Why Non-UK Banks Must Embrace a New Era of ‘Intelligence Everywhere’ Customer Lifecycle Management

The contents of this blog are for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Association of Foreign Banks disclaims liability for actions taken based on the materials. Readers should consult their legal advisers.

Non-UK banks face a range of customer lifecycle management (CLM) challenges.  These include adapting to cultural nuances, ensuring regulatory compliance in various jurisdictions, managing customer data across different countries, adapting to diverse customer demands and preferences, and maintaining a consistent customer experience across global operations whilst also delivering a differentiated approach appropriate to local needs.

Complex to say the least, especially when you consider that banks are operating in the age of uncertainty – shifting economic and geopolitical tensions, a difficult international trading environment, intense competition, and escalating cyber and financial crime risks.

Without being the bearers of doom, banks must of course also add into the mix the compounding impact of outdated technology, disparate processes, risks of human error, siloed data, lack of a single customer view, and an inability to create more value and operationalise the huge amounts of data, both at global and local level, they have access to.

Time to grasp a new opportunity to differentiate

In the face of all these challenges, it is crucial for non-UK banks to seek new opportunities to grow and retain a profitable customer base and bridge the gap between global strategies and local customer needs.

Opportunities that go beyond traditional CLM strategies to deliver a truly unified approach that empowers them to be more adaptive, responsive, and agile to the pace of change.  After all, the status quo is unsustainable. It’s costing banks an average of $20,000-$30,000 to onboard new commercial customers, and a further $25,000 can be lost due to delays in acquiring them.  Meanwhile they are shouldering a global financial crime compliance cost of $206.1bn, plus a staggering £38.4 billion  regulatory compliance price tag.

When done well, CLM is the best way to drive growth, retention and trust, as well as mitigate risks and enhance regulatory compliance. But for too long CLM has been expensive and difficult to navigate. Why?  Because of disparate processes, siloed data, lack of a single customer view, and an inability to effectively and efficiently operationalise the vast amounts of intelligence banks have access to.

CLM is the battleground for banking success in 2025.  Your bank needs to be on the frontline.

The future: Intelligence everywhere CLM

Picture a CLM strategy that leverages deep data resources and advanced AI to deliver transformative insights that empower smarter, faster decision making, enhanced global and local regulatory compliance, continuous risk management, and unified yet highly personalised experiences across all jurisdictions.  Whilst simultaneously bringing down cost to acquire and serve, eliminating manual and inefficient processes, and boosting competitiveness on the global banking stage.

The benefits of this approach at each stage of the customer journey are profound:

• Acquire: identify, visualise and target the entire customer universe to improve prospecting, and enhance sales and marketing efforts
• Onboard: perfectly balance customer experience with regulatory compliance
• Originate: improve product and credit decisioning and reduce time to value
• Monitor: maintain a real-time 360-degree record of every customer, minimise risk and continuously drive portfolio success
• Retain: pivot quickly to local and international development, to stay one step ahead of needs and unlock new opportunities to add value
• Grow: enable next-level experiences that foster trust and lasting loyalty

However, nowhere could the impact of intelligence everywhere CLM be more dramatic than at onboarding stage.

Reinventing onboarding

Recent research uncovered that 38% of all new banking customers abandon the onboarding process if it takes too long.  This is backed by our own research.

In FullCircl’s 2025 State of IDV report, we revealed the rate of abandoned sign-ups is potentially 2.9x greater than FIs estimate.  The most common reason for this appears to be a total focus on regulatory compliance at the expense of customer experience an imbalance could that be costing them dearly.

Just as national banks are facing off against fintechs, so too are non-UK banks.  An intelligence everywhere approach creates a “wow’ factor first impression, that enables banks to compete with even the most digitally enabled challengers.

The ability to unify data orchestration and automate workflows is a gamechanger for accelerating customer screening (KYC, KYB, PEPS, sanctions, adverse media) and identity verification.  Seamlessly guiding customers through the onboarding process, without compromising on either compliance or experience.

Take one example – AFB member Santander has witnessed a 75% decrease in onboarding effort and has reduced time to onboard customers from 14-21 days to an average of just 5 days by utilising an intelligence everywhere approach.

The challenges facing foreign banks in the UK are increasing in complexity and urgency.  The pressure to adapt and redefine customer experiences on both a global and local scale is mounting.  Those that embrace a future of ‘intelligence everywhere’ will certainly have a significant advantage.

At FullCircl, we are driving change to members such as Habib AG, Santander, AIB, Bank of Ireland, BNP Paribas, Raiffeisen Bank and more. Learn more about our API capabilities – expertly designed and documented to facilitate effortless workflow orchestration through record creation and population, automated customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring and data maintenance.

Learn more about FullCircl’s API capabilities

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