BforBank
Designing the onboarding flow that ranked #1 on Google's UX Benchmark 2023
Problem
68% of European consumers abandoned a financial onboarding in 2021 (Signicat, "Battle to Onboard"). BforBank was rebuilding its entire product from scratch: new positioning, branding, app, and offers. The challenge: design an onboarding that feels as fast as a neobank while collecting all the data a real bank legally needs for KYC and fraud detection.
Target audience
Consumers who want the simplicity of a neobank with the security and advantages of a traditional bank.
Team
- Lead Designer, supervised by the Head of Design
- Product team: PO, developers
- Marketing, for offer management
- Legal & compliance, for KYC and fraud detection
Key results
- Ranked #1 out of 51 banks in the 2023 Google Finance UX Benchmark, ahead of every neobank and traditional bank reviewed
- Reduced the data required upfront across 3 compliance workshops, deferring non-critical KYC to post-onboarding without raising fraud risk
How I solved this problem
1. Documented competitor onboarding journeys to give the team a permanent reference
Captured every screen from around 10 bank and neobank onboarding flows, organized in Google Drive folders with a comparative Excel highlighting key differentiators. Since onboarding flows can only be experienced once, this gave the whole team permanent, searchable access to competitor reference material.
2. Mapped every onboarding step with product, compliance, and legal
Defined all required sections (offer selection, phone enrollment, document collection, identity verification, e-signature, additional data entry, card ordering, insurance cross-sell, and adding money) and identified what information each step required and why.
3. Designed wireframes focused on one question per screen
The goal wasn't fewer screens: it was making each screen instantly understandable and the overall journey feel fast and intuitive. Each screen presented one clear question with easy-to-reach actions, so users could progress quickly without cognitive overload.
4. Ran 3 compliance workshops to reduce upfront information
Worked with legal and compliance to identify which data was truly mandatory at onboarding versus what could be deferred to first login, third login, or later. Significantly reduced the amount of information required upfront while keeping acceptable risk levels for KYC and fraud detection. Coordinated with account management teams to define exactly when each deferred piece of information would be collected.
5. Prototyped and user-tested step ordering in Figma
Built Figma prototypes to run two rounds of user testing. The first tested comprehension: whether users understood the information being requested. The second tested different step sequences: where to place offer selection (beginning vs. end), whether to group card ordering with insurance cross-sell, and whether to split additional data collection into multiple blocks.
6. Applied the design system from wireframes to pixel-perfect UI
Collaborated with an external agency on the design system, then applied it to transition all wireframes into production-ready, pixel-perfect screens.
What we delivered
- Complete onboarding journey from wireframes to production-ready UI
- Competitor benchmark documentation covering 10+ banks with every screen captured and organized
- Reduced upfront data requirements through 3 compliance workshops, deferring non-critical collection to post-onboarding
- Figma prototypes and user tests validating step ordering and comprehension
- A shift in the bank's mindset: users can access the app before verification is complete, managing the wait rather than blocking access
