COB

CONTEXT

Saving 354+Hours: How a streamlined tool transformed workflow efficiency

At RBC Wealth Management, client onboarding is a critical operational backbone—enabling Advisors and Associates to create client profiles, open accounts, and ensure KYC compliance. However, the experience had become a bottleneck. Fragmented systems, manual workarounds, and unclear workflows were slowing teams down and introducing risk, ultimately impacting both efficiency and client trust.

My Role:

I led the end-to-end transformation of RBC’s core Client Onboarding (COB) platform.

This wasn’t just a redesign, it was a multi-squad, cross-functional transformation. I:

Led and mentored a team of 3 designers, elevating design quality and consistency across workstreams
Defined the UX strategy and aligned it with business and regulatory priorities
Partnered with 5 product and engineering squads to drive execution at scale
Managed external vendor relationships to ensure cohesion across platforms
Advocated for a user-centered approach within a delivery-driven environment

A key part of my role was shifting the team from execution to strategy, embedding design earlier in the process and creating stronger alignment between user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility.

I led the end-to-end transformation of RBC’s core Client Onboarding (COB) platform.

This wasn’t just a redesign, it was a multi-squad, cross-functional transformation. I:

Led and mentored a team of 3 designers, elevating design quality and consistency across workstreams
Defined the UX strategy and aligned it with business and regulatory priorities
Partnered with 5 product and engineering squads to drive execution at scale
Managed external vendor relationships to ensure cohesion across platforms
Advocated for a user-centered approach within a delivery-driven environment

Outcomes:

354
hours saved for Advisors and Associates (over 6 months).

74
hours saved for Branch Operations.

76%
reduction in KYC reviews required annually

70%
decrease in review and approval time for Advisors and Associates

20%
adoption growth was achieved in the first 3 months, rising from 73% to 93%.

Beyond metrics, this work helped establish a design-led culture, influencing how teams approach problem-solving across the organization.

Key Challenges I Navigated

1. Operating in a Complex Regulatory Environment
Balancing strict compliance requirements with usability required close alignment with legal, risk, and operations teams.

2. Driving Design Maturity
Teams were initially delivery-focused, with limited emphasis on UX. I introduced research-driven decision-making and co-creation practices to shift this mindset.

3. Changing Deeply Ingrained Behaviors
Advisors and Associates relied heavily on legacy workarounds. Driving adoption required not just better design, but trust, clarity, and change management.

Clarifying the Problem Space

I led a research-driven discovery phase, partnering closely with UX Research to ground decisions in real user needs.

Conducted 20+ interviews with Advisors, Associates, and stakeholders
Synthesized findings into key themes and opportunity areas
Prioritized initiatives based on impact, feasibility, and business alignment
Facilitated co-creation sessions to align stakeholders early and often

This approach ensured we weren’t just improving screens, we were redefining the workflow end-to-end.

Before:

The original tool felt outdated and clunky, like an old MS-DOS banking system. It was hard to navigate, prone to manual errors, and lacked clear inputs or feedback. Users often felt confused, frustrated, and relied on workarounds to get things done.

After:

The new experience is clear, and guided, helping users find the right information quickly and confidently, with less effort.

Account view:

Role-Based Personalization:

The experience now adapts to each user’s role, surfacing only the tools, tasks, and notifications that matter to them. We also made it easier to open and manage multiple accounts. The entire flow was reimagined to guide users through their work with confidence, reducing friction, removing guesswork, and speeding up core tasks.

The experience now adapts to each user’s role, surfacing only the tools, tasks, and notifications that matter to them. We also made it easier to open and manage multiple accounts. The entire flow was reimagined to guide users through their work with confidence — reducing friction, removing guesswork, and speeding up core tasks.

A real-time progress tracker gave users visibility into each step, while a completion check ensured all required fields were filled, helping maintain compliance and avoid delays.

Dynamic field validation helped catch missing or incorrect information early.

“At RBC Wealth Management, client onboarding is at the heart of operations”

The homepage was designed as a central hub to help users navigate their work with confidence. To build trust and support adoption, We added a consistent spot for real-time updates, so users always know what’s new and never feel caught off guard.

We simplified the KYC submission by moving it to the client profile level, so instead of submitting it for each account, users can now do it once, faster and more efficiently, right from the profile.

Users now have an intuitive way to review and approve KYC data through a streamlined dashboard that makes managing pending approvals fast and easy. They can also search for a client and make any necessary updates based on their role, all in one place.

CONSISTENCY ACROSS PLATFORMS

The KYC approval often includes multiple devices. We designed an experience that worked on desktop and was integrated with the global mobile app used by advisors. Users could start approving on a laptop at work and finish booking on a smartphone on the go. The app also remembered users’ about expiry dates, pending approvals, and material change information. A personalized approach meant a better, faster experience.

The COB app lacked a centralized way to manage client relationships, causing confusion and inefficiencies, especially with the addition of Private Corporation clients.
Setting up relationships became complex and inconsistent.

We started by mapping core relationship flows and aligning early with stakeholders, which clarified expectations and laid a solid foundation for design and research.

All relationship tasks are now centralized, eliminating repetitive steps for clients and accounts.

We redesigned the e-sign flow so advisors can send all documents, account details, and changes directly from the app, no need for external tools.

Clients access their documents through two-factor authentication and can easily review and sign them.

A one-click download organizes everything by account type, making the process simple and efficient.

Provides Advisor Teams with the ability to customize the welcome page clients see when completing their eSignature package sent
from COB.

Advisor Teams can also customize the welcome page clients see when completing their eSignature package sent
from COB.

IMPACT

The new COB platform has redefined how RBC Wealth Management onboards clients, boosting operational efficiency, reinforcing compliance, and strengthening client trust.

The result: a streamlined, guided experience that reduces friction, minimizes errors, and builds user confidence at every step.

Initial adoption reached 73%, and after implementing key enhancements and new journey flows, adoption rose to 93%.

Increased Advisor and Associate satisfaction in 24% with onboarding experience.

Reduced KYC reviews from 500,000 to ~120,000, significantly lowering operational overhead.

Sharp decrease in documentation errors and manual rework.

Most importantly, the project helped foster a culture shift within the organization, embedding a more design-led approach to solving business challenges.

dan.hildebrandt