate steps, grouping, and progressive disclosure.
- Configurable workflows — a modular “workflows” component lets firms tailor which steps appear and in what order, without forking UX.
- White‑labelling & accessibility — applied the platform design system so multiple brands could ship with consistent, AA‑compliant UI.
- Advisor–client collaboration — flows support switching who enters data, keeping advisors in control while enabling client self‑entry when appropriate.
Solution
A configurable onboarding experience that:
- Uses hub‑and‑spoke navigation, progressive disclosure, and clear section states to reduce anxiety and errors.
- Lets advisors and clients share data entry safely, improving speed without losing control.
- Ships as a white‑labelled product aligned to the platform Design System for fast rollout across firms.
- Provides a workflows component so POs can tailor steps to products and jurisdictions without redesign.
Impact & Results
- 100% adoption
- +63% data quality
- ~50% faster onboarding
Quantitative Outcomes
- 100% adoption among pilot clients pre-launch
- 63% improvement in data quality and reduction in errors
- Onboarding time reduced by around 50%
Qualitative Outcomes
- Strong enthusiasm in demos and stakeholder sessions
- Higher confidence from sales and relationship teams when demoing
- Improved collaboration between advisors and clients through dual-mode data entry
Reflection
- Visual framing and progress signalling do heavy lifting in long, regulated flows.
- Configurable patterns beat bespoke builds for speed and maintainability.
- Designing for advisor–client collaboration changes both IA and microcopy; it’s not just “add a permission toggle.”