Paperjam: What challenges do you face in terms of streamlining processes?
Anna Zakrzewski: Quintet, founded in Luxembourg 75 years ago and operating in more than 30 cities across Europe and the UK, was primarily built on the acquisition of historically important wealth managers with a rich local heritage. With most of our historical growth being inorganic and built on M&A, we inherited a legacy of different processes across all our markets.
Our core belief is that we can strongly benefit from the agility that comes with a bank of our size by cutting through organisational complexity and increasing efficiency so we can devote more time to our clients and the pursuit of their best interests. That’s why we are so focused on standardising, simplifying and accelerating the automation of our processes, especially those that have the greatest impact on client experience, such as onboarding.
The implementation of such standardised and streamlined processes can be challenging. It requires effective change management and the alignment of complex IT systems. Harmonising controls, managing operational risk throughout implementation and ensuring employee ownership also require significant time and investment.
What challenges do you face in terms of client onboarding in particular?
The main challenge is the overwhelming amount of paperwork due to the number of signatures required, which complicates the process. At the same time, balancing digital efficiency with personalised service and human interaction is crucial, including as it pertains to the onboarding process. At Quintet, we recognise that the online experience can and should complement but will never replace the human one.
How are you tackling these challenges?
Simplifying processes with a holistic approach--designed across the full value chain, from front to back--and increasing digital signatures are key strategies. Mapping out alternative onboarding journeys--including online, offline and hybrid--and continuously refining them based on client and colleague feedback help enhance client experience.
If you could create one digital tool to ease one process, what would it be?
An AI tool to resolve data quality issues and ensure accurate data deployment would be ideal. Integrating this into a client portal could streamline workflows and improve service quality. Combining digital efficiency with highly personalised service can significantly enhance the onboarding experience for everyone involved.
What’s something that most people don’t realise about client onboarding for firms like Quintet?
Onboarding is not simply “opening an account.” It’s far more complex. We operate in a highly regulated industry, and this complexity reflects the need for thorough client due diligence as well as investment profiles and risk assessment.
At the same time, as I said earlier, we are focused on standardising, simplifying and automating our processes so we can devote more time to our clients. In this area, like so many others, it is a therefore a balancing act.
What is Quintet using AI for at the moment and how do you see that changing?
We now work with secure AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot to enhance meeting management and draft/review certain kinds of documents. We are piloting AI in this way across a range of departments to identify various use cases and potential benefits.
Our focus right now is on building a secure, stable foundation--reflecting regulatory requirements and our own very high risk-management standards--so that in the future we can combine traditional machine learning and newer generative AI methods to enhance productivity and data management. We are also selectively applying AI in our current process standardisation effort.
Again, this is about combining digital efficiency and highly personalised service so we can devote more time to our clients and the pursuit of their best interests.
Are AI tools all they’re cracked up to be?
AI has transformative potential, including for organisations that deploy AI to gain a competitive edge. Healthcare diagnostics, circular economy supply chains and infrastructure such as data centres and next-generation power grids are just a few examples of how long-term innovation will be driven by AI.
At Quintet, the deployment of AI remains in the beta phase as we operate in a highly regulated industry. As mentioned earlier, we see longer-term opportunities to integrate and leverage AI to enhance productivity and data management as well as in the investment management space, to cite just a few examples.
This article was written for the to the of Paperjam magazine, published on 26 March 2025. The content is produced exclusively for the magazine. It is published on the site to contribute to the full Paperjam archive. .
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