HDFC Securities Ensures Client Safety During the Pandemic with End-to-End Digital Account Opening

HDFC Securities, one of the country’s largest stockbrokers, has moved all digital account opening tasks permanently to a work-from-home (WFH) setup. The company made the announcement, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed. The aim was to support new customers with a completely digital process for account opening.

“Before the onset of COVID-19, 90% of our client onboarding was physical,” said Ashish Rathi, Whole Time Director at HDFC Securities. “But the lockdown brought in new rules of e-KYC, which allowed brokers to digitally onboard clients and in much lesser time than before,” he added.

Adapting to the New Normal

In April 2020, market regulator SEBI issued a circular that allowed financial institutions to undertake Aadhaar-based e-KYC, a process that is completely digital, without the need for any in-person contact.

“Government rules last year, permitting only a minimal staff to work from the office even for critical services, meant that we had to reinvent the wheel,” said Ashish Rathi.

HDFC Securities quickly moved its KYC process to a secure internet-based verification module. All the staff working in digital verification have been moved to work-from-home and given the necessary infrastructure to manage the process, without compromising on client safety or compliance with the SEBI regulations.

“This meant that not only were our staff safe, but we also saw an uptick in productivity,” added Ashish Rathi.

Committed to Easing the Customer’s Journey

About 80% of HDFC Securities’ customer acquisition takes place through the digital channel now. Yet, the digital KYC rejection rate stands at a low 6%-9%. This is among the lowest in the industry.

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HDFC Securities is also planning to shift digital verification to straight-through processing (STP), an automated process that will take care of various verification steps without the need for manual intervention. This means that the company can also scale up account opening volumes without having to hire aggressively.

“In the near future, we are also bringing in digital nomination for all our customers. This will help them to nominate persons sitting at home,” Ashish Rathi added.

With a focus on customer satisfaction and support for its own employees during an ongoing pandemic, HDFC Securities is committed to ensuring seamless customer onboarding and support even after the pandemic is brought under control.