Why onboarding is the hardest flow in fintech

In banking, brokerage and prop trading, nobody can use the product until they prove who they are. That makes KYC the first real experience a customer has, and often the place they give up. I have designed these flows for SME banking, retail brokerage and prop trading, across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and India.

What works

• Show the whole journey up front, so people know how many steps are left.

• Ask for documents only when they are needed, and explain why each one is required.

• Design for each country. Documents, verification steps and wording change between markets, and the flow should too.

• Make errors specific. “Photo too blurry, try again in better light” beats “Verification failed”.

• Save progress, so a missing document doesn’t mean starting over.

Balancing compliance and conversion

The best results come from working with compliance from day one instead of designing around them later. When both sides agree on the minimum each step needs, the flow gets shorter and the checks stay strict.