Case Study: NatWest achieves 4-minute mobile account opening and significant fraud reduction with Mitek Systems

NatWest achieves reduction in account opening times and fraudulent applications

NatWest, one of the UK’s “big four” banks serving millions of customers, was losing applicants when legacy identity checks (name, address, DOB) failed — a slow, multiday remediation process that required emailed uploads or branch visits and led to high abandonment rates. The bank wanted a seamless, real-time mobile onboarding experience that maintained strong fraud defenses and customer confidence.

Partnering with HooYu (now Mitek), NatWest piloted a mobile account-opening flow that combines geolocation, ID-document authentication, selfie liveness/biometric matching and address proofing; after a trial with over 60,000 users it was rolled out. The new process cut account opening to as little as four minutes, significantly increased online conversions, reduced branch traffic and produced a substantial drop in fraudulent applications.

NatWest

Frans Woelders

Chief Digital Officer