A Service Design Approach to KYC Process
This study will showcase how I am using Service Design methods to improve the KYC (Know Your Client) process for entity clients at a Bank. Although we have several processes in the KYC field, this will explore the Onboarding process.
⚠️ Important information: Due to GDPR, I will not disclose the names of the client, bank segmentation, products, or other sensitive data. I will not share any internal data.
My role
2025-2026
Banking
BNP Paribas — In-house project
Challenge
Briefly, the process of onboarding a client in a bank system involves collecting several pieces of information and documentation, analyzing and verifying it, encoding on the system, and finally obtaining management approvals.
Some friction points:
Nomenclature and language, Strict local confidentiality laws, Communication between agents.
Results
✦ −2 weeks off a 7–8 week approval process
✦ Eliminated back-and-forth email cycle between clients and officers
✦ Officers empowered to handle cross-jurisdiction edge cases autonomously
✦ Bank compliance standards maintained throughout
25%
Improved onboarding process
55%
Increase in client satisfaction
40%
Increase in time spent
The Problem
Context
Know Your Client (or Company) process can be divided simply into the following steps:
Client Identification - Frontstage
Data Collection: The client provides basic information (Name, Tax ID, Legal Entity status, Ownership structure).
Submission of "Golden Source" documents (Passports, Articles of Association, Utility bills).
II. Documents Analysis - Backstage
Verification: Checking if the documents are authentic and valid.
Individuals' identification: Get to know who the owners and management are. Banks need to verify those individuals.
III. Screening & Risk Rating
Sanctions Screening: Check whether the client or associates are on international "blacklists" or whether news reports mention the client in fraud or criminal cases.
PEP Check: Identify if the client is a Politically Exposed Person.
IV. Final Approval
Once managers approve the documentation, the data is fed into the bank's core systems.
The account is activated, and the Onboarding journey ends, moving into the maintenance phase.
Problem Statement
International clients are facing issues in completing their KYC onboarding efficiently because our requirements conflict with local privacy laws and use unfamiliar terminology.
🔑How might we redesign the onboarding communication and documentation flow to be culturally relevant and legally compliant without compromising the bank’s security standards?
Process
Service Blueprint
I applied Service Design methodologies to analyze backstage operations, identify a solution, and implement continuous improvement.
By mapping the end-to-end process and pinpointing friction points along the journey, we uncovered the invisible layers of the service.
Agent’s actions:
Customer Actions: The client struggles to identify and provide the correct documentation.
Frontstage Actions: The KYC officer is requesting documents using standard financial terminology.
Backstage Actions: The verification process, risk assessment systems, and compliance analysis workflows.
Support Processes: Needed when banking secrecy laws and global documentation requirements conflict.
Insigths
Driven by the insights from the Service Blueprint, I could understand the main points of friction hideng in the process.
Nomenclature and language: Language barriers and distinct technical nomenclatures caused constant friction, delaying the process and creating frustration for both the clients and the Front Office teams.
Strict local confidentiality laws: Non-European clients often refused to share specific documents required by European standards due to local regulations.
Communication between agents: Often, for various reasons, diverse teams face issues with poor communication.
Solutions
Findings
By analysing the main friction points, we could implement actions to guarantee continuous improvement workstreams targeting the intersection of communication, technology, and compliance:
Deliverables
✦ The Equivalency Guide:
We have created a guide that shows workarounds and alternative ways for conflicting paths. For example, if a client faces legal issues in providing a document, the guide indicates an alternative way to cover that requirement.
In the backstage: When the client provides that alternative documentation, we immediately contact the Management, submitting a rationale explaining exactly why the document satisfies the compliance rules.
✦ Stakeholder mapping:
Using the Service Blueprint, we brought Compliance, Front and Back Office, and Legal into the same room. As these offices work separately, we often lose the view of the full workflow.
✦ Content Design & UX Writing:
We are utilizing the internal LLM not just as a tool, but as a Content Design initiative to build a localized tone of voice for the bank. We are also using this technology to generate the equivalency framework, the workarounds, and the email templates.
✨ Impact & Continuous Improvement
Design Value
By transforming the friction into a guided path, this intervention successfully addressed our core How Might We question:
💡How might we redesign the onboarding communication and documentation flow to be culturally relevant and legally compliant without compromising the bank’s security standards?
Conclusion
The case outlined here represents just a part of the broader effort toward continuous improvement. As KYC regulations evolve in response to market changes and other variables, ongoing improvement projects like this one are initiated daily to enhance the efficiency and quality of our processes.