“Providing clients with an exceptional account opening experience is a major priority for us,” said Sean Amato-Gauci, Executive Vice-President, Cards, Payments & Banking, RBC. “The three unique options being offered to clients will allow them to remotely open an account through a simple and secure digital solution, while also enabling connectivity to the expertise of our advisors. And because of the increased adoption of digital banking solutions, we believe clients will enthusiastically welcome the opportunity to open an account when and where it’s convenient for them.”

In designing these solutions, RBC anchored the client experience around four fundamental features:

Access: COVID-19 and the need for physical distancing has placed pressure on Canadians’ access to many basic services. Fully digitizing the end-to-end account opening process enables more Canadians to quickly, conveniently and safely start banking with RBC, supporting their personal or business needs. This is especially relevant for people in rural communities, where travelling to a branch may be difficult; for elderly and at-risk individuals who want to avoid public settings; and for newcomers who still need access to banking services even though they may need to self-isolate upon arriving. For business owners, it allows them to access RBC’s banking services from their place of business, so they can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time with their clients.

Industry-leading security: The remote account open solutions are powered by new, industry-leading ID verification technology (IDV). IDV verifies a client’s government-issued identification against the security features and characteristics of their driver’s license, passport or ePassport. This is combined with new document management capabilities that make sharing sensitive documents more secure.

Simplicity and convenience: Canadians now have three convenient ways to open an account: remote self-serve, remote advisor-assisted, and in person at a branch. Underpinning the remote account open experience are four innovative capabilities that provide added value for the client. For example, business clients with multiple owners no longer have to worry about having all owners together in one place. The new IDV, e-signature and document upload capabilities create a seamless experience allowing multiple owners to verify their identities, and complete their signing responsibilities. Also, both personal and business clients can set their client card PIN remotely, get enrolled in online and mobile banking, and begin transacting immediately after completing the process.

Connection to advice: The remote advisor-assisted option provides clients with the same advice and expertise they would experience in-branch. And, the personal account open process uses IDV to automatically populate a client’s information in their account profile, saving time on administrative tasks and, when working with an advisor, frees time to have richer conversations about their banking needs.

“Opening a business banking account is an important step to effectively manage business finances and the day-to-day cash flow needed for a growing business,” said Greg Grice, Executive Vice-President, Business Financial Services at RBC. “By creating this fully online account open process, business owners can save time on this essential administrative task so they can get back to the things that matter most: building customer relationships, taking care of their employees and growing their business.”

RBC’s fully remote digital account open process supports the bank’s ongoing commitment and accelerated efforts to provide Canadians and businesses with digitally-enabled and seamless banking experiences, while protecting the client’s security and peace of mind. RBC has introduced several industry-leading digital and data-driven capabilities such as NOMI Budgets™, Ask NOMI™ and various mobile banking enhancements for personal clients. To support business clients, RBC brought to market NOMI Insights™, RBC Insight Edge™ and digitally-enabled solutions that complement their banking needs such as Go Digital™, Ownr™ and Moneris Online® and Bookmark™, among others.

The self-serve and advisor-assisted options for business accounts are now available, along with the advisor-assisted options for personal accounts. Enhancements to the self-serve options for personal accounts will be available in the coming weeks and, by then, clients will also be able to use the mobile app to open a personal account. Meanwhile, clients still have other options when opening a deposit account if they have other types of IDs or may not yet be comfortable using the remote account open solutions.

The remote account open processes are built on a single digital platform. This enables RBC to deliver innovative digital capabilities and products to clients in a way that is faster and seamlessly integrated to create the optimal client experience.