A business bank that opens accounts in nine minutes

The brief, and what was wrong with it

Northwind asked for a redesign of the account-opening form: it was long, and people gave up. Two weeks of research said the form wasn't the problem. People gave up because they were asked for documents they didn't have to hand, and there was no way to come back later without starting again.

We said so in week two. It was an uncomfortable meeting. It also saved a year of polishing the wrong thing.

What we did instead

Three changes, each measured on its own:

1. Save and resume. Every step persists; a link by email brings you back to exactly where you were. Drop-off fell 20 points from this alone.
2. Ask for documents last. Identity checks moved to the end, after the account looks real. People who've named their account finish it.
3. Automate the easy KYC. A pipeline that clears the 70% of checks that were always going to pass, and hands the compliance team only the ones that need a human.

Engineering notes

The KYC pipeline is a small TypeScript service with a queue, three provider adapters and an audit log that compliance can read without us. It replaced a spreadsheet and a shared inbox. Test coverage is 91% because the compliance team asked what the number was, and we wanted to be able to say.

What didn't work

We expected NPS to jump ten points and it moved four. Interviews afterwards were clear: the account opens fast now, but the debit card still takes a week to arrive, and that's what people remember. It's the next project.