Custom Digital Onboarding System Meets Western Pacific Trust Company’s Unique Needs

Custom Digital Onboarding System Meets Western Pacific Trust Company’s Unique Needs

Western Pacific Trust Company (WPTC) is based out of Vancouver with a niche focus on private capital markets. Their specialized makeup means the company has unique operational considerations when looking for technology providers. Additionally, since WPTC sees its outstanding client service as a competitive advantage, it was important for the company to find a technology solution that could uphold its high standards. Western Pacific Trust wanted to transform its account opening processes from manual to digital without compromising client experience.

Digital Onboarding Was Common Sense

Before Mako Fintech emerged as a solution provider for WPTC, their account opening procedures were by and large performed manually.  Some Issuers had WPTC’s account opening forms on their platform, which the clients could complete with WPTC-approved digital signature programs.  In the majority of cases, emails were sent with documents attached to be completed and signed either manually or with DocuSign or HelloSign.  In such cases, the client forms were paper, so the process required a designate of the Issuer to lead the client through the account opening process, before checking and vetting the forms for submission to WPTC.

WPTC President and CEO, Alison Alfer, says “it was common sense” that triggered the trust company to start looking for technology solutions to improve their onboarding process. She says they were keenly aware that they needed to make this transition to digital, but the question was: how do we start from scratch and explain to a technology vendor what we need?

Finding the Perfect Fit

WPTC needed a more efficient and user-friendly way to onboard clients that eliminated errors and deficiencies in the form completion process and reduced processing time. They were looking at developing a proprietary program to meet their needs because they didn’t find what they were looking for from existing wealth technology providers.

WPTC noticed that Mako Fintech was offering digital onboarding and account opening services to one of its clients and was intrigued. Through this connection, WPTC was introduced to Mako.

After a product demonstration, the WPTC team was impressed that the system would allow them to open new accounts digitally and that it could be customized and adapted to the needs of WPTC without them having to start from scratch. Alfer points out that it also quickly became clear that Mako’s management team was very responsive and shared many of WPTC’s core values. It was this experience with the Mako Fintech team that made WPTC sure they were working with the right solution provider.

Reimagining What Day-to-Day Looks Like

Since Q4 of 2021, Western Pacific Trust Company has been using the Mako system daily. Their Plan Administration department uses the customized digital onboarding solution for clients to complete and submit the documents online to open self-administered registered plans at WPTC. The efficiencies in the system have been a huge help for their team. Now that WPTC has been using Mako’s platform for digital onboarding regularly they’ve:

  • Cut down improperly completed paperwork saving the Plan Administration team time
  • Reduced client aversion to paperwork
  • Substantially reduced the need for Issuer involvement in the account opening process
  • Streamlined their processes
  • Improved processing times

With the success WPTC has had with Mako Fintech so far, they’re looking into new applications of the technology to support their operations. Currently, the team is discussing additions to the onboarding system and exploring possibilities to expand the scope of Mako’s services to Western Pacific Trust Company.

 

Image Credits

Feature Image: Property of Mako Fintech

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