For banks, the identification and activation of services to new customers is a fundamental process, which if digitalized (Digital Onboarding) can guarantee a significant improvement in the proposition to customers and support their commercial and market development strategies. To date, 56% of banks offer digital onboarding, a further 17% plan to introduce it by the end of the year and 22% plan to do so within 3 years.
This is what emerges from a survey on a sample of banks contained in the eighth annual report produced by Abi Lab, the Consortium for Research and Innovation for the bank promoted by the ABI, which takes stock of the development and potential of the Digital Banking.
The study shows that PC Internet Banking is the channel always used by the sample banks that have activated the process of acquiring customers via web (Digital Onboarding), moreover the 50% of these offers the possibility of doing so even on smartphone app and website accessible by phone (Mobile Site), and an additional 30% even from tablet application.
The digital acquisition of customers mainly refers to the activation of a current account and a prepaid card (54% of the sample banks on Internet Banking and 25% on Mobile Banking). By the 2020, however, over the 60% of the banks interviewed, loans and deposit accounts are included in the offer. The 29% of banks reported having a digital activation process currently in place for non-bank products and services: interest is mainly directed to the insurance sector and services related to digital identity.
From the Abi Lab research it emerges that among the methods of remote identification of the customer the recognition through video is the most widespread, above all on Internet Banking (45% of banks on Internet Banking and 25% on Mobile Banking) and percentages are more than doubled at the end of 2019. Following are the forms of biometric recognition such as the fingerprint (9% on Internet Banking and 25% on Mobile Banking) and recognition through photography (18% on Internet Banking and 13% on Mobile Banking) which will see an important increase, about one bank on two that will offer it on Mobile at the end of 2019. In most cases (64% on Internet Banking, 75% on Mobile Banking) these identification methods are used jointly for any reinforced checks. Among the signatures used in the Digital Onboarding process, the digital signature is the most widespread: 67% of respondents declare their use on Internet Banking and 70% on Mobile Banking; the advanced electronic signature is less used.
The availability to activate digital services remotely offers customers the possibility to choose in a flexible and innovative way the products that make up the offer of their bank based on their specific personal needs.