Effective onboarding at Baloise thanks to Harmoney
Sven Bocken who is the product manager Life at Baloise Belgium, one of the leading insurers in Belgium, gave his insights about how he is experiencing the Harmoney collaboration.
About Baloise Belgium
Baloise Belgium is the Belgian branch of the Swiss-based Baloise Group, a leading European insurance and financial services provider. The company offers a wide range of solutions, including life and non-life insurance (car, home, liability), pensions, savings, and investment products for both individuals and businesses.
Known for its customer-first approach and dedication to human interaction “Always Human”, Baloise ensures that even digital processes retain personal contact where it matters most. Sven Bocken is responsible for translating regulatory requirements into operational and IT processes, bridging compliance and efficiency.
The challenge
Baloise wanted to streamline its anti-money laundering and compliance processes, which were complex and time-consuming due to manual steps and varying risk levels of policies. The team needed a partner who could act quickly, flexibly, and implement solutions on short notice.
The Harmoney solution
Working with Harmoney, Baloise successfully integrated and optimized its entire onboarding workflow, combining speed, automation, and regulatory compliance:
- Compliance questionnaires and checks for low- and high-risk policies were embedded directly into the digital onboarding process.
- Low-risk policies can now be processed and delivered almost immediately.
- High-risk policies are efficiently routed to the back office for fast, informed decisions.
“From the first conversations with Wouter, Stijn, and Thomas, it was clear that Harmoney was the right partner,” Sven explains. The result was a two-part solution: uploading documents in the KYC module, and triggering the appropriate questionnaires and scoring in the AML module, a fully coordinated compliance workflow.
Modules used
Baloise was positively surprised by the fast implementation of the Harmoney solution thanks to the use of a combination of multiple modules which were configured in line with their policies and requirements. In order to design the Baloise solution, the following modules were selected.
Identification and validation
Harmoney facilitates a smooth identification process to onboard or reboard private individuals as well as more complex legal entities and trusts.
Conceived for an omnichannel environment, it leverages pre-filled information from internal and external databases, with the end client able to digitally confirm or make modifications to the pre-filled datapoints and documents via an intuitive workflow. The process can be configured to meet the financial institution’s particular needs.
For private individuals, worldwide ID checking can be added to the configuration to give greater reassurance on fraud detection. The confirmed data and documents can then be instantly and efficiently transferred via the API Gateway to the financial institution’s systems, with no loss of data quality.
UBO verification and confirmation
In an ideal world, external databases would be 100% reliable. But, the reality is that a time-stamped confirmation by the end client is the only way to be confident about data quality.
With pre-filled information, legal entities can be invited to digitally confirm or modify UBO-related information.
Legal entity managers can also easily initiate workflows in parallel to collect relevant data or proof of ID of these UBOs, reducing the administrative burden. Fraud detection services for ID documents can be included for reassurance and to meet regulatory requirements.
Digitally signed confirmation timestamps provide a clear audit trail and can automatically generate triggers for future frictionless client outreach if reconfirmation is part of your client lifecycle management processes.
With Harmoney, the UBO confirmation process, often perceived as tedious and cumbersome, is rendered simple and straightforward.
Digital signing
A successful customer journey is only truly achieved with a smooth digital signing experience. Harmoney handles simple, advanced, and qualified digital signatures configured according to predefined workflows, depending on the specific requirements of product, policy or geography.
A range of digital signing providers to match individual company policies and requirements can be implemented. Being able to adapt the digital signing procedure or provider to a geographical location allows Harmoney to deliver a truly global solution.
AML, PEP, sanction, embargo and adverse media screening
Whether it’s in the onboarding acceptance process or as part of client lifecycle management, Harmoney caters for automated screening. Screening providers such as LexisNexis, Refinitiv, and Dow Jones are already integrated within the Harmoney solution. Financial institutions can keep their screening providers of choice and Harmoney easily links to them via an integration layer.
This brings all the benefits of integrating the Harmoney solution while maintaining risk screening continuity, with features such as ‘fuzzy matching’. Detailed reports on ‘hits’ can be automatically generated and linked to the private individuals or legal entities concerned. In many cases, institution-specific blacklists are also included in the automated screening.
Comprehensive risk scoring engine
The risk scoring module can be configured according to the risk matrix of the individual financial institution. The scoring engine can manage a high level of complexity and can include a range of risk parameters relevant to every stakeholder involved, whether UBOs, insured persons, company groups or other related parties, or related to the type of contract or product.
Depending on the risk scoring outcome, a range of workflow configuration types can be defined to meet your exact needs: from automated approval processes and requests for further information via the client outreach module, to escalation workflows and the acceptance/rejection decision-making process.
A clear track of the screening as well as every decision and interaction is retained to provide a continuous audit trail in the contract or client file.
Mifid, IDD, and ESG profiling for investments and insurance
Client communication workflows can be fully digital or hybrid (a mix of digital and human) or completely supported by an advisor. At all times, the advisor can see which stages of the process have already been completed by the client and which stages are still open.
This also applies to the Mifid/IDD and ESG profiling process prior to a client signing up for a wealth management or life insurance contract or at the moment of renewal as part of client lifecycle management. After this profiling process, the workflow includes advice, the contract proposal, and related documents such as KID, as well as the client’s simple, advanced, or qualified signature.
The Mifid/IDD and ESG profiling is calculated according to the profiling rules of each individual financial institution.
Client outreach
The Harmoney solution has been conceived with the end-client as its starting point. To be truly customer-centric, the platform can cater for a multi-channel communication experience.
The end-client can be guided through the workflow by the advisor in a physical location or remotely, or be invited to digitally confirm or modify pre-filled data and documents. If the end-client stops part-way through the process, they can simply pick-up where they left off.
Legal entities have the possibility of organising parallel digital workflows, inviting UBOs to take part in the identification and verification process. To enhance the total customer experience, intuitive and flexible guidance is envisaged at every stage.
In a white-label arrangement, the end-client will not be aware of leaving the financial institution’s digital environment thanks to the combination of single sign-on technologies and the application’s configuration using the financial institution’s branding.
Reporting and analytics
Rigorous reporting is crucial in providing insights at client, contract, and portfolio level. To enhance operational management and the customer experience, data can be generated to analyse and monitor processes and customer behaviours, as well as how efficiency can be improved among teams of employees.
All data stored in Harmoney can be made available through reporting. Dashboards displaying a specified range of metrics in the Harmoney application facilitate work process effectiveness.
Results and impact
Thanks to Harmoney, Baloise has fully digitalized its administrative process, ensuring greater efficiency & faster policy closing.
- All policies and client screenings are now fully online.
- No more paper documents or manual follow-ups.
- Significant time savings for the back office, allowing the team to focus on high-value decision-making.
“Harmoney allows us to focus on what really matters, while our processes run faster and more efficiently,” Sven adds.
"Harmoney is a strategic partner within our onboarding process. Every insurance company needs to be compliant. We are convinced that with Harmoney we have a partner by our side who makes the job easier."
Why Harmoney
Baloise chose Harmoney as a partner for several key reasons. Unlike traditional solutions, Harmoney combines flexibility, speed, and a client-focused approach:
- Close collaboration. The team listened carefully, clearly understood Baloise’s needs, and was always approachable. Any questions or issues were resolved quickly.
- Fast and flexible implementation. Harmoney enabled rapid deployment without lengthy IT projects.
- Fully configurable workflows. Every process can be tailored to the company’s specific policies and risk requirements.
- Scalable, future-proof digital processes. The platform supports long-term growth and evolving compliance demands, ensuring efficiency now and in the future.
“Harmoney is not a traditional provider. They are flexible, collaborative, and deliver solutions that truly work for our business,” Sven notes. “When Harmoney told us they could solve this in six weeks, I could not believe it at first. But by working closely together, it quickly became clear they could deliver.”
“When Harmoney told us they could solve this in six weeks, I could not believe it at first. But by working closely together, it quickly became clear they could deliver.”