4 great reasons why financial services institutions are digitising agreements

Agreements are fundamental to moments that matter in financial services. From opening a bank account to securing a loan or transferring wealth, customers increasingly expect these moments to be faster, easier, and more secure. And the best way to do this? By going digital. 

Not only do digital agreements streamline the customer experience, but they also help financial services institutions (FSIs) to maintain security and compliance in an ever-changing regulatory landscape. And they deliver results.

M&T Bank has recorded $17 cost savings per document in retail bank account opening processes since switching to Docusign. 

Let’s take a look at how and why digital agreements are fast becoming the norm in the financial services industry.

1. Digital agreements optimise the customer experience

As the digital natives grow up — and as more and more people exclusively interact through non-paper channels such as text, social media, chat, and apps — banks need to rethink service delivery models. Today’s customers seek personalised, high-touch support for some transactions, and the easy ability to self-serve for others. Forward-thinking FSIs are seamlessly integrating digital agreements into new channels, meeting customers where they are, and providing personalised self-service experiences.

2. Digital agreements automate and accelerate processes

While FSIs have made significant investments in cloud technologies, there are still plenty of opportunities to consolidate systems, migrate from legacy apps, and optimise processes. With the right agreement solution in place, for example, FSIs can better integrate processes, expedite document workflows, and leverage data and AI — resulting in efficiency gains and cost savings across the enterprise.

3. Digital agreements enhance security

Fraud and cyber attacks are becoming increasingly common and sophisticated, and FSIs have no choice but to navigate this riskier environment. Regulators have responded to these risks by updating or issuing new guidelines on information security best practices and cyber incident reporting. Managing agreements falls into this remit — with the right capabilities, FSIs can securely scale their digital agreements, enhance agreement security, and gain control and visibility into their agreement administration and process.

4. Digital agreements ease compliance burdens

As audits and enforcement grow more common, FSIs must maintain clear records and documentation of delivered disclosures. Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations also require appropriate vetting of new customers. By digitising agreements, FSIs can more nimbly analyse their contractual exposures to various benchmarks, investment classes, and counterparty risks.

Santander has experienced an 83% reduction in the time taken to open new customer accounts.

How Docusign helps FSIs stay a step ahead

Docusign’s digital agreement capabilities are built to help FSIs modernise their agreement processes and deliver on customers’ expectations. Key features include:

• eSignature: Securely send applications, disclosures, and other agreements and maintain a complete audit trail.

• Identify: Secure access to agreements for account opening, loan processing and more with a single platform that provides digital signer identification and authentication through enhanced methods.

• CLM: Manage the full contract lifecycle for complex use cases like institutional onboarding with automated generation, real-time negotiation, storage, and advanced search and reporting capabilities.

• Monitor: Protect agreements and mitigate risk of unauthorised activity with round-the-clock tracking and rules-based alerts.

• Integrations: Easily embed Docusign into existing tools with 400+ pre-built integrations with the leading platforms, including Salesforce, SAP, SuccessFactors, Workday, Dynamics 365 and many more.

With FSIs under more pressure than ever to win and retain customers, transform processes to be more cost-effective and efficient, keep up with ever-changing regulations, and maintain the highest security standards, making the switch to Docusign is a simple solve that delivers proven results. 

To get started, get in touch with our sales team today.