Home / Banking Strategies / The end of code, the beginning of bank future proofing

The end of code, the beginning of bank future proofing

Share

Client onboarding and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes stand out as top of mind for the largest global banks. That has led to plenty of discussion on digital transformation—including AI and robotics—to improve on siloed, manual processes that span multiple jurisdictions, lines of business and legacy systems.

Yet the obstacles are many. Regulation is changing faster than ever, increasing the costs to stay compliant. Both large institutional and retail clients alike expect fast onboarding across channels and regions. What’s more, business (and not just IT) drives digital transformation onboarding. We live in an age of unprecedented technology and pace of change. Businesses want results fast; customers expect smooth digital experiences; and regulators want banks to adapt quickly as risks and regulations change.

The largest global banks still struggle with fragmented silos previously created by legacy technology and processes. They’re rife with hundreds of systems scattered across lines of business, countries and channels. Siloed infrastructure presents massive digital gaps and lacks the speed of change the market demands. Even with the emergence of today’s RegTech innovation, most institutions today need more than 12 months to make regulatory changes.

The cause: custom coding.

Simply put, it can’t keep up. Once the custom changes are sent to IT and implemented, the technology or requirements have changed.

From hard code to harnessed collaboration

The goal hasn’t changed: all financial services organizations must comply with KYC regulations, even as they streamline customer experience, improve onboarding times and stay competitive digitally. But here’s what’s new: With “no code” technology, banks can bolster innovation and bypass increased costs—with out-of-the-box velocity.

The business, compliance and IT sides of an organization can collaborate via business-friendly tools to automate and drive new functionality, and with zero code. Rapid results and innovation drive real transformation of KYC and onboarding. Banks need to adapt quickly to remain relevant and test new ideas or tackle financial crime risks.

And no code is how the largest banks achieve this.

No code software builds itself and gives managers of customer onboarding and KYC functions visual tools to easily configure unique nuances—using business metaphors that automatically generate code and user experience. So instead of software engineers writing lines of code, software now writes itself. This relies on visual models and a “configuration only” paradigm that help non-coders design and architect applications rapidly. This also frees up software engineers to tackle other projects to advance the business.

Specific to RegTech, different business, IT and compliance teams can collaborate and test new ideas, so the bank can assess potential outcomes—and compress the process of embracing new regulatory requirements or risks from months to minutes.

The largest global banks that adopt no code can support front-to-back-office client onboarding and KYC transformation, all the way through to offboarding. When you can deliver results through configuration in a no code environment—modifying KYC rules in minutes and re-rendering the user interface and experience—you gain a major competitive advantage. That empowers banks to roll out new functionality: to digitize end-to-end client lifecycle management (CLM) and KYC globally in a few weeks and create new rules in minutes.

The AI and robotics fit

Artificial intelligence and robotics provide crucial value to banks through predictive and adaptive analytics. They also cut down time-consuming, manual tasks through robotic process automation and robotic desktop automation (RDA). But their value comes with caveats. The best outcomes emerge when users control and manage AI and robotics within a true end-to-end process. Failing to institute guardrails increases risk—thus control and transparency become critical to reap benefits and mitigate risks.

How can this be done? With a control structure that includes robotics and AI as part of the end-to-end and unified CLM-KYC technology.

KYC regulatory requirements remain complex. But unified, easily accessible technology meets them; this allows banks to build a global, digitized client experience and drive digital transformation of end-to-end CLM. The combination of industrial-strength and unified client onboarding, KYC, offboarding, RegTech solutions, AI, and robotics enables global banks to drive rapid results that outperform.

No code, no walls

It’s time to knock down the walls between business and IT. The digital transformation of client onboarding and KYC drives customer centricity—and executives know it. As compliance departments study how to futureproof KYC rules, the largest banks are shifting to IT simplification, cost reduction and rapid delivery of results.

This leads to a major win: Business, IT and compliance can collaborate to drive results—with zero code, end-to-end CLM, client onboarding, and KYC solutions that drive innovation. Banks can now achieve business outcomes in minutes, as opposed to years, and outflank change at a record pace as they adapt to never-ending regulatory change. No code CLM and RegTech solutions that rapidly scale, deliver, and adapt represent the future of true digital transformation and digitization—and sound the coda for old-school code.

Want more Banking Strategies? Sign up for our free newsletter!

Reetu Khosla is vice president and industry market lead, Client Lifecycle Management & KYC-Banking Technology, Pegasystems.


For more articles like this, check out our recent BAI Executive Report: Fraud and cybersecurity: Staying steps ahead