Case study
Wells Fargo · Senior lead digital product manager · 2025
Remote Business Account Opening
Cut business account opening from 3–5 days to about 15 minutes, and moved 60% of application volume to the new flow.
The problem
Relationship managers work with Wells Fargo's top-tier business clients, companies with $1–25M in revenue and complex product needs. They mostly talk to clients by phone, but the account opening platform was built for in-branch visits.
Opening an account meant paperwork passed from one department to the next, like a production line. Once a banker submitted an application, they couldn't see where it stood or what was missing, so they had nothing to tell the client who was waiting on it.
What I did
Interviewed relationship managers
I spent a lot of time with relationship managers to learn the current process and its pain points. I'd been a business banker, so I knew what to ask. Their answers became happy-path and unhappy-path scenarios in the flow, with the details needed for smooth handoffs.
Scoped the first release to what the platform supported
The account opening platform supported only single applicants, so the first release did too. In parallel, the platform team built multi-applicant support, and we planned the architecture for multi-applicant remote opening.
Let bankers open accounts themselves, remotely
Bankers can now start an account during a phone call with the client, and the client signs the disclosures from wherever they are. We also extended the signing window from same-day to 30 days, so clients can finish when it suits them.
Designed the status dashboard with bankers
The dashboard shows every application in whatever state it's in, including when an identity check fails and needs the banker's attention. We tested status wording and calls to action with bankers and kept the options they preferred. Teammates can cover each other's applications during vacations, and managers can see which bankers need support.
Shaped the roadmap from the data
I worked with analytics to pull data on how business accounts are owned and structured. I turned it into priorities: more account eligibility, entity-owned structures, and more signer types.
The outcome
Single-applicant remote opening launched in September 2025. Accounts that took 3–5 days now open in about 15 minutes on average, and about 60% of application volume has moved to the new flow. Bankers now spend that time with the client, including on treasury management and credit.
Design the unhappy path first. In a remote flow, nobody is in the room when something fails. Covering failed identity checks and stalled applications is what made remote opening work.
Ship what the platform supports, and plan the rest in parallel. The single-applicant release launched on the current platform while multi-applicant work continued, so bankers got value earlier.
Domain experience speeds up discovery. Having been a business banker, I knew which questions to ask relationship managers and which ownership data to pull for the roadmap.