Backbase Digital Sales Benchmarks and Best Practices

Digital Sales:
BENCHMARKS & BEST PRACTICES

FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
RON SHEVLIN | Director of Research

COMMISSIONED BY
Cornerstone Advisors
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction...................................................................................................................................1
Financial Institutions Need a Digital Account Opening Roadmap....................... 1
The Digital Account Opening Maturity Model.................................................................. 2
Key Findings......................................................................................................... 4
Key Finding #1: Institutions with Mature Digital Account
Opening Processes Outperform in Key Business Metrics.........................................4
Key Finding #2: Few Institutions Have Achieved a High Level of

Digital Account Opening Maturity—and Bigger Isn’t Always Better.................. 5
Key Finding #3: Smaller Institutions Lag in Marketing

for Deposit Product Digital Account Opening.................................................................8
Key Finding #4: Digital Account Opening Leaders

Excel in Sales, Speed and Integration....................................................................................9
The Digital Account Opening Roadmap.................................................... 13
Appendix A: About the Data.................................................................................. 15
Appendix B: Scoring Methodology................................................................. 16
Appendix C: Deposit Products............................................................................. 18
Appendix D: Unsecured Lending Products.......................................... 20
Appendix E: Secured Lending Products.................................................. 23
About the Author...............................................................................................................26
About Cornerstone Advisors................................................................................. 27
About Backbase.................................................................................................................. 27
© 2020 Cornerstone Advisors. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited without written permission.
INTRODUCTION
There is strong consensus among bank and credit union executives that building a robust digital
account opening capability is a top priority. For three years in a row, digital account opening has
been at the top of the list of technologies mid-size financial institutions intend to add or replace.
In addition, nearly three-quarters of mid-size institutions cited digital account opening as “very
important” to their fintech partnership, collaboration and investment plans (Figure 1).
FIGURE 1: Fintech Priorities
How important are the following to your fintech plans for 2019?
Digital account opening 73% 24%
Payments 54% 39%
Lending 52% 40%
Fraud/risk management 38% 49%
New products 27% 52%
Personal financial management 19% 57%
Investment management 11% 38%
Insurance 6% 19%
Very Important Somewhat Important
Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 305 U.S. community-based financial institutions executives, Q4 2018
Financial Institutions Need a Digital Account Opening Roadmap

For many banks and credit unions, the shift to digital service has been relatively smooth. Consumers
like the convenience of self-service, and financial institutions like the lower transaction costs. On the
sales side, however, the transition has not been a smooth one, for reasons including:
1) Data: Many financial institutions lack access to the data—e.g., financial goals, financial
health, next best product, etc.—needed to support a real-time digital sales interaction.
2) Analytics: Even if financial institutions had access to a broader set of data and data
sources, they often lack the ability to apply analytics techniques (e.g., segmentation)
at the point of interaction.
CORNERSTONE ADVISORS | Digital Sales: Benchmarks & Best Practices for Financial Institutions 1
3) Process design: Most financial institutions have not adequately defined digital sales
“journeys” that support scenarios for consumers’ decision-making processes.
4) P
rocess integration: A majority of financial institutions lack the ability to integrate
digital sales interactions with marketing execution systems across channels.
5) Fulfillment: Financial institutions typically can’t apply Know Your Customer (KYC),
risk management and other account opening steps through digital channels.
To improve their digital account opening and sales capabilities, financial institutions need answers
to questions like these:
•W
hat capabilities, technologies and tools are necessary to deliver an effective digital
account opening process (specific to deposit, unsecured loan and secured loan products)?
•H
ow do our existing digital account opening capabilities measure up to what other financial
institutions are offering?
• Where do we start with our process improvement efforts?
The Digital Account Opening Maturity Model

To help answer these questions, Cornerstone Advisors conducted a survey of 184 U.S.-based banks
and credit unions to benchmark their digital account opening processes for deposit, unsecured lending
(e.g., credit cards, personal loans) and secured lending (e.g., mortgages, home equity loans) products.
For each of the three product areas, survey respondents were asked which features and attributes of
the account opening process their institution currently offers or has for digital channels (i.e., online
and mobile). Process attributes were grouped by three functions: 1) Marketing, 2) Risk/Compliance
and 3) Core Integration.
Respondents earned a score for each attribute they currently have in their digital account opening
process for each of the three product areas (see Appendix C for the scoring methodology). In
each of the three product areas, marketing practices accounted for 40% of the total score, risk and
compliance for 20%, and core processes for 40%.
Based on the overall score in each product area, each institution was categorized into one of three
maturity levels: Level 1 (Low) for respondents scoring below 50; Level 2 (Mid) for respondents
scoring between 51 and 80; and 3) Level 3 (High) for institutions scoring higher than 80.
Based on this scoring methodology, the highest level of digital account opening maturity was
attained by just one in four institutions for deposit product digital account opening, by 13% for
unsecured loan products, and by just 3% for secured loan products (Figure 2).
FIGURE 2: Digital Account Opening Maturity Levels
Digital Account Opening Maturity Levels
100%
3%
90%
25% 13% Level 3 High (81-100)
37%
80%
Level 2 Mid (51-80)
42%
70% Level 1 Low (0-50)
60% 48%
50%
59%
40%
46%
30%
20%
26%
10%
0%
Deposits Unsecured loans Secured loans
Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020
At the other end of the spectrum, 26% of institutions were categorized as Level 1 (Low) maturity for
deposit products, with 46% of respondents coming in at the lowest maturity level of unsecured loan
products, and nearly six in 10 scoring in the lowest maturity level for secured loan products.
The following section details the key findings and conclusions from our analysis of the survey data.
KEY FINDINGS
While our analysis of the data uncovered many interesting findings, there are four “key” findings
worth highlighting:
1) Institutions with mature digital account opening processes outperform

in key business metrics.
2) Few institutions have achieved a high level of digital account opening

maturity—and bigger isn’t always better.
3) Smaller institutions lag in marketing for deposit product digital account opening.
4) D
igital account opening leaders excel in sales, speed and integration.
Institutions with mature digital account

KEY FINDING #1:
opening processes outperform in key business metrics
Financial institutions with high digital account opening maturity outperform their competitors in
three key business metrics: 1) deposit growth, 2) loan growth and 3) the percentage of product
applications coming from digital channels.
Level 3 institutions—i.e., those with a high level of digital account opening maturity—averaged
deposit growth of 9.8% between 2018 and 2019 and loan growth of 10.4% during that period. In
contrast, Level 1 (low maturity) institutions averaged just 6.8% and 7.6%, respectively, with Level 2
institutions falling in the middle of the other two segments (Figure 3).
FIGURE 3: Deposit and Loan Growth by Digital Account Opening Maturity Level
Average Deposit Growth (2018-2019) Average Loan Growth (2018-2019)
10.4%
10% 9.8%
8.6%
9%
7.9%
7.6%
6.8%
7%
5%
Level 1 (Low) Level 2 (Mid) Level 3 (High)
In terms of the percentage of applications coming from digital channels, Level 3 (high maturity)
institutions saw an average of 29% of all deposit applications, 43% of unsecured loan applications
and 33% of secured loan applications come in from digital channels. Level 2 (mid) institutions saw
less digital volume—9% for deposit products, 23% for unsecured loans, and 25% for secured loans.
And banks and credit unions at the lowest level of digital account opening maturity (Level 1) saw
even lower digital volume, topping out at 10% of their secured loan product volume (Figure 4).
FIGURE 4: Digital Applications % of Total Applications by Maturity Level
Digital Applications % of Total Applications by Maturity Level
Deposit Products Unsecured Loans Secured Loans
43%
33%
29%
23% 25%
9% 10%
7%
2%
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

(Low) (Mid) (High) (Low) (Mid) (High) (Low) (Mid) (High)
Few Institutions Have Achieved a High Level of

KEY FINDING #2:
Digital Account Opening Maturity—and Bigger Isn’t Always Better
Financial institutions have a long way to go in their quest for strong digital account opening
capabilities. As discussed earlier (see Figure 2), just 25% of institutions have reached the highest
level of maturity for deposit product digital account opening, 13% are at the highest level for
unsecured loan products, and a mere 3% attained the highest level for secured loan products.
From an asset size perspective, about three in 10 institutions with more than $1 billion in assets have
achieved the highest level of digital account opening maturity for deposit products. Among the smaller
institutions (assets below $1 billion), just 14% have attained Level 3, and 41% are at the lowest level of
maturity—more than twice as many institutions in the greater than $1 billion segment (Figure 5).
FIGURE 5: Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size
Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size
100%
14% Level 3 (High)
31% 30% Level 2 (Mid)
Level 1 (Low)
75%
46%
50%
48% 55%
25%
41%
20%
15%
0%
Less than $1 billion $1 billion to $10 billion $10 billion to $50 billion
For lending products, however, it’s a different story. A virtually equal percentage (12% to 14%) of
institutions across the three asset categories have achieved Level 3 maturity for unsecured loan
products. The $10 billion to $50 billion institutions, however, do have a slightly higher percentage
at Level 2 maturity than the other two groups (Figure 6).
FIGURE 6: Unsecured Lending Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size
Unsecured Loan Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size
100%
12% 14% 13% Level 3 (High)
Level 2 (Mid)
Level 1 (Low)
75%
37% 44% 48%
50%
51%
25%
42% 39%
0%
For secured loan products digital account opening, the picture is again different. No institution from
either the smallest or largest asset segment attained Level 3 (high) maturity. That’s not to say that many
from the $1 billion to $10 billion category achieved it—just 6% scored high enough to earn that distinction.
But, nearly half (46%) of the $1 billion to $10 billion institutions earned Level 2 status, in contrast to 30%
of the smallest, and 26% of the largest institutions. And, in fact, three-quarters of the $10 billion to $50
billion institutions are at the lowest level of digital maturity for secured loan products (Figure 7).
FIGURE 7: Secured Loan Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size
Secured Loan Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size
100%
6%
Level 3 (High)
26% Level 2 (Mid)
30%
Level 1 (Low)
75%
46%
50%
70%
25%
48% 74%
0%
Why are the largest institutions laggards in digital secured lending? One possible explanation is that
many large banks in the United States have stayed away from the mortgage market over the past
few years. This “de-prioritization” of the mortgage business led to a reduction in investment of digital
capabilities.
For the smaller institutions, it’s likely more a matter of budget. Institutions below the $1 billion level are
budget-constrained when it comes to making investments in the digital channels. With the focus of the
past few years on deposit gathering, it’s likely the smaller banks and credit unions invested in deposit
product digital account opening.
Smaller Institutions Lag in Marketing
KEY FINDING #3:
for Deposit Product Digital Account Opening
Across the three functions, there was general parity in deposit product digital account opening scores
between institutions in the $1 billion to $10 billion range and those in the $10 billion to $50 billion range.
Smaller institutions lagged in all three functions—in particular, for marketing processes (Figure 8).
FIGURE 8: Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Scores by Asset Size
Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Scores by Asset Size
100%
Core Integration
90%
Risk/Compliance
80% 40.0 Marketing
68.1
70% 66.0
60%
49.9 25.8
25.6
50% 20.0
40% 20.3
17.0
30% 17.3
13.8
20% 40.0
23.1 25.2
10% 15.8
0%
<$1B $1B-$10B $10B-$50B Maximum score
Specifically, the smaller institutions are behind in three marketing-related attributes of the deposit
product digital account opening process (Figure 9):
• Originating multiple products. Although about half of the smaller institutions enable
applicants to originate multiple products during the digital account opening process,
that’s far short of the three-quarters of the larger institutions that do so.
• Tracking applicants’ drop off. Only about a third of the institutions below $1 billion in assets
are tracking where applicants drop off and helping them complete the process. In contrast,
56% of institutions in the $1 billion to $10 billion range do this, as do 82% of institutions in the
greater than $10 billion segment.
• Personalization. Although few institutions enable personalization, a third of the largest

institutions are giving applicants the ability to personalize products versus 23% of the $1
billion to $10 billion institutions, and just 18% of the smaller institutions.
FIGURE 9: Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Attributes by Asset Size
Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Attributes by Asset Size

Can applicants originate multiple Do you track where applicants drop Does your digital account opening
products during the digital account off, and use tools to help them process enable personalization or
opening process? complete the application? configuration of products?
82%
74% 74%
75%
56%
48%
50%
35%
33%
23%
25%
18%
0%
Two additional differences between the smaller and larger institutions—one risk/compliance-related,
the other core integration-related—are worth pointing out:
• Instant digital identification and verification. Although 63% of the smallest institutions
provide this during the digital deposit product account opening process, that percentage
is behind the 83% of $1 billion to $10 billion institutions, and 89% of $10 billion to $50 billion
institutions that offer this.
• Digital communications. Nearly half (44%) of the largest ($10 billion to $50 billion)
institutions provide digital status of debit cards and checks in contrast to 28% of the
middle group and 21% of the smaller institutions.
Digital Account Opening Leaders Excel in Sales,

KEY FINDING #4:
Speed and Integration
Across the three product areas assessed, institutions at the highest level of digital sales maturity set
themselves apart from the pack in three areas that cut across the marketing, risk and compliance, and
core processes components:
1) Sales. Digital sales leaders enable applicants to customize or personalize products—deposit, unsecured
loan or secured loan—in the digital account opening process. Nearly all Level 3 institutions do this
across the three product types (Figure 10). This helps to engage applicants early in the relationship,
providing an experience that is rare in the industry (although common in the ecommerce world).
FIGURE 10: Personalization Capabilities by Maturity Level
%
100% of Institutions That Enable Personalization During Digital Account Opening
80%
73%
75%
60%
50%
38%
25% 20%
11% 12%
10%
4%
0%
Deposit products Unsecured lending products Secured lending products
Maturity Level 1 (Low) Maturity Level 2 (Mid) Maturity Level 3 (High)
In addition, the most digitally mature institutions enable applicants to originate multiple products at
the point of account application, helping to improve cross-sell and up-sell efforts even before new
customers begin to engage with their new accounts (Figure 11).
FIGURE 11: Multiple Product Origination Capabilities by Maturity Level
% of Institutions That Enable Multiple Products to be

Originated During Digital Account Opening
100%
93%
75%
75%
68%
60%
50%
30%
23%
25% 19%
4% 2%
0%
2) Speed. The time required to complete applications is much lower among the Level 3 institutions. In
fact, in half of the leading institutions, the time required to complete a deposit product or unsecured
loan application is less than five minutes. Among the leaders, although just 20% have a secured
loan product application that can be completed within five minutes, 60% enable their applicants to
complete the digital application within 10 minutes (Figure 12).
FIGURE 12: Multiple Product Origination Capabilities by Maturity Level

100%
% of Institutions That Enable Account to be Opened Digitally in Five Minutes or Less

75%
49% 50%
50%
25% 23%
18% 20%
7%
2% 4%
0%
0%
In addition, a majority of the leaders are providing instant approval for simple loan applications for
low-risk applicants during the digital application process (Figure 13).
FIGURE 13: Instant Loan Approval by Maturity Level
% of Institutions That Provide Instant Approval for Simple

100%
Loan Applications for Low-Risk Applicants
75%
68% Maturity Level 1 (Low)
60%
Maturity Level 2 (Mid)
50% Maturity Level 3 (High)
41%
37%
25%
10% 12%
0%
Unsecured lending products Secured lending products
3) Integration. Another hallmark of digital sales leaders has little to do with account opening or sales itself,
but with back office integration — specifically, an ability to access and integrate data into the digital
account opening process when intervention is needed. For example, in at least eight in 10 of the digitally
mature institutions, employees have a single view of customers across the organization (Figure 14).
FIGURE 14: Single View of Customers by Maturity Level
Employees Have a Single View of Customers Across the Organization

100%
100%
82%
75%
69% Maturity Level 1 (Low)

57%
43%
50% 48% Maturity Level 3 (High)
25%
0%
In addition, in at least eight in 10 of the most digitally mature institutions, employees can
instantly view and solve bottlenecks in the digital account opening process (Figure 15).
FIGURE 15: Employee Ability to Solve Bottlenecks by Maturity Level
Employees Can Instantly View and Solve Bottlenecks in the Digital Sales Process
100%
86%
80%
75% 72%
Maturity Level 1 (Low)
61%
50% Maturity Level 3 (High)
25%
12%
7%
0%
THE DIGITAL ACCOUNT
OPENING ROADMAP
Frictionless account opening and product origination is still a distant dream for many institutions.
Even for the institutions that have some form of digital account opening, many do not have a
completely digital process: a) 23% don’t offer a completely digital deposit account opening process;
b) 37% don’t offer a completely digital origination process for unsecured loans; and c) 59% don’t
offer a completely digital origination process for secured loans. However, those seeking to improve
will find the biggest opportunity by following this roadmap:
1) Create a seamless omnichannel experience. Across the three product types, seamless
transitioning between channels during the account opening process is a consistent weak point.
This is true particularly for smaller institutions (i.e., below $1 billion in assets). But it’s also a weak
point from a lending product perspective for the largest institutions (over $10 billion in assets),
suggesting issues with organizational siloes and systems integration challenges (Figure 16).
100%
FIGURE 16: Omnichannel Experience by Asset Size
75%
% of Institutions That Provide an Omnichannel Experience
50%
43% 40% 41%
40%
25% 27% 27%

25%
19% 15%
0%
Assets <$1B Assets $1B-$10B Assets >$10B
Deposits products Unsecured lending products Secured lending products
2) S
horten the digital application process completion time. Few institutions above $1 billion in
assets require 20 minutes or more to complete a digital deposit product application, but a third of
institutions below $1 billion in assets do. For lending products, the percentage of institutions that
have digital applications that take longer than 20 minutes to complete is significantly higher, and
it’s consistent across institutions of all sizes. In fact, nearly eight in 10 of the largest institutions
have a digital secured lending app that takes more than 20 minutes to complete (Figure 17).
FIGURE 17: Time Required to Complete Digital Applications by Asset Size
%
100% of Institutions Where Completing the Digital Application Takes 20+ Minutes
78%
75%
62%
48%
50%
42%
37%
33% 31%
25%
15%
11%
0%
3) Reduce the fulfillment cycle time. About a quarter of institutions take 20 or more days to
disburse funds or issue cards for unsecured loan products—with little variation between
institutions of different sizes. For secured lending products, more than half of all institutions
require 20 days or more to disburse funds—and the percentages are higher for the larger
institutions than for the smaller ones (Figure 18).
FIGURE 18: Elapsed Time from Loan Approval to Disbursal of Funds by Asset Size
% of100%
Institutions Where Elapsed Time from Loan Approval to Disbursal
of Funds and/or Card Issuance is More Than 20 Days
75%
59%
56%
47%
50%
27%
24% 22%
25%
0%
CORNERSTONE ADVISORS | Digital Sales: Benchmarks & Best Practices for Financial Institutions 78% 14
APPENDIX A:
ABOUT THE DATA
In September 2020, Cornerstone Advisors fielded a survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions to
identify the marketing, compliance and core process practices in their digital account opening processes.
Financial institutions in the $1 billion to $3 billion asset range accounted for 36% of survey respondents.
Sixteen percent of participants are in the $3 billion to $10 billion range, and an almost equal percentage
(15%) have $10 billion in assets or more. About a third of respondents were from financial institutions with
less than $1 billion in assets (Figure 19). More than a third of survey respondents are C-level executives
and nearly half are at the executive, senior or vice president level (Figure 20).
FIGURE 19: Survey Respondents by Asset Size
What is the asset size of your institution?
6% 8%
More than $25 billion Less than $250 million
9% 11%
$10 billion to $25 billion
$250 million to $500 million
16% 14%
$3 billion to $10 billion $500 million to $1 billion
36%
$1 billion to $3 billion
FIGURE 20: Survey Respondents by Organizational Level

75%
78%
At what level within the organization are you?

50%
35%
25%
25%
18%
6% 7%
4% 4%
0%
C-level EVP SVP VP Director Manager Other
APPENDIX B:
SCORING METHODOLOGY
The following chart lists the digital account opening scoring methodology (Figure 21).
FIGURE 21: Scoring Methodology
Function Question Scores
DEPOSIT PRODUCTS
Do you offer a completely digital account opening process without the need for an applicant
Marketing 0=No 8=Yes
to visit a branch or contact the call center?
Can applicants originate multiple products during the digital account opening
0=No 6=Yes
or loan application process?
On average, how long does it take an applicant to complete the account opening process or 0=>20 3=11-20
loan application online or on a mobile device? 4=6-10 6=1-5
Do you keep track of where they dropped off in the process, and use tools to make it
0=No 6=Yes
easier to complete the application?
Do you provide an omnichannel (channel agnostic) account opening process with

0=No 8=Yes
seamless transition between channels?
Do you offer personalized products or allow applicants to configure their own

0=No 6=Yes
products on your organization's mobile app and/or website?
Risk/Compliance Do you offer e-signing terms and conditions as per the type of product? 0=No 10=Yes
Do you offer instant digital identification and verification of the applicant? 0=No 10=Yes
Are Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) questions straight-through processed when no hits occur
Core Processes 0=No 5=Yes
(i.e., with rules for quick decisioning)?
Do employees in your organization have a single view of customers (or members)

0=No 5=Yes
across the entire organization?
Do you offer instant access to the account once the account opening process
0=No 6=Yes
is complete and approved?
Do you offer end-to-end self-enrollment on digital banking if applicant completes

0=No 6=Yes
account opening process through physical channels?
Does your account opening platform do a fully automated credit check on the applicant? 0=No 6=Yes
Do you offer instant account funding and account verification to applicants? 0=No 6=Yes
Do you utilize digital communication on mobile apps and/or emails regarding

0=No 6=Yes
the status of the delivery of physical debit cards and checks?
UNSECURED LOAN PRODUCTS
Do you offer a completely digital account opening process without the

Marketing 0=No 10=Yes
need for an applicant to visit a branch or contact the call center?
On average, how long does it take an applicant to complete the account opening 0=>20 3=11-20
process or loan application online or on a mobile device? 4=6-10 6=1-5
Do you keep track of where they dropped off in the process, and use tools to make
0=No 6=Yes
it easier to complete the application?
Do you provide an omnichannel (i.e., channel agnostic) loan application process

0=No 6=Yes
with seamless transition between channels?
Can applicants originate multiple products during the digital account opening or loan application process? 0=No 6=Yes
Do you offer personalized products or allow applicants to configure their own products
0=No 6=Yes
on your organization's mobile app and/or website?
0=>20 2=15-20
Risk/Compliance What is the average time needed for approvals of a simple unsecured loan for a low-risk applicant? 3=6-10 4=1-5 5=0
(Instant)
Do you provide pre-approval upon completion of the digital loan application process? 0=No 5=Yes
Do you provide pre-approved loans digitally? 0=No 5=Yes
Core Processes Can employees in your organization instantly view and solve bottlenecks within digital sales process? 0=No 5=Yes
Is there a single stored location (files, messages) for bank and customer communication? 0=No 5=Yes
Do employees in your organization have a single view of customers (or members) across the entire organization? 0=No 5=Yes
0=>20 2=15-20
On average, what is the elapsed time from loan approval to disbursal of funds and/or card issuance? 3=6-10 4=1-5 5=0
(Instant)
Are data retention policies incorporated and automated into the digital loan application process? 0=No 5=Yes
Is there a centralized log of all the applications and the onboarding cases? 0=No 5=Yes
Do customer-facing staff have a good understanding of regulatory and compliance procedures? 0=No 5=Yes
Is your document collection process paperless? 0=No 5=Yes
SECURED LOAN PRODUCTS
Marketing Do you offer associated complementary products with secured loans (e.g., insurance)? 0=No 10=Yes
Do you offer a completely digital account opening process without the need for an applicant
0=No 5=Yes
to visit a branch or contact the call center?
Do you keep track of where they dropped off in the process, and use tools to make it
0=No 5=Yes
easier to complete the application?
Do you provide an omnichannel (i.e., channel agnostic) loan application process with
0=No 5=Yes
Do you offer personalized products or allow applicants to configure their own products on
0=No 5=Yes
your organization's mobile app and/or website?
On average, how long does it take an applicant to complete the account opening process 0=>20 3=11-20
or loan application online or on a mobile device? 4=6-10 5=1-5
Can applicants originate multiple products during the digital account opening or loan application process? 0=No 5=Yes
0=>20 2=15-20
Risk/Compliance On average, how much time is needed to approve a simple secured loan for a low-risk applicant? 3=6-10 4=1-5 5=0
(Instant)
Do you provide instant underwriting and real-time credit risk assessment? 0=No 5=Yes
Do you provide pre-approved secured loans digitally? 0=No 5=Yes
Core Processes Do customer-facing staff have a good understanding of regulatory and compliance procedures? 0=No 5=Yes
Are data retention policies incorporated and automated into the digital loan application process? 0=No 5=Yes
Do employees in your organization have a single view of customers (or members)

0=No 5=Yes
Can employees in your organization instantly view and solve bottlenecks within digital sales process? 0=No 5=Yes
0=>20 2=15-20
On average, what is the elapsed time from loan approval to disbursal of funds and/or card issuance? 3=6-10 4=1-5 5=0
(Instant)
APPENDIX C:
DEPOSIT PRODUCTS
The percentage of financial institutions providing, or having, each of the attributes across the three
functions is shown in the graphic below (Figure 22).
FIGURE 22: Deposit Product Digital Account Opening Overview
Category Attribute Percent of financial institutions
Do you offer a completely digital process without the need to

Marketing 77%
visit a branch or contact the call center?
Can applicants originate multiple products during the digital

66%
account opening process?
How long does it take to complete the digital account opening

60%
process? (%=<10 minutes)
Do you keep track of where applicants drop off, and use tools
53%
to help them complete the application?
Do you provide an omnichannel account opening process

37%
with seamless transition between channels?
Does your digital account opening process enable personalization

23%
or configuration of products?
Risk/Compliance Do you offer e-signing terms and conditions as per the type of product? 84%
Do you offer instant digital identification and verification of the applicant? 78%
Are Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) questions straight-through processed

Core Processes 74%
when no hits occur?
Do employees have a single view of customers (or members)

68%
Do you offer instant access to the account once the digital

67%
process is complete and approved?
Do you offer digital banking self-enrollment if applicant completes

66%
the process in physical channels?
Does your account opening platform do a fully automated credit

65%
check on the applicant?
Do you offer instant account funding and account verification to

55%
applicants?
Do you utilize mobile apps and/or emails regarding delivery status

28%
of physical debit cards and checks?
Although 60% of respondents said it generally takes applicants less than 10 minutes to complete the
digital process, only about one in five are seeing customers finish the app within one to five minutes.
In addition, one in five said it’s taking their applicants more than 20 minutes to complete the process
(Figure 23).
FIGURE 23: Time to Complete Digital Deposit Account Opening Process
How 75%
long does it take applicants to complete the account opening process?
50%
38%
22%
25% 20% 20%
0%
More than 20 minutes 11 to 20 minutes 6 to 10 minutes 1 to 5 minutes
APPENDIX D:
UNSECURED LENDING PRODUCTS
Either digital account opening for deposits is easier than it is for lending products, or financial institutions
are investing a lot more on the deposit product side of the house than on the lending side. Across the
three functions, far fewer institutions are providing digital account opening attributes for unsecured loan
products than for deposits (Figure 24).
FIGURE 24: Unsecured Loan Products Digital Account Opening Overview
Category Attribute Percent of financial institutions
Do you offer a completely digital process without the need to visit

Marketing 63%
a branch or contact the call center?
How long does it take to complete the digital loan application

46%
Do you keep track of where applicants drop off, and use tools
36%
to help them complete the application?
Do you provide an omnichannel loan application process with seam-

33%
less transition between channels?
Can applicants originate multiple products during the digital loan

26%
application process?
Does your digital loan application process enable personalization

20%
Risk/Compliance Do you offer instant digital identification and verification of the applicant? 48%
Do you provide pre-approval upon completion of the digital loan

44%
Do you provide pre-approved loans digitally? 39%
How much time is needed for approvals of a simple unsecured

32%
loan for a low-risk applicant? (%=Instant)
Do customer-facing staff have a good understanding of regulatory

Core Processes 75%
and compliance procedures?
Is your document collection process paperless? 63%
Is there a centralized log of all the applications and the onboarding cases? 61%
Are data retention policies incorporated and automated into

60%
the digital loan application process?
Do employees have a single view of customers across the entire organization? 59%
Is there a single stored location (files, messages) for bank

41%
and customer communication?
Can employees in your organization instantly view and

40%
solve bottlenecks within digital sales process?
What is the elapsed time from loan approval to disbursal of funds

9%
and/or card issuance? (%=Instant)
For 54% of institutions, applicants require more than 10 minutes to complete the application (Figure 25).
FIGURE 25: Time to Complete the Unsecured Loan Digital Application
On average, how long does it take an applicant to complete

75%
the loan application online or on a mobile device?
50%
36%
28%
25% 18% 18%
0%
1 to 5 minutes 6 to 10 minutes 11 to 20 minutes More than 20 minutes
Although 70% of institutions approve simple unsecured loans for low-risk applicants with five days,
nearly three in 10 take more than 20 days (Figure 26).
FIGURE 26: Time Needed for Approval of Simple Unsecured Loans
What is the average time needed for approval of a

75%
simple unsecured loan for a low-risk applicant?
50%
38%
32% 28%
25%
3%
0%
0%
Instantly 1 to 5 days 6 to 10 days 11 to 20 days More than 20 days
Although just 9% of institutions provide instant disbursement of funds or card issuance, 57% do that
within five days. A quarter, however, require more than 20 days to do that—unacceptable in today’s
environment (Figure 27).
FIGURE 27: Time to Complete the Unsecured Loan Digital Application
On average, what is the elapsed time from loan approval

to disbursal of funds and/or card issuance?
75%
57%
50%
25%
25%
9%
8%
1%
0%
Instantly 1 to 5 days 6 to 10 days 11 to 20 days More than 20 days
APPENDIX E:
SECURED LENDING PRODUCTS
In each of the three functions, scores for digital secured loan applications were slightly lower than for
unsecured loans, with the percentages of financial institutions providing the attributes correspondingly
lower (Figure 28).
FIGURE 28: Secured Loan Products Digital Account Opening Overview
Function Attribute Percent of financial institutions
Marketing Do you offer associated complementary products with secured loans? 47%
Do you offer a completely digital process without the need to

41%
visit a branch or contact the call center?
Do you keep track of where applicants drop off, and use tools to help
36%
them complete the application?
Do you provide an omnichannel loan application process with

32%
Does your digital loan application process enable personalization

22%
How long does it take to complete the digital loan application

18%
Can applicants originate multiple products during the digital loan

13%
Risk/Compliance Do you provide instant underwriting and real-time credit risk assessment? 46%
Do you offer instant digital identification and verification of the

40%
applicant?
Do you provide pre-approved secured loans digitally? 29%
How much time is needed to approve a simple secured loan

21%
for a low-risk applicant? (%=Instant)
Do customer-facing staff have a good understanding of regulatory

Core Processes 79%
and compliance procedures?
Are data retention policies incorporated and automated into

57%
the digital loan application process?
How many times do you contact applicants with info/document requests?

55%
(%=<4)
Do employees have a single view of customers across the entire

53%
organization?
Is your document collection process paperless? 46%
Is mortgage or collateral evaluation, communication, and approval

38%
processes on one digital platform?
Can employees in your organization instantly view and solve bottle-

35%
necks within digital sales process?
What is the elapsed time from loan approval to disbursal of funds

25%
and/or card issuance? (%=<5 days)
Not surprisingly, the digital secured loan applications take longer than the unsecured applications. In less
than one in five (18%) institutions, applicants can complete the secured loan application in less than 10
minutes. It takes more than 20 minutes at 57% of the institutions surveyed (Figure 29).
FIGURE 29: Time to Complete the Secured Loan Digital Application
On average, how long does it take an applicant to

75% complete the digital secured loan application?
57%
50%
25%
25%
15%
3%
0%
1 to 5 minutes 6 to 10 minutes 11 to 20 minutes More than 20 minutes
One in five offer instant approval of a simple secured loan to a low-risk applicant, but 24% still require
more than 20 days (Figure 30).
FIGURE 30: Time Needed for Approvals of a Simple Secured Loan
What is the average time needed for approval of a

75%
simple secured loan for a low-risk applicant?
50%
43%
24%
25% 21%
10%
3%
0%
Instant 1 to 5 days 6 to 10 days 11 to 20 days More than 20 days
Although one in four institutions is disbursing funds within five days of the application, more than 50%
still require more than 20 days (Figure 31).
FIGURE 31: Elapsed Time from Secured Loan Approval to Disbursal of Funds
On average,
75% what is the elapsed time from loan approval to disbursal of funds?
53%
50%
25%
25%
12% 10%
0%
1 to 5 days 6 to 10 days 11 to 20 days More than 20 days
About the Author
RON SHEVLIN DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Ron Shevlin heads up Cornerstone Advisors’ strategic research 480.424.5849

efforts and authors the firm’s commissioned studies and Cornerstone rshevlin@crnrstone.com
Performance Report. He has been a management consultant for more than Cornerstone Bio
25 years, working with leading financial services, consumer products, retail /ronshevlin
and manufacturing firms worldwide. Prior to Cornerstone, Ron was a
researcher and consultant for Aite Group, Forrester Research and KPMG.
Ron writes a weekly column for Forbes. He is the author of the Amazon
best-selling book Smarter Bank and is the purveyor of fine snark on
The Financial Brand’s Snarketing column and the Fintech Snark Tank
podcast. Ranked #2 on Bank Innovation’s list of 30 Innovators to Watch,
Ron is frequently quoted in major industry outlets and is in great
demand as a speaker.
ABOUT
CORNERSTONE ADVISORS
Cornerstone Advisors delivers consulting services, industry insights and CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
executive forums aimed at helping financial institutions improve their
www.crnrstone.com
profitability and performance—quickly and efficiently. Armed with nearly
Cornerstone Advisors
two decades of experience, the philosophy that financial institutions
@CstoneAdvisors
can’t improve what they don’t measure, and an authoritative database
of performance metrics and vendor contract data, Cornerstone can 480.423.2030
show banks and credit unions how laser-focus measurement can lead to info@crnrstone.com
more competitive business strategies, better vendor contracts, educated
technology decisions and purposefully re-engineered processes.
ABOUT
BACKBASE
Backbase is on a mission to transform the broken banking system, so CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
financial institutions don’t just interact—they engage—with the people backbase.com
they serve.
/backbase
That’s made possible with the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform— @backbase
powering all lines of business on a single platform, including Retail, SME
& Corporate and Wealth Management. From digital sales to everyday
banking, the platform’s entire design focuses on a seamless and
captivating experience for both customers and employees.
Industry analysts Forrester, Ovum and Celent continuously recognize

Backbase’s front-runner position, and over 120 large financials around
the world are powered by the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform—
including AIB, Barclays, Banamex, Bank United, Bank of the Philippine
Islands, BNP Paribas, Bremer Bank, Islands, Citibank, Citizens Bank,
CheBanca!, Discovery Bank, Greater Bank, HDFC, IDFC First, KeyBank,
Lloyds Banking Group, Metrobank, Navy Federal Credit Union, PostFinance,
RBC, Société Générale, TPBank, Vantage Bank Texas, and Westpac.
Have questions
about this report?
Contact:
Ron Shevlin, Director of Research rshevlin@crnrstone.com
Cornerstone Advisors 480.424.5849

Backbase Digital Sales Benchmarks and Best Practices

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Backbase Digital Sales Benchmarks and Best Practices

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Digital Sales:

BENCHMARKS & BEST PRACTICES

RON SHEVLIN | Director of Research

The Digital Account Opening Maturity Model.................................................................. 2

Key Finding #2: Few Institutions Have Achieved a High Level of

Key Finding #3: Smaller Institutions Lag in Marketing

Key Finding #4: Digital Account Opening Leaders

The Digital Account Opening Roadmap.................................................... 13

Appendix A: About the Data.................................................................................. 15

Appendix B: Scoring Methodology................................................................. 16

Appendix C: Deposit Products............................................................................. 18

Appendix D: Unsecured Lending Products.......................................... 20

Appendix E: Secured Lending Products.................................................. 23

About the Author...............................................................................................................26

About Cornerstone Advisors................................................................................. 27

FIGURE 1: Fintech Priorities

Digital account opening 73% 24%

Payments 54% 39%

Lending 52% 40%

Fraud/risk management 38% 49%

New products 27% 52%

Personal financial management 19% 57%

Investment management 11% 38%

Very Important Somewhat Important

Financial Institutions Need a Digital Account Opening Roadmap

• Where do we start with our process improvement efforts?

The Digital Account Opening Maturity Model

Digital Account Opening Maturity Levels

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

1) Institutions with mature digital account opening processes outperform

2) Few institutions have achieved a high level of digital account opening

Institutions with mature digital account

Average Deposit Growth (2018-2019) Average Loan Growth (2018-2019)

Level 1 (Low) Level 2 (Mid) Level 3 (High)

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

FIGURE 4: Digital Applications % of Total Applications by Maturity Level

Digital Applications % of Total Applications by Maturity Level

Deposit Products Unsecured Loans Secured Loans

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

Few Institutions Have Achieved a High Level of

Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

Unsecured Loan Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size

37% 44% 48%

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

Secured Loan Products Digital Account Opening Maturity by Asset Size

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

FIGURE 8: Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Scores by Asset Size

Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Scores by Asset Size

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

• Personalization. Although few institutions enable personalization, a third of the largest

Deposit Products Digital Account Opening Attributes by Asset Size

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

Digital Account Opening Leaders Excel in Sales,

Maturity Level 1 (Low) Maturity Level 2 (Mid) Maturity Level 3 (High)

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

FIGURE 11: Multiple Product Origination Capabilities by Maturity Level

% of Institutions That Enable Multiple Products to be

Maturity Level 1 (Low) Maturity Level 2 (Mid) Maturity Level 3 (High)

Source: Cornerstone Advisors survey of 184 U.S.-based financial institutions, Q3 2020

FIGURE 12: Multiple Product Origination Capabilities by Maturity Level

% of Institutions That Enable Account to be Opened Digitally in Five Minutes or Less

Maturity Level 1 (Low) Maturity Level 2 (Mid) Maturity Level 3 (High)

• Where do we start with our process improvement efforts?

1) Institutions with mature digital account opening processes outperform

2) Few institutions have achieved a high level of digital account opening

• Personalization. Although few institutions enable personalization, a third of the largest