A new ID for a bank
Banco do Brasil
Brazil is probably a precursor in online banking adoption and use. Even before fintechs began to appear, brazilian users were already paying their bills online, investing and managing their accounts, both checking and savings, using a browser or an app.
Recently the brazilian government, in an effort to increase competition even more, decided to adopt and implement what they are calling Open Banking. In a nutshell its a means to clients to share information across different financial institutions and get offered better and more competitive products and services.
There is another aspect that Brazil is also pioneers: banking fraud. It's common to see clients falling in scams, sharing passwords and banking information very easily. Branches have to invest heavily in safety measures to prevent gullible customers from loosing their earnings and savings.
The challenge
Banco do Brasil is the second largest bank in Brazil with more than 69 million customers. Not only it has to constantly invest in advertising, security, but also has to be creative and invent new products and services so as not to loose customers.
The new Open Banking is an opportunity to spin some not so pleasant changes into a selling point. Banco do Brasil offers much more besides banking products and services. Is one of the country largest sponsors of sports and culture and operate many institutes and partners that can add value to a relationship with the bank. Many non customers already relate to these other aspects of the company.
So they have decided to create a single sign on with a more universal form of identification other then branch and account number. Something that every brazilian already have, like it's CPF (the brazilian version of social security number). So whenever a citizen would go to a event sponsored by Banco do Brasil or even browse on associated websites he would be giving some data and taking a first step into becoming a customer.
But it was necessary to make it available to new clients, non clients and current clients alike with less friction possible.
The process
Remote collaborative working. Trying to work together with stakeholders to create the parameters, requirements and value propositions of this new ID form. Our core team had four members: an Ux Lead, an Ux Designer (me), an Ui designer and an Ux writer. Together we've moderated several workshops and conducted many IDI's (in depth interviews) with various departments from legal to security specialists.
Fortunately the bank had just gone through a brand redesign and they've commissioned a very complete and comprehensive design systems with all the necessary tokens and components. Visual and Ui wouldn't be an issue and we could focus on the interactions, journeys and flows, and just update and add components.
The solution
To facilitate the registering process, we would take advantage of information from the competition and affiliate companies and entities. The new Open Banking approach would allow this. All the user had to do was to agree with the data sharing, let the bank send the request to institution they already are clients on and confirm it. Secure and transparent.
We've designed different flows according to the user profile: non and new clients could request their current bank to share their info with Banco do Brasil and current customers would benefit of a single sign on for all their personal, savings, checking, corporate, legal or government accounts.
Later on affiliate companies would also incorporate the same id registration. So to go to a free theater play, exibition or match sponsored by Banco do Brasil, the user would have to create his ID. And when he wants to hire a service or a product from the bank, his basic information and CRM data would already available.
This process is still being developed and tested before being put into production.
See how the registration process will be on the bank's website:
