Digital Account Opening
Designing for financial inclusion
Reimagined UBL’s digital account opening experience to simplify KYC, reduce drop-offs, and expand financial access for underserved users.
Role
CX Design
Timeline
Jun '21 - Aug '24
Context
In 2019, Pakistan began rapidly shifting toward digital banking, a transition accelerated by the pandemic. However, success depended on earning trust from users with limited digital literacy.
Challenge
UBL’s account opening flow required navigating complex regulatory forms, creating high drop-offs and long completion times.
My role
I led the end-to-end design of UBL’s digital account opening journey, from discovery to launch, including research, journey mapping, high-fidelity design, and a scalable design system.
Research & Discovery
Before designing the digital experience, I studied the in-branch account opening process at UBL, including eligibility criteria, compliance rules and the required documents. Below is the form customers previously had to complete.—note the number of fields users had to navigate.
Observation
The existing onboarding form contained over 70 required fields, many of which users struggled to interpret without branch staff.
Competitive Benchmarking
I analyzed onboarding flows across leading local banks, mapping their end-to-end journeys and comparing how they simplified KYC using OCR ID capture, liveness verification, and biometric authentication. This revealed a wide variation in required inputs.
Observation
Competitors required significantly fewer input fields, revealing opportunities to simplify UBL’s onboarding flow.
Journey Mapping
By analyzing competitor journeys, I mapped the end-to-end onboarding journeys of competitor banks to identify patterns in KYC simplification.
Design Strategy
Based on research and benchmarking, we focused on three priorities:
Reduce the number of required inputs
Automate data entry through OCR and database integrations
Guide users in selecting the right account
Solution
To reduce onboarding friction while meeting regulatory requirements, I redesigned the account opening flow around progressive disclosure, automation, and clearer guidance. Because certain declarations were legally required, I simplified their language instead of removing them.
I surfaced inputs that dynamically shaped the rest of the flow at the beginning, reducing unnecessary steps later.
I simplified document uploads with clear guidance and validation for occupation-specific requirements.
I consolidated personal information into a single step to reduce cognitive load and drop-offs.
I streamlined document upload by adding clear guidance on required occupation documents.
Design System
I created a reusable component library to standardize onboarding patterns and accelerate future feature releases.
Communication Design
I simplified financial language and created UX copy across SMS, email, tooltips, and error states.
Systems Thinking
A key development challenge was differentiating account types, each with unique fields and legal requirements. I created a detailed field-mapping spreadsheet linking inputs to backend logic, reducing implementation ambiguity and aligning engineering with regulatory requirements.
User Testing
During think-aloud usability testing with six participants, we observed increasing confusion as account options expanded. Participants often selected accounts without understanding eligibility or limits.
Insight
Many users struggled to determine which account they were eligible for.
Feedback Implementation
To reduce confusion around eligibility, I introduced a short questionnaire that assessed user eligibility, followed by a comparison tool showing limits, required documents, and features.
UBL Smart Account
I designed UBL Smart Account, enabling anyone with a smartphone to open a bank account in seven minutes through the UBL Digital App. By automating branch selection, simplifying declarations, and integrating government databases, we reduced inputs to just 15, two fewer fields than the fastest competitor, reducing onboarding from two days to minutes.
