In no other vertical market is the immediacy for Digital Signatures more loudly pronounced and compliance so critical than the financial services industry. From simple banking transactions to loans, mortgages, insurance policies and more, the international laws for Electronic and Digital Signatures are taking shape and businesses must comply or risk tremendous fines, legal issues and the general right to do business.

In the United States, the financial services industry holds a tight rein regarding Electronic and Digital Signatures, with ESIGN and individual state’s UETA regulations, as well as heavy guidance from the CFPB and FFIEC for reporting and documentation standards. Some links with summarized US compliance overviews include:

• ESIGN – The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act
• UETA – The Uniform Electronic Transaction Act
• CFPB – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• FFEIC – The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council

In European countries, the adherence to eIDAS and other regulations is becoming a hard and fast rule to doing business. As communicated in a recent blog from Mike Boyle around EMEA Digital Signature compliance:

“Identity is also now a compliance necessity, with regulations such as eIDAS, the Electronic Communications Act, the Payment Services Directive 2 and the Consumer Credit Act, organizations (especially financial in nature), must take appropriate measures to verify the identity of someone who is transacting online with their business.”

Compliance is a Win-Win for Everyone

Adoption of, and compliance with, these international regulations is good for business and good for consumers as well.  In fact, getting started now with Digital Signatures will minimize risk and improve your business competitively over others still using only ink and paper signatures.

A properly implemented Digital Signature policy and solution provides exacting authentication, secure encryption, a tamper-evident seal and a legally binding, court-admissible audit trail. In fact, a solid Digital Signature policy and solution will also consistently meet many auditor’s requirements and comply with most laws as a valid signature.

Simply put, a financial services company loses nothing by implementing Digital Signature processes now and stands to gain substantially through minimized risk, better close rates, lower costs, increased efficiency and improved customer experience in all areas of the business. Let’s look at a few ways where a Digital Signature process helps financial service businesses gain a competitive edge.

Stay Ahead of the Competition

Undoubtedly, success in the financial industry stems from showing agility in volatile and uncertain markets, while recognizing and adopting trends in technology to improve efficiency and regulatory compliance, including online and mobile banking. As previously noted, adopting a Digital Signature process will keep you ahead of your competition. Sole reliance on a paper and wet-ink signature shows inflexibility and a closed mindedness to the future of doing business and a lack of customer experience understanding. Let the competition be that guy.

One of today’s major reasons for competitive growth in financial services is that businesses and customers are completing transactions faster through the aid of Digital Signing and document processes. In banking and lending, customer service is still king and adopting Digital Signing paves the way for smoother services and efficiency when opening new accounts, finalizing loans or doing online or mobile banking.

In financial planning and wealth management, advisers are freed from paperwork to do the important job of relationship building and client management, while the Digital Signing and document compliance processes are automated and easily done remotely, via mobile or cloud, helping to streamline transactions and approvals, which further escalates a firm’s overall customer experience rating.

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