Buyer’s Guide: Sellside Client Onboarding & KYC Solutions 2019

Instead, many of the vendors active in the space in 2019 now gear the benefits of their offerings for a sellside audience toward the utilisation of specialised solutions focused on performing a narrow range of client onboarding- and KYC-specific functions. Such solutions are typically presented on a commercial basis by vendor providers as Web-based or SaaS / hosted platforms that are modular out-of-the-box and easily scalable over time.

Meanwhile, from a functionality perspective, ‘buy’ or ‘buy-and-build’ thinking has surpassed ‘build-only’ thinking within the majority of global or regionally-focused CIB operational mindsets in 2019 when it comes to client onboarding and KYC technology selection for either ITO or BPO purposes. This shift in focus took place, in part, due to a commonly-held level of understanding within the industry that so-called transaction banking activities – encompassing typically middle-office functions such as cash management and settlement – are becoming increasingly important from an overall bank cost controls perspective. The functional capabilities of client onboarding and KYC solutions are thus expected in 2019 to allow for the realisation of such business and operational streamlining effects while simultaneously presenting innovative thinking at the business intelligence toolkits or downstream systems integration level.

The client onboarding and KYC solutions vendor offerings surveyed for this report include:

• Fenergo Client Lifecycle Management;
• IHS Markit Counterparty Manager: Onboarding Accelerator & KYC Services; and
• iMETA