The 2^nd Client Onboarding and Digital Identity Summit for Financial Institutions concluded last week in Prague after two days of presentations by expert speakers from across the banking industry, panel discussions and plenty of networking breaks. Solution providers, executives, professionals and thought leaders from across the financial services industry came together in Prague to address the challenges and opportunities associated with client onboarding processes, particularly within the context of digital identity and identity verification. The conference attendees also discussed topics such as biometric identity verification, digital transformation in client onboarding, integrating AML into digital onboarding and using proprietary onboarding engines as a key differentiator. This article will provide a session recap for those who didn’t get the chance to attend and serve as a reminder to those who attended.

Day One

Navigating the Shadows and Sunlight of Dual Citizenship

Speaker: Jermaine Frue, Vice President of AML Operations Europe, Middle East and Africa at Bank of America

Jermaine, chairperson of our summit and the first keynote speaker, started his presentation with the history of citizenship by investment programs and the risks these pose to AML programs such as identity laundering and a falsely lower risk profile due to a different jurisdiction. He also explained how dual citizens looking to invest may become victims of scams due to the differences in interest rates across the world and this may lead to being vulnerable to scams guaranteeing fraudulent interest rates. Jermaine discussed the compliance challenges that these dual citizens present to onboarding processes and shared the best practices on how to onboard these clients with his outlook on the future of onboarding this category of client.

Building Trust and Transparency: Ethical Landscape of Digital Processes

Speaker: Sebastian Staszowski, Compliance Assurance Vice President at BNY

Sebastian shared his expertise on foundational ethics in digital transformation, the ethical principles and the challenges faced such as misuse of information and access to data. He stressed the importance of ethics and how to prepare for ethical challenges that arise in digital transformation. Sebastian also explained how to implement ethical privacy when it comes to data protection, ethical AI implementation and how to earn customer trust.

Recent Global Trends in Digital Banking Fraud Schemes, Regulations and Solutions

Speaker: Frederik Mennes, Director of Product Management & Business Strategy at OneSpan

Frederik guided the audience through the authentication methods, security threats and regulatory developments of the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s before comparing the suitability of technology standards FIDO2 and Digipass. He explained the key security properties of modern authentication technology as well as providing a look at the future of user authentication.

Collaboration between Fintechs and Traditional Banks in Digital Onboarding

Speaker: Branimira Milusheva, Founder & CEO of Women in Banking and Finance

In her presentation, Branimira stressed the need for digital onboarding in banking and the role of fintech in digital onboarding when it comes to overcoming challenges faced by banks when utilising digital onboarding. She concluded her presentation by providing examples of successful collaborations of banks with fintech partners and a look to the future of digital onboarding.

Passwordless, Keyless, and Zero Trust – How to Improve Security and Compliance in Financial Institutions

Speaker: Dietmar Wyhs, Sales Director of DACH & CEE at SSH

Dietmar shared his knowledge of how traditional security controls are being bypassed with SSH keys and how to stop it. He also delved into how keyless and passwordless access helps financial institutions reduce operational overhead, mitigate risks, and stay compliant with regulations such as DORA and NIS2, followed up by his recommendations on how financial institutions can implement Zero Trust access management and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) to keep their data secure now and for the future.

Utilising a Proprietary End-to-End Automated Seamless Onboarding Engine as a Key Differentiator

Speaker: Jarkko Maensivu, CEO & Chairman of Saldo Bank

Jarkko started his presentation with an intro on Saldo Bank, the strategy behind its growth and the components-based, configurable onboarding platform it uses for end-to-end excellence. He then covered how electronic KYC and AI-assisted business monitoring are used as a vital source of efficiency and the use cases and benefits of a proprietary scoring engine that offers unlimited user numbers and only needs independent maintenance with no model limitations.

Optimising the Digital Onboarding Experience for best results

Speaker: Robert Wint, Senior Product Director at Temenos

Robert discussed the 10 digital things that bring out a winning experience for onboarding and origination as well as sharing his hints and tips to maximise your digital onboarding strategy. He advised that digital winners measure everything, use data to understand pain points, perform experiments through A/B tests, iterate quickly through production and importantly, know when to stop.

How Onboarding, AML and Fraud Collectively Form a Holistic Approach to pKYC and Customer Lifecycle Management; Approaches for Retail and Corporate Business Lines

Speaker: Ben Marsh, Global Head of Client Lifecycle Management at NICE Actimize

Ben’s informative presentation covered the differences between retail and corporate business lines, the common KYC/CLM challenges faced and their effects on corporate and retail applications. He shared strategies to enhance KYC processes like onboarding automation, risk management, customer experience and ongoing efficiency and risk management. Ben also shared his knowledge on how to transition to true pKYC with real-time risk signals and fully integrated screening and transaction monitoring as well as offering a holistic view on optimising onboarding and ongoing KYC.

SME Digital Onboarding

Speaker: Brano Beer, Business Development Director at Visa

Brano began with an introduction to Visa’s commercial solutions and the emerging trends that have the potential to transform the landscape such as artificial intelligence and embedded finance. He also provided an overview of onboarding in the Czech market in comparison to global fintechs and the 5 steps for executing best-in-class onboarding with no document upload.

The Threats and Opportunities of the AI Revolution in Compliance

Speaker: Paola Cristina Nuñez Ameri, VP – Chief Country Compliance Officer Belgium at Citi

Paola explained the benefits of implementing AI such as improvement in efficiency, proactive risk management and a lower chance of error and the challenges facing implementation like ethical considerations, security and risk of AI systems, conflict of legislation and budget limitations. She also followed up with a summary of the role of a Compliance Officer and a practical example of her presentation topics.

Day Two

The Future of Compliance in Digital Onboarding

Speaker: Agata Wolska, Project Manager Portfolio Delivery at Bank of Valletta plc

Agata gave an amazing and in-depth keynote speech with an overview of digital onboarding in the banking sector and its current state and the importance of utilising it in financial institutions. She also explained how banks may lose customers due to the onboarding process due to factors such as lack of clarity or omnichannel options and the importance of trust, data and privacy for customers. Identity beyond borders and the need for cross-border interoperable identity becoming an increasing demand was discussed, concluding with the introduction of the concept of IdaaS – Identity as a Service.

Securing Remote Identity Verification in the Eraof Gen AI with Science-based Face Biometrics

Speaker: Brendan Clarke, Solutions Consultant at iProov

Brendan explained how bad actors leverage generative AI to circumvent legacy identity verification approaches and how science-based biometrics can counter the threat of genAI, including deepfakes as well as the need for active threat management in adapting to the evolving threat landscape. Remote automated biometrics are fundamental for identity creation and assertion with threats such as face swaps, injection attacks, persistent threat actors increasing and information exchange occurring between threat groups.

Customer-Centric approach in implementing Digital Onboarding Process

Speaker: Božidarka Popović, Head of PMO, BA, BPM at Erste Bank AD

Božidarka began her keynote speech with a reminder on digital transformation before going through the key components of a customer-centric approach to digital onboarding and the journey of the digital onboarding process. She also set out the legal framework that must be followed and the lessons learnt from integrating a client-centric onboarding process at the bank.

Client Onboarding & Digi Client Lifecycle Management

Speaker: Barbora Zavaka Bachleda, Process Owner for Corporate Clients at Erste Group Bank AG

In her presentation, Barbora explained the 3 pillars that Erste Group Bank AG attributes their success to: process improvements, customer lifecycle management/digital onboarding and eKYC and key performance indicators. She also described the main KYC topics and challenges faced in client onboarding and being supported by fintech services like PEGA in their eKYC journey.

Digital Transformation of the Financial Services Sector: Unlocking the Future Potential

Speaker: Ileana Comanescu, Product Manager KYC Global at Qoobiss

Ileana delivered her keynote speech on the importance of embracing digital transformation for banks, how automation and AI-driven processes are improving efficiency, reducing operational costs, and minimizing errors and the rise of digital wealth management platforms. She also went on to provide a guide to the Qoobiss Origin solution that is designed to automate and digitize the end-to-end client journey, providing features such as configuration panels, intuitive form builders, powerful API and built-in plugins.

Facilitating Client Onboarding through Digital Solutions

Speaker: Carla Sobral, Head of Clients Onboarding at Societe Generale

Carla shared the best practices to mitigate onboarding challenges and risks and the key factors of a successful digitalised onboarding journey that consist of client experience, data quality, fraud prevention and IT security. She then shared how to empower onboarding with the use of digital solutions such as an all-in-all digital portal that provides unified access with a centralised database and 360 view of all products and services that follow up onboarding in real-time.

The Paradigm Shift in CX: Compliance and Trust

Speaker: Daniela Simona Bobocea, Head of Governance and Project Management at Exim Banca Romaneasca

Daniela’s presentation tackled the question of if whether CX and compliance are divergent and the importance of the voice of the customer. She went on to discuss the debates of customer data vs GDPR compliance, hyperpersonalisation vs GDPR compliance and the identity theft issue. Daniela concluded that compliance should be self-serviceable through technology and not disrupting the customer onboarding experience.

Enhancing Client Onboarding with Advanced Digital Identification – Compliance Perspective

Speaker: Iva Trifonova, Director Banking Relations of Women in Banking and Finance

Iva emphasised the role of digital identification in the onboarding process to our audience, the compliance considerations such as data protection laws and real-time risk assessment and the benefits of digital identification for compliance like faster and more accurate KYC processes and reduced fraud risk. She also discussed the potential addresses that need to be addressed like the integration with legacy systems and the changing regulatory landscape and the steps required to implement digital identification into onboarding.

KYC Perspectives in Digital Transformation

Speaker: Mihaela Flore, Director Department KYC/AML/CFT at Banca Transilvania

Mihaela advised on KYC best practices in digital onboarding like developing an efficient onboarding process, automating workflows, ongoing monitoring and having a risk-based approach to customer due diligence. She also talked about the challenges, trends and opportunities for compliance professionals and the importance of active cooperation between financial institutions and authorities.

Sponsors

The 2^nd Client Onboarding and Digital Identity Summit for Financial Institutions was supported by a wide range of sponsors who brought their teams to our exhibition hall outside our conference room and Innovatrix would like to thank them again for their support.