SIBOS 2020: IBM, Fenergo to transform client onboarding

By Sunniva Kolostyak

IBM has teamed up with client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions provider Fenergo to launch IBM CLM with Fenergo, a solution which will help financial institutions drive efficiencies in customer onboarding.

Announcing the partnership at the annual SIBOS conference, IBM revealed that the now-available solution incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) from IBM Watson and analytics on the IBM Cloud to enable through improved personalisation, risk assessment and regulatory compliance.

IBM CLM with Fenergo offers a single, connected client journey from initial interaction through to investor or fund onboarding and lifecycle events by fusing Fenergo’s CLM experience and regulatory workflow with IBM’s RegTech Watson-powered portfolio of AML and KYC solutions.

Likhit Wagle, General Manager; Global Banking of IBM, commented that compliance can be time-consuming and costly, often diverting resources from the core focus of improving the customer experience.”

“Artificial Intelligence is ideally suited to redefine how regulatory compliance is addressed, and IBM Watson is leading that effort. Through our strong ecosystem of partners, we’re helping to streamline these processes to allow banks, insurers and other financial providers to focus on their clients’ needs first.”

The offering is designed to incorporate analytics on the IBM Cloud to help assess the risk profile of a new customer, such as geography, money-movement behaviour and network, as well as AI built on IBM Watson to compile an analysis of the customer’s reputation based on publicly available information. As a result, it can help streamline the risk assessment process, enable seamless digital interactions, reduce manual intervention due to unnecessary errors, and free up clients to focus more on addressing the needs of successfully vetted customers.

“In today’s challenging business environment, financial institutions should look for a CLM system that automates regulatory compliance while delivering optimum customer experiences,” Julian Clarke, Head of Partners and Alliances at Fenergo, said.

“Through our relationship with IBM, financial institutions can benefit from our combined experience and industry-leading technology to digitally transform customer journeys and help reduce the burden of regulatory compliance.”

Moreover, research undertaken by Forrester and Fenergo showed financial institutions that have implemented only partial onboarding solutions spend between two and 12 weeks to complete the new client onboarding process.