Slow onboarding creates costs across the business — delaying client activation, increasing pressure on Compliance teams and creating a poor first impression for clients. This session explores how firms can reduce KYC friction while maintaining strong, risk-based controls.

In this session, Ken Adumekwe, Head of Governance, Risk & Compliance at Zedra (Cayman Islands), looked at why onboarding processes become inefficient and how clearer ownership, better-designed risk frameworks and stronger collaboration between teams can improve both speed and effectiveness.

The discussion also examined where technology can make a genuine difference. Digital identity verification, workflow automation and secure client portals can reduce repetitive requests and manual hand-offs, but technology works best when it sits on top of a clear, fit-for-purpose compliance framework rather than trying to compensate for a poorly designed process.

In this session we covered:

• Why onboarding delays can affect revenue, client experience and the perception of Compliance
• Using a risk-based approach to avoid unnecessary KYC friction
• Common risk-framework pitfalls that can slow down onboarding
• The importance of clear ownership across Business, Compliance/Risk and Internal Audit
• Building the right framework and risk appetite before introducing automation
• Using eKYC and digital identity verification to accelerate client onboarding
• Automated workflows and secure client portals to reduce manual hand-offs and repetitive document requests
• Assessing technology and vendor risk before adopting new onboarding solutions
• Practical uses of AI in document processing, risk flagging and workflow design
• The future of digital identity, including reusable credentials and privacy-preserving verification
• How better onboarding can reduce duplication, improve the client journey and create a commercial advantage