Amalgamated Bank Online Account Opening

 

Amalgamated Bank Online Account Opening

Online Account Opening is typically an online customer’s first interaction with a bank, and a positive experience is critical to establishing and maintaining a relationship. If the Bank wanted its consumer business to remain competitive against encroaching disruption from fintech companies, streamlining the antiquated online account opening experience was critical.

ROLES: Research, UX Design, Prototyping

 
 

Research

  • Only 17% of applications started were approved; the remainder were incomplete or declined (often erroneously)

  • Of the applications that were approved, less than half funded and used their accounts

  • The average time to complete the process was 17 minutes

  • The Bank was losing money due to high fees charged per application

  • Technological solutions for online account opening were outdated and inefficient, contributing to high fraud losses and high per-application costs

 

Streamlining the Application: 17 minutes to
5 minutes

  • The Bank’s previous vendor offered few back-end validation systems, requiring the user to enter a substantial amount of information to meet strict regulatory requirements for ID verification

  • The new workflow would bring more accurate results using fewer inputs through third-party integrations

  • Integration with Quovo, an instant account verification platform, made it easier for customers to fund their accounts in-application

 

SERVICE DESIGN USE CASES

  • There are many actors and tools at play behind the scenes when a user opens a bank account

  • Use case diagrams (left) show what happens and how it affects the actors (rectangles) and systems (diamonds)

  • In this example, the user successfully opens an individual account, resulting in a cascade of actions throughout the bank’s ecosystem

  • A list of all possible scenarios (e.g., getting declined, flagged for fraud, entering email address incorrectly, etc.) was created and diagrams were constructed that detailed what would happen in each scenario

Personal Information.png

Optimizing User Experience

  • The voice of the existing user experience was formal and opaque. While some of the regulatory language could not be altered, greater transparency and a friendlier voice instilled a sense of trust

  • Only essential contact information was captured immediately for the purposes of following up if the customer left the application incomplete

  • Fields such as Employment, Transaction History, Citizenship, ID information, and Middle Name were stripped out, leaving only the fewest number of fields required by law

  • All attestations (Social Security Number/Tax ID Certification, US Person Certification, and Backup Withholding Certification) were grouped together under one click instead of requiring multiple clicks

 

Come Back Soon!

This project is still in progress, but a prototype will be coming soon!