Santander Portugal: Sealing deals quickly with trusted and secure electronic signatures

Celfocus’s collaboration with Santander marks a significant leap in the bank’s digital transformation journey, showcasing innovative technology and user-centric design in the eSignature software.

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Either in a B2C or a B2B context, it’s unreasonable nowadays to require the physical presence of customers in a branch to sign a contract for a product or service that they probably subscribed to online. However, neither can banks afford to have contractual frictions, lose a deal or risk the authenticity of a signature – which is guaranteed by a wet-ink pen.

An electronic signature (eSignature or eSign) is a legal way to get consent or approval on electronic documents. It can replace a handwritten signature in virtually any process, allowing to close deals in seconds from anywhere and on any device. eSignatures are becoming industry-agnostic and widely used for remote document signing for all kinds of businesses.

The Challenge

Santander Portugal wanted to change its traditional way of thinking operations, starting by dematerialising the way documents were signed and validated. Acknowledging the importance of increasing operational efficiency to enhance customer digital experience and to become more proficient in addressing their needs and requirements, the bank challenged Celfocus to deliver an eSign solution.

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The Solution

Celfocus eSign is a digital eSignature suite that centralises all the signature options on a single platform, providing the toolset for all digital signing needs and allowing the collection of signatures in real-time. It’s a unique solution to implement and manage a fully digital document signing process, aimed at being time and cost-effective while improving document traceability and security. Furthermore, its seamless integration with existing systems ensures a smooth transition and continued operational efficiency.

Compliant with European legislation, Celfocus eSign is a web-based, cross-browser user interface that is secure by design and provides multiple signature options, ensuring the application of all the necessary rules for this type of operation – namely customer authentication. The signature options include biometric, One-Time-Password, Citizen Card, Mobile Digital Key, USB Tokens and PKI, among others.

Benefits

Bearing in mind Santander Portugal’s specific needs and business logic, Celfocus eSign delivered the following benefits:

Time and cost-effectiveness: printing and handling costs are saved, and the time taken to complete agreements is reduced.
Improved business processes: Celfocus eSign manages documents online, allowing for signatures to be instantly made and processes to be fully digital, dismissing paperwork and simplifying processes.
Multiple signing options: the Celfocus eSign Suite provides multiple digital signature methods to support different customer preferences, risks and processes.
Real-time signing: signatures can be made instantly on any channel and be seen in real-time on any other channel, providing a truly omnichannel experience for the signing process.
Scalability: Celfocus eSign can be extended to support a full range of customisation requirements, from UI to integrations with external providers.
Full audit: document creation, access, changes and signatures are fully traceable and auditable, providing a complete vision of the process.
Seamless integration: Celfocus eSign seamlessly integrates with existing systems and channels, new and old, to provide the best experience for both customer and user.
Compliance with European Regulation: Celfocus eSign is compliant with eIDAS (the European regulation for electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market), as well as with the Mobile Digital Key (the Portuguese solution for electronic identification in most public and some private company’s websites).

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Ricardo Castanheira, Intelligent Automation CoE at Santander Portugal, states that "Santander Portugal now has a great number of digital signatures, which has allowed us to meet our environmental goals and improve the efficiency of our processes, ultimately increasing customer satisfaction."

Project in a nutshell