Why financial services organisations can’t afford to be late to the paperless party

Agreements are at the heart of all banking processes, especially customer-facing interactions. And it’s up to banks to make these customer-facing agreements as easy as pie to complete. Which is why the majority of lenders have been digitising their customer engagements in recent years.

Indeed, if you’re one of the many lenders that have implemented eSignature, you're probably feeling pretty good about that decision right now. Why? Well, you’ve radically improved turnaround times, you’ve increased your capacity to serve during peak periods of demand, and you’ve (hopefully) grown or at least defended your market share. 

And, most importantly, you’ve made life easier for your customers. By adding eSignature to your agreements, customers can easily apply, contract and settle with you – anywhere and anytime. 

Despite all these benefits, there are still some banks and financial services organisations out there that are late to the paperless party. Whether leaders want to keep doing things the ‘old way’, or legacy systems feel too complex to update, it can feel like obstacles get in the way of digitisation. Good news. These obstacles can easily be removed, and they should – because, these days, no bank can afford not to go paperless.

Here’s why lenders should go paperless

Put simply, you need to digitise if you don’t want to be left behind. Easy-to-use digital experiences have faster turnaround times, and are significantly shifting market share amongst the major lenders. In other words, customers may be more likely to choose a lender that offers quicker decisioning over a slow, paper-based one. Brokers tend to favour banks with integrated digital solutions, too. 

Speed is a key differentiator here. To stand out in a crowded market, financial institutions are introducing new digital products and services such as the ‘10 minute loan’ (for those that qualify. Indeed, approval times have been touted as the new battleground for home loans. Digitisation helps put the foot on the accelerator, simplifying the loan application and acceptance process, and driving higher conversion rates. 

Scalability is another key benefit of digitisation. Financial institutions that integrate digitisation into their workflows increase their capacity to serve, which is critical at a time when new loan commitments are rising. In the lending space, those that integrate digital experiences are far more prepared to handle the volume, can respond faster, and grow revenue and market share over their competitors. Behind the scenes, digital application processes eliminate the need for repetitive data entry, improve efficiency, and lower the cost of doing business. 

And here’s proof of the perks of paperless

To understand how much digitisation can improve the agreement process for banks, DocuSign recently conducted a survey of current banking customers to assess their experiences before and after implementing eSignature. In a nutshell, we found that banks experienced faster turnaround (by an average of 50%), less time spent on documents (by 30%), better customer experience and less risk of errors. They also experienced a 30% reduction in abandonment rates.

Stats like these are proof of the benefits of going paperless for things like loan agreements and customer onboarding. If your bank isn’t yet going down this path and you need more convincing, read our recent blog on 4 reasons to go paperless.