A keen new client and a pile of phone photos
The initial meeting went well and the client wants to proceed. Now the admin team needs their identity documents, proof of address and, for larger investments, evidence of where the money came from. The request goes out by email. Back comes a photo of a passport taken at an angle on a kitchen table, a council tax bill from two years ago and a question: "Is this OK?"
Joint clients double it. One partner sends everything, the other sends nothing. The electronic ID check has to be run separately in another system, and the result saved as a PDF somewhere on the shared drive. Meanwhile the adviser cannot submit any business until the checks are signed off.
Where the delay actually comes from
Most of it is the back and forth rather than the checks themselves. Clients do not know exactly what is acceptable, so they guess. The firm finds out only when someone opens the attachment, often days later. Each round trip adds a few days, and there are usually several.
The records are scattered too. The document is in the inbox, the check result is on the shared drive, the sign-off is a tick in a spreadsheet. When your compliance lead wants to see the file for a client, someone has to assemble it.
- Requests are generic and do not say what counts as acceptable for your firm.
- Documents arrive in the shared inbox with no link to the client record.
- Electronic ID checks are run in a separate tool, results saved by hand.
- Joint and trust clients need several people's documents, tracked separately.
- No single view of who is cleared, who is pending and what is missing.
What the chase is costing
| Where time goes | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Explaining what is acceptable | Emails and calls answering the same questions |
| Reviewing unusable documents | Blurry, expired or wrong type, then asked again |
| Filing | Attachments saved and renamed by hand |
| Running checks | Details retyped into the ID provider |
| Assembling the file | Pulling records together when asked |
Beyond staff time, there is the client's first impression. They have just decided to trust you with their money, and the first thing they experience is a slow, confusing paperwork loop.
The onboarding flow we build
- We write down your firm's own rules for identity, address and source of funds evidence, as your compliance lead sets them, including joint, trust and corporate clients.
- Each client gets a secure link with named upload slots and plain guidance on what is accepted, so they know before they send it.
- Phone uploads are checked on arrival for obvious problems such as blur, a cut-off edge or an expired date, and the client is asked to retake them straight away.
- Your chosen electronic ID and address verification provider is called from the same flow where it offers an API, and the result is saved automatically.
- Everything is filed against the client in Intelliflo Office, Xplan, Curo or your document store, with consistent names.
- A reviewer queue shows each client's evidence together for a person to approve or query, and the sign-off is recorded with who and when.
- A status board lists every prospective client as cleared, awaiting client, or awaiting review.
The system does not decide whether a client passes. It collects, checks for obvious problems, and presents the evidence. The decision stays with the person your firm names for it.
How onboarding runs afterwards
Clients get one link and clear instructions, usually finishing in one sitting. Your team reviews complete sets of evidence rather than fragments. Advisers can see when a client is cleared without asking. And when your compliance lead wants to look at a file, it is already in one place.
The same flow can be reused for periodic refreshes of client records where your firm's policy requires them, so updating an existing client's documents does not start from a blank email.
Could this be your onboarding?
- ID documents arrive as photos in the shared inbox.
- Clients often send the wrong thing first time.
- Electronic ID results are saved to the drive by hand.
- Advisers ask the office whether a client is cleared yet.
- Putting together a client's ID file takes someone an hour.