SystemDistribution & Client Service

Institutional Client Onboarding

Institutional client onboarding where AI agents read, check and chase every line, and people approve every signer and bank detail

Won mandates funded in weeks, not months, with every signer and bank detail proven.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo38documentsin 6 languages read overnight for 9 onboardings, none needing a certified translation
demo1requestto the client instead of three: the signer, the signing rule and the bank-details signatures share one fix
target35%fewer days from mandate award to funded account
target0accountsfunded to bank details without a call-back and a second person
In short

What is Institutional Client Onboarding?

Institutional client onboarding is the work between winning a mandate from a pension fund, insurer, endowment or other institution and funding its account: the IMA, KYC and AML on the entity, its controllers and signers, tax forms, settlement instructions, custody and accounts, and trading setup. Institutional Client Onboarding runs that work on one map per mandate, with seven AI agents that read, screen, validate, check and chase, while the KYC analyst, the MLRO, the onboarding manager and the client service director prepare, approve, send and sign. It is client onboarding software for financial services firms, and KYC onboarding software is one part of it: the IMA, tax forms, settlement instructions, accounts and trading setup run on the same map as the KYC file.

AI in asset management: a buyer's guide to agentic AI for investment managers →

Updated

The problem

Why institutional client onboarding takes months, not weeks

Institutional client onboarding starts the day a pension fund or insurer picks you, and the client's money waits until a dozen teams finish. Legal signs the investment management agreement (IMA) and its schedules. KYC verifies the entity, its controllers and its signers, screens every party and sets a risk rating for the MLRO. Tax operations validates the W-8BEN-E or W-9 and the CRS self-certification. Operations proves each signer's authority, calls back every new bank detail, opens custody and cash accounts and sets up the portfolio, while investment compliance codes the guidelines into pre-trade rules and billing loads the fee schedule.

Today that runs on email and spreadsheets, and the documents that matter most arrive in the client's own language: a Dutch registry extract, German articles, a Japanese tax form. They wait for a translator. Signers get accepted without a registry check, bank details get accepted from an email, a tax form disagrees with the CRS form, and the client is asked for the same document three times. The demo firm's median from award to funded was 71 days last year, and every week of delay on a $1.4 billion mandate is about $32,000 of fees not yet earned.

typical70%of financial firms said slow or inefficient onboarding lost them clients in the past year
typical$2.77Bof business email compromise losses reported to the FBI in 2024 — a new client's bank details are the target
Where the 71 days from award to funded go, in calendar days on the critical pathestimated
By hand71 days
With the solution45 days
  • Waiting on the client for documents and answers20 → 12 d
  • KYC and screening, including foreign-language documents15 → 9 d
  • Signers, settlement instructions and call-backs12 → 7 d
  • Custody, cash accounts and trading setup11 → 8 d
  • IMA, guidelines and fee schedule10 → 7 d
  • Tax forms: W-8BEN-E or W-9 and CRS3 → 2 d

Estimated split of the demo firm's 71-day median, by hand and with the solution; the 45-day total matches the design target.

How it works

How a won mandate gets funded

Seven agents plan, read, screen, validate and check every line to funding; people approve, send and sign.

What comes in
Mandate wonAbout 200 a year · CRM award, documents in any language
Agents at work
Planner agentstations, owners, dates
Then
KYC agentoriginal language, cited
Screening agent
Tax agentW-8BEN-E, CRS
Then
Settlement agentcall-back task
Account setup agent
Then
Check agentre-reads blind
A person decides
Analyst, MLRO, client service, operationsprepare, approve, send, check
What comes out
KYC approved, cited
Bank details proven
Account live and funded
One case, step by step

Institutional client onboarding, one mandate from award to funded

Stichting Pensioenfonds Veldhaven, a Dutch industry-wide pension fund, awarded Quillfield Capital a $1.40 billion Global Investment Grade Credit mandate on Monday, September 28, funding in euros on Friday, November 20. It is now day 22 of 53. The onboarding manager works the mandate with seven agents: she asks them why in plain words, sees the page behind every answer, and approves or rejects what they propose. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 01Tuesday, 9:10 a.m.

    What needs her, and what the agents did overnight

    Hannah Whitlock · Client Onboarding Manager

    Hannah's home shows 46 onboardings in flight, $20.9B to fund across 17 countries, 10 funding in the next 30 days and 5 held by the agents, each waiting on a person with the reason cited. Overnight the KYC agent read 38 documents in 6 languages, the Screening agent screened 64 parties, and the Account setup agent coded 25 of 27 Veldhaven guidelines into pre-trade rules. Her first item: “Veldhaven: the signatory list names 3, the registry authorizes 2.”

    “What the agents did since yesterday” — every line cited, and each one opens the screen where the work was done.

  2. 02Review and decide

    The onboarding map, and a plain question

    Hannah Whitlock and the KYC agent

    The mandate opens as a map: six lines (agreement, KYC and AML, tax forms, signers and bank details, custody and accounts, trading setup), 21 stations, all running to Funded on Fri Nov 20. Thirteen are done and three are held, with 11 business days of slack. Hannah clicks Authorized signers and asks the agents, “Why can't Ruben Stolk sign?” The KYC agent answers with its sources: the registry gives the power to sign to the chair and the secretary together and lists no proxy holders.

    “Article 14.3 lets the board grant a power of attorney by resolution, so one board resolution fixes it.” — KYC agent

  3. 03Show the Dutch text

    The registry in Dutch, beside the English

    KYC agent

    Page 2 of the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) extract opens with the Dutch original on the left and the English the agents read on the right, the same phrases highlighted: “Gezamenlijk bevoegd (met de secretaris)” — jointly authorized, with the secretary — and “Geen gevolmachtigden ingeschreven” — no proxy holders registered. The passage was read by the KYC agent and re-read by the Check agent. None of the onboarding's 17 documents needed a certified translation.

    “Read by the KYC agent and re-read by the Check agent.”

  4. 04Documents and KYC

    17 documents, 10 policy checks, two that fail

    Ravi Menon · KYC Analyst

    Ravi's file holds 17 documents in Dutch and English, from the KvK extract, the articles (Statuten) and the De Nederlandsche Bank register entry to the board list, passports and the IMA, each extracted value with its page and a Correct button. Eight of 10 KYC policy checks pass; two fail: Ruben Stolk has no authority on the registry and no power of attorney, and the authorized signatory list's “any one alone” contradicts the registry's “jointly”. The Check agent's blind re-read agreed on every value but one: it read the fund's pension assets in the 2025 annual report as €39.4 billion, the KYC agent as €38.6 billion. Neither agent chose and nothing was averaged; both readings went to Ravi to decide.

    A foundation has no shareholders, so no one owns 25%; the six board members control it, and the chair and secretary are the senior managing officials.

  5. 058:54 a.m.

    Bank details not accepted; a call-back a person must make

    Settlement agent

    The settlement instructions letter of Oct 14 — EUR account NL57 RBBK 0417 2290 55 at the custodian — passes the account-name, custodian and BIC checks, but it is signed by Ruben Stolk alone. The Settlement agent does not accept it. It builds the call-back instead: once his authority is proven, Daniel Cho calls Ingrid van Dalen on +31 30 721 4400, the number in the CRM that Tomás Arriaga verified on March 3 during the manager search, never the number on the letter, and Wen Li Tan approves as the second person.

    The Settlement agent never verifies bank details itself and never releases them.

  6. 069:03 a.m.

    One plain request instead of three

    Planner agent

    The Check agent re-read all four documents blind and agreed. The Planner agent worked out the slack — funding on Nov 20 holds if the resolution arrives by Nov 4 — while custody, cash accounts and trading setup keep moving. It drafted one letter to Ingrid van Dalen, Secretary of the Board, asking the board for one of two things — a resolution giving Mr. Stolk a power of attorney, or a new signatory list without him, signed by the chair and the secretary together — and for the chair and the secretary to confirm the bank details with their signatures. Hannah approves it as the maker; she cannot send it.

    “One request instead of three: the signer, the signing rule and the bank-details signatures all have one fix, a board decision.” — Planner agent

  7. 07Approved and sent

    The client sees one clear ask

    Tomás Arriaga · Client Service Director

    Hannah approved the request; Tomás sends it through the client portal and email. The portal shows it exactly as Ingrid van Dalen sees it, with no internal checks and no agent names. Her Global Investment Grade Credit account shows 4 of 6 steps complete and one thing needed: the board resolution or a new signatory list, received by November 4 to stay on track for November 20.

    “One thing we need from you.” — the client's portal

  8. 089:15 a.m.

    The MLRO approves the risk rating with a reason code

    Claire Dunmore · Money Laundering Reporting Officer

    The Screening agent screened 11 parties: 9 clear, one domestic PEP confirmed — board member Annelies Brandsma, a member of the Provincial Council of Gelderland from 2015 to 2023 — and one adverse-media hit ruled out as a different entity. Ravi prepared a Standard rating; a PEP on the board means the MLRO approves. Claire signs with the reason code “Approved — PEP, domestic, no adverse findings.” Ravi could not have approved it: he prepared it.

    “Signed as Claire Dunmore, Money Laundering Reporting Officer · recorded in the audit trail.”

  9. 09Meanwhile

    Every other line keeps moving toward Funded

    Account setup agent and Daniel Cho

    Custody account RBB-4471-0920 is open at the client's custodian, the EUR cash account is confirmed and the USD one is pending. Portfolio QF-GIGC-VELD01 is set up in portfolio accounting and the order management system, the fee schedule — 14 bp on the first $500 million, 11 bp above — is in billing, and the W-8BEN-E passed 16 of 16 checks. Two guidelines, the thermal-coal exclusion and the 5% limit on BBB- with negative outlook, go to investment compliance. The go-live sign-off lists five prerequisites still open.

    One onboarding manager signs the go-live and a second checks it; the Account setup agent never switches an account live.

  10. 10On the record

    Every action, agent or person, in one hash-chained trail

    People and agents

    The audit trail shows the morning in order: the KYC agent's hold, the Settlement agent's refusal, the Check agent's blind re-read and the one disagreement it sent to Ravi with both readings, the Planner agent's draft, Hannah's approval, Tomás's send and Claire's signature, with the reason code on every decision, the evidence for every action and each agent's version. One click builds the complete onboarding file for an auditor or a regulator: 17 documents original and English, every decision with its signatures, the agents' runs with their versions and the hash chain.

    “Each action carries the hash of the one before it, so a changed or removed action breaks every link after it.”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone between the award and the funding.

The same mandate, seen by five of the people who carry it — what onboarding looked like, and what it looks like now.

HW
Hannah WhitlockClient Onboarding Manager, London · runs 14 European onboardings, checks go-lives worldwide
Client Onboarding Manager
Before
“Tell me which station is red, why, and what I do about it.” Her plan lived in a spreadsheet nobody else saw, and she chased every team by email.
Now
Opens each mandate as one map with the agents' reasons beside it, asks why in plain words, and approves the one request that fixes a held line.
RM
Ravi MenonKYC Analyst, London · pension funds and insurers
KYC Analyst
Before
“Half my week is reading registry extracts in languages I don't speak.” Each Dutch or German deed waited for a translator before the file could move.
Now
Reads the original beside the English with the same passage highlighted, checks the agents' values and their pages, and prepares the risk rating for the MLRO.
CD
Claire DunmoreMLRO, London · approves risk ratings, enhanced reviews and policy
Money Laundering Reporting Officer
Before
“I sign nothing I can't trace to the page it came from.” The evidence behind a rating sat across emails and spreadsheets.
Now
Sees the six risk factors, the screening dispositions and their sources, and signs with a reason code; she can never approve a file she prepared.
TA
Tomás ArriagaClient Service Director, London · owns the Veldhaven relationship
Client Service Director
Before
“I want one clear ask, once, not three emails from three teams.” The client heard from legal, KYC and operations separately.
Now
Approves and sends every request the client receives, after seeing exactly what the client's portal will show.
DC
Daniel ChoAccount Setup Lead, Operations, New York
Account Setup Lead
Before
“Bank details from an email are a fraud waiting to happen.” Each signer had to be proven and a safe number found by hand.
Now
Gets a call-back task with the signer's authority checked, an independent number and a script; a second person approves before any account is used.
Built on the engine

7 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Seven agents plan, read, screen, validate and check every line to funding; people approve, send and sign.

Planner agent

Turns the CRM award into the onboarding map: stations, owners and dates set back from the funding date. It chases owners, recomputes the slack each morning and drafts plain client requests and status updates.

  • Never moves a funding date — every date change needs a person, who picks the reason code
  • Never contacts the client; a manager approves and client service sends
KYC agent

Reads registry extracts, articles, trust and foundation deeds, regulator registers and board lists in the original language, extracts every value with its page, applies the KYC policy, builds the control and ownership chart and compares the registry's signing rule with the signatory list.

  • Never sets the final risk rating
  • Cites every value to its page
  • Holds only what depends on an exception
Screening agent

Screens every party against sanctions (US, EU, UK, UN), PEP and adverse media, rescreens nightly, and proposes a disposition for each alert with its evidence.

  • Never closes a match on its own — the KYC analyst decides
Tax agent

Validates the W-8BEN-E, W-9 and CRS self-certification field by field, computes the expiry and compares the FATCA status with the CRS status; drafts the request when a form needs correcting.

  • Never gives tax advice
  • Never accepts a form with a failed required check
Settlement agent

Reads settlement instructions, checks the signer's authority, account name, BIC and country, and creates the call-back task on a number from an independent source, with the script.

  • Never verifies bank details itself and never releases them
  • Never uses a number from the same letter
Account setup agent

Opens the requests in the custodian, portfolio accounting, order management system, compliance rule library and billing, and codes each IMA guideline into a rule with its clause cited.

  • Never switches an account live
  • Hands any guideline it cannot test pre-trade to investment compliance
Check agent

Re-reads every document blind and re-runs every check without seeing the first agent's answer, on a model independent of the first reader; any disagreement goes to the station's owner with both readings.

  • Never averages two answers
  • Never overrides a person
KYC analyst, MLRO, client service director, operations control

Prepare, approve, send, check. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask the agents about any mandate, in plain words

Ask about a station, a signer, a deadline or a KYC refresh file — or tell the agents what you want. Answers cite their records; anything that changes a record goes to a person.

Why can't Ruben Stolk sign?

Because the registry gives the power to sign only to the chair and the secretary together, and lists no proxy holders. Article 14.3 lets the board grant a power of attorney by resolution, so one board resolution fixes it. The list also says any one may sign alone, which the articles do not allow.

What if it arrives late?

Each business day after Wed Nov 4 moves funding by about a day: a resolution on Nov 11 means funding on Fri Nov 27, and about $32,000 of fees a week not yet earned. I will warn Tomás Arriaga on Oct 28 if nothing has arrived, so he can call the client.

Open the account and hold only the bank details

I can't propose that: policy KYC-7.3 needs every signer proven before an account opens, because a signer can instruct the account. What I can do is keep custody, cash accounts and trading setup moving, which they are. Ask Claire Dunmore for a policy exception if the client cannot meet Nov 4.

What exactly did you check on a no-change file?

For each one: the registry re-pulled in its own language and compared field by field, every party rescreened, signers compared with the registry, the tax form's expiry, and a blind re-read. If any of those differs, the file is not in the no-change group. The analyst still signs the confirmation, and the MLRO samples 5%.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

The onboarding map, with the agentsAn institutional client onboarding map: six lines and 21 stations running to Funded, the held Authorized signers station, the KYC agent's cited answer to a plain question and the decision that needs the manager.
TodayThe onboarding manager's home: onboardings in flight, funding in the next 30 days, what the agents hold and why, what needs her, and what the agents did overnight.
Original beside EnglishPage 2 of a Dutch Chamber of Commerce extract beside the English, with the signing rule and the missing proxy holders highlighted — entity KYC without a translator.
Documents and KYCThe entity KYC documents, each value with its page and confidence, and the 10 KYC policy checks with the two that fail on the authorized signatory list.
Risk rating, approved by the MLROThe MLRO's approval box with a reason code, over the control and ownership chart, with the six risk factors beside it; the analyst who prepared the rating cannot approve it.
Tax forms, field by fieldW-8BEN-E validation line by line — form type, chapter 3 and chapter 4 status, Part XV, address and foreign TIN — with the Tax agent's 16 of 16 checks and the Check agent's blind re-read.
Bank details and the call-backStanding settlement instructions checked for account name, custodian, BIC and signer authority, and the callback verification steps: who calls, on which independent number, and who approves.
One request to the clientThe request the Planner agent drafted in plain words, its cited reasons, and the two steps: a manager approves, the client service director sends.
What the client seesThe client portal as the client sees it: 4 of 6 steps complete and the one document needed, with no internal checks and no agent names.
Accounts and go-liveCustody, cash, portfolio accounting, order management, compliance rules, billing and reporting by system, with the go-live sign-off and its prerequisites.
KYC refreshPeriodic KYC review for 1,840 relationships: 214 due in 90 days, 188 files pre-built by the agents and 141 with no change, ready for the analyst to confirm.
Audit trailEvery action by people and agents with who, what, when, why, the evidence and the hash, and one click to the complete onboarding file.
Your KYC policyOwnership thresholds, refresh cycles, registry extract age, the agents' confidence threshold and the enhanced due diligence rules, proposed by the administrator and approved by the MLRO.
Governance

Institutional client onboarding that is cited, signed and on the record.

Every value cited, original beside EnglishEach extracted value and each agent statement links to its page and passage, with the original-language text beside the English and the same phrase highlighted.
Preparer never approves, maker never checksThe KYC analyst prepares and the MLRO approves; operations records a call-back and operations control approves it; a manager approves a client request and the client service director sends it; one manager signs a go-live and a second checks it. The screens enforce each rule.
No bank detail used without proofNew standing settlement instructions are held until the signer's authority is proven, called back on an independent number from the CRM or the registry, and approved by a second person. Details changed after a call-back are held again.
What the agents may not doAgents never release settlement instructions, switch an account live, send anything to a client, close a screening match, set a final risk rating or change a funding date. They propose; a named person decides with a reason code. When the Check agent reads a value differently, both readings go to a person; nothing is averaged.
A hash-chained audit trailEvery action by people and agents is recorded with who, what, when, why and the evidence, with agent and model versions. One click builds the complete onboarding file for auditors or a regulator, and that export is logged too.
Versioned agents, data kept in regionBelow 95% confidence an agent does not propose and a person reads first; version changes are approved by the MLRO. Files stay in the client's region, PEP and enhanced due diligence files are need-to-know, and onboarding data is never visible to portfolio managers or traders.
Configuration

Your KYC policy, not ours

Thresholds, refresh cycles and the rules every onboarding is checked against are settings. The administrator proposes a change; the MLRO approves it, and it is logged.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Ownership threshold25% (10% for high risk)Any percentage, proposed by the administrator, approved by the MLRO
KYC refresh cycle12 months high risk · 24 standard · 36 lowMonths per risk level, proposed and approved
Registry extract maximum age at account opening3 monthsMonths, proposed and approved
Agents may propose without a person first at95% confidenceBelow it, a person reads first
Enhanced due diligence triggersForeign PEP · high-risk country · more than 2 ownership layersEach On or Off
Signer evidenceRegistry, board resolution or notarized power of attorneyRequired
Call-backIndependent number from the CRM or the registry; a second person approvesRequired
Check agent disagreementAlways escalated to the station owner; never averagedRequired
Connections

Works with the systems an onboarding already runs on

CRMmandate awards, contacts and the verified numbers used for call-backs
Registry and LEI lookupsregistry extracts in the original language — the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, France, US states and 31 more
Screening servicesanctions, PEP and adverse media, with nightly rescreening
Custodian messagingcustody account opening and cash accounts with the client's custodian
Portfolio accounting and order managementportfolios, tax status, benchmarks, brokers, FX lines and the compliance rule library
E-signature, billing and the client portalthe executed IMA and schedules, the fee schedule, and one clear ask to the client
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
35%
fewer days from mandate award to funded account
Today71-day median
With agentsabout 45 days
target
0
accounts funded to bank details without a call-back and a second person
every bank detail
called back, then checked
target
100%
of signers and controllers checked against the registry, in its own language
every signer
original beside English

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (a survey of 600 financial firms, including asset managers, published by a client lifecycle software vendor in October 2025 — 70% said they lost clients to slow or inefficient onboarding in the past year; FBI IC3 2024 Internet Crime Report — $2.77 billion of business email compromise losses; FinCEN customer due diligence rule, 31 CFR 1010.230 — 25% ownership and one control person). The 71-day median is the demo firm's baseline. People, companies, funds, banks and account numbers named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What onboarding, KYC and client service teams ask us.

What is institutional client onboarding?

Institutional client onboarding is the work between winning a mandate from a pension fund, insurer, endowment or other institution and funding its account: the IMA, KYC and AML on the entity, its controllers and signers, tax forms, settlement instructions, custody and accounts, and trading setup. Institutional Client Onboarding runs that work on one map per mandate, with seven AI agents that read, screen, validate, check and chase, while the KYC analyst, the MLRO, the onboarding manager and the client service director prepare, approve, send and sign. It is client onboarding software for financial services firms, and KYC onboarding software is one part of it: the IMA, tax forms, settlement instructions, accounts and trading setup run on the same map as the KYC file.

What is the institutional client onboarding process?

It runs from the CRM award through the IMA and its schedules; entity KYC with beneficial ownership, screening and a risk rating; the W-8BEN-E or W-9 and the CRS self-certification; the authorized signatory list and standing settlement instructions with a call-back; custody and cash accounts, portfolio setup and guideline coding; billing; then go-live and funding. In the solution this work sits on the six lines of the onboarding map, and every station shows its status, owner and document. Because the KYC, tax and bank-details lines run in parallel, a hold on one line stops only the stations that depend on it.

How long does institutional client onboarding take?

The demo firm's median from award to funded was 71 days last year. The design target is about 35% fewer days, measured in the live solution. The Planner agent dates every station back from the funding day, recomputes the slack each morning and warns the owner at two days of negative slack, and one plain request replaces separate asks from each team.

How does callback verification of standing settlement instructions work?

When new standing settlement instructions (SSIs) arrive, the Settlement agent checks the signer's authority, the account name, the BIC and the country, and never verifies anything itself. It creates a call-back on a number from an independent source — the CRM or the registry, never the letter — with a script. A person makes and records the call, a second person approves, and details changed after a call-back are held again.

Can it read entity KYC documents in other languages?

Yes. The KYC agent reads registry extracts, articles, foundation and trust deeds and board lists as they are, in Dutch, German, French, Japanese and other languages, and shows the original passage beside the English with the same phrase highlighted. It builds the control and ownership chart against your ownership threshold — 25% by default, the line the FinCEN customer due diligence rule draws for US beneficial ownership — and compares the registry's signing rule with the client's authorized signatory list.

How does it handle KYC refresh?

For periodic KYC review the agents pre-build each file before it is due: the registry re-pulled in its own language, every party rescreened, signers and tax-form expiry re-checked, and a blind re-read. In the demo, 188 of 214 files due in 90 days were pre-built and 141 showed no change. The KYC analyst confirms them with an attestation, the MLRO samples 5%, and changes go to a person. That keeps each KYC file current for the life of the relationship, the part of client lifecycle management that follows onboarding.

Do people stay in control?

Yes. Agents propose and hold; people decide. The KYC analyst prepares and the MLRO approves risk ratings, operations records call-backs and operations control approves them, a manager approves every client request and the client service director sends it, and two managers sign and check every go-live, each with a reason code on the audit trail.

How does it go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your KYC policy and risk matrix, roles, systems and a sample of past onboardings — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own mandates first.

See it on
your next mandate.

We'll run Institutional Client Onboarding on a sample of your own recent onboardings: awards, KYC files, tax forms and settlement instructions.