Salesforce
Financial Services Cloud
Cloud23 designs and implements Salesforce Financial Services Cloud for banks, insurers and wealth managers across Africa and beyond, from digital onboarding journeys to a single view of the client.
Explore serviceIndustry
Salesforce for Banking
Cloud23 helps banking organisations digitise customer onboarding and service on Salesforce, with delivery experience spanning personal, business and corporate banking for Standard Bank, Capitec and Stanbic Bank Uganda.
Cloud23 designs and delivers digital onboarding and customer engagement platforms for banks, using Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, Experience Cloud and MuleSoft to take account opening from a branch-bound, paper-driven process to a digital journey completed in minutes. The firm has delivered onboarding programmes for Standard Bank in Mauritius and Botswana, Capitec Business Banking in South Africa, and Stanbic Bank Uganda across personal and business segments.
Onboarding is where a bank's customer expectations, regulatory obligations and legacy constraints collide. A new customer wants an account today; the bank must verify identity, satisfy KYC and AML obligations, screen against sanctions lists, and create the account in a core system that may predate the web. Cloud23's approach keeps all of that in one orchestrated pipeline — a self-service front end for straightforward cases, assisted flows for complex business structures, and full auditability throughout — rather than a digital form bolted onto a manual back office.
That approach was shaped in African markets, where the stakes are highest: large unbanked and underbanked populations, mobile-first customers, and integration landscapes that span core banking, national identity services, credit bureaux and mobile money. Cloud23 builds around the core rather than waiting for core replacement, which is why banks can ship a working digital journey in months instead of tying onboarding to a multi-year core programme.
The context
Pressures shaping the sector
Customers expect accounts in minutes, not days
Fintechs, neobanks and mobile money have reset expectations. A branch visit, paper forms and a multi-day wait are now reasons to choose a competitor, especially for younger and rural customers who bank by phone.
KYC and AML obligations raise the cost of every application
Identity verification, document collection, sanctions screening and audit trails are non-negotiable. Done manually, they slow onboarding and inflate cost; done badly, they create regulatory exposure.
Legacy cores constrain the pace of change
Core banking replacement is slow and risky, so most banks must innovate around the core. That demands a disciplined integration layer, not point-to-point connections that harden into new legacy.
Cost-to-serve is under permanent scrutiny
Branch-led origination and paper handling are expensive per account. Digital and assisted journeys cut operational workload while extending reach beyond the branch network.
Financial inclusion is both mandate and market
Across African markets, the customers hardest to reach through branches are reachable through a phone. Banks that make onboarding genuinely digital open segments competitors cannot economically serve.
How we help
Capabilities we bring to the sector
Digital onboarding as a repeatable discipline
Cloud23 has delivered bank onboarding across personal, SME, business and corporate segments in South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Mauritius — from ID capture and digital signatures to automated account creation in core banking.
Financial Services Cloud implementation
Client and application data modelled properly: a single view of the customer, case management for applications and exceptions, and a transparent pipeline the bank can actually manage.
API-led integration with core and third parties
MuleSoft integration with core banking, KYC and identity verification services, credit bureaux and mobile money platforms — reusable APIs rather than one-off connections.
Experience Cloud journeys for customers and staff
Self-service portals and mobile journeys for customers, with assisted capture for branch and agent staff — one pipeline whether the customer starts on a phone or in a branch.
Managed services and DevOps for banking platforms
Onboarding platforms are living products. Cloud23 runs, maintains and extends them post-go-live, with release management suited to regulated environments.
Reference architecture
Reference architecture: digital onboarding for banks
The layered architecture Cloud23 uses as the starting point for bank onboarding programmes. Each layer is independently replaceable, so the design survives core migrations, vendor changes and new channel launches without a rebuild.
01 · Engagement
- Experience Cloud customer portal
- Mobile-responsive application journeys
- Assisted capture for branch and agent staff
- Digital signature capture
02 · Process & Case Management
- Financial Services Cloud client and application data model
- OmniStudio journey orchestration
- Approval and exception workflows
- Document and requirements checklists
03 · Integration
- MuleSoft API-led connectivity
- System, process and experience API tiers
- Event-driven status notifications
04 · Core & Third Party
- Core banking account creation
- KYC and identity verification services
- Sanctions and PEP screening
- Credit bureaux
- Mobile money platforms
05 · Data & Analytics
- Data Cloud unified customer profile
- Onboarding funnel analytics
- Operational dashboards and audit reporting
Where to start
Practical transformation opportunities
- Digital onboarding for personal and retail banking — identity capture, verification and account activation in a single sitting
- Digital and assisted onboarding for SME and business banking, including complex multi-director and multi-entity structures
- Corporate and investment banking client onboarding with a transparent, auditable application pipeline
- Customer 360 and service consolidation across contact centre, branch and digital channels
- Onboarding funnel analytics to find and fix the points where applicants abandon
- Ecosystem and engagement platforms — benefits, rewards and cross-sell propositions that deepen the primary-bank relationship
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How does digital onboarding work in banking?
Digital onboarding replaces branch visits and paper forms with a guided online journey. A prospective customer captures their details through a web or mobile interface, photographs or uploads identity documents, and signs digitally. Behind the interface, the bank verifies identity against national ID or third-party verification services, runs KYC and AML screening, and checks credit bureaux where required. Approved applications trigger account creation in the core banking system automatically, so a straightforward personal account can be opened in minutes rather than days. Complex cases — a business account with multiple directors, for example — route to bank staff for assisted review inside the same system, keeping one pipeline, one status view and a complete audit trail.
Which Salesforce products are used for bank onboarding?
A typical stack pairs Financial Services Cloud (the client data model, case management and application pipeline) with Experience Cloud (the customer-facing portal and forms) and OmniStudio (journey orchestration and guided flows). MuleSoft handles integration with core banking, identity verification, screening services and credit bureaux, and Data Cloud unifies customer data for analytics and personalisation. The right combination depends on the bank's existing estate — Cloud23 designs around what is already in place.
Can digital onboarding handle business and corporate accounts, or only personal accounts?
Both. Personal accounts suit fully self-service journeys. Business and corporate onboarding involves more parties and documents — directors, shareholders, resolutions, enhanced due diligence — so the journey blends customer self-service with assisted steps for bank staff. Cloud23 has delivered both patterns: business banking onboarding for Capitec and Standard Bank Botswana, and corporate and investment banking onboarding for Standard Bank's Mauritius CIB business.
How long does a digital onboarding implementation take?
It depends on the segments in scope and the integration landscape, but the work should be phased so a first journey — typically a single product for a single segment — goes live in months, not years. Later phases add segments, products and channels on the same architecture. Cloud23 deliberately avoids big-bang launches: an early live journey surfaces real applicant behaviour that shapes everything after it.
How does digital onboarding meet KYC, AML and data protection obligations?
Compliance is built into the pipeline rather than checked afterwards. Identity verification and document capture happen in the journey itself; sanctions and PEP screening run before approval; every decision and status change is logged for audit. Personal data handling is designed to meet the requirements of laws such as POPIA in South Africa and GDPR where it applies — purpose-limited collection, controlled access and clear retention rules. The result is an onboarding process that is faster for customers and easier to evidence to regulators than its manual predecessor.
Keep exploring
Related services and work
Salesforce
Experience Cloud
Cloud23 designs and builds Salesforce Experience Cloud portals, onboarding sites and communities that let customers and partners transact with banks and insurers online rather than in a branch or inbox.
Explore serviceIntegration
MuleSoft & Enterprise Integration
Cloud23 designs and builds enterprise integration on MuleSoft, using API-led architecture to connect Salesforce with core banking, payments, identity and legacy systems for regulated businesses across Africa and beyond.
Explore serviceData & AI
Data Cloud
Cloud23 implements Salesforce Data Cloud to unify customer data from core systems, channels and CRM into real-time profiles that power personalisation, analytics and AI.
Explore serviceManaged Operations
Salesforce Managed Services
Cloud23 is a Salesforce Managed Services Partner that takes ongoing accountability for clients' Salesforce estates — administration, support, development, release management and optimisation under one agreement — delivered by teams across Africa, India and the US.
Explore service- BankingMauritius
Engineering a digital corporate-onboarding journey for Standard Bank's Mauritius CIB business
Cloud23 engineered an end-to-end digital corporate-onboarding journey for Standard Bank's Mauritius Corporate & Investment Banking business, splitting external application capture from internal processing on a shared data model. The result is a real-time, transparent view of the application pipeline and a reported reduction in processing times. Salesforce Financial Services Cloud and Experience Cloud were the delivery tools; the outcome was a managed onboarding operation.
Read case study - BankingBotswana
Removing the branch visit from business-account onboarding at Standard Bank Botswana
Cloud23 engineered a digital onboarding journey for Standard Bank Botswana's business accounts, including Transact Plus and Matshelo, replacing mandatory branch visits — down to remote document execution via digital signatures. The bank reports account opening time reduced from days or weeks to hours. Salesforce Experience Cloud and Financial Services Cloud were the delivery tools.
Read case study - BankingSouth Africa
Engineering sub-five-minute business onboarding at Capitec
Cloud23 engineered a digital and assisted business-onboarding journey for Capitec's Business Banking division, integrated with core banking and governmental systems so verification runs without manual intervention. The bank reports standard onboarding completing in under 5 minutes including all necessary checks, with complex business structures onboarded within a day.
Read case study - BankingUganda
Reducing personal account opening from days to minutes at Stanbic Bank Uganda
Cloud23 engineered a mobile-first personal-onboarding journey for Stanbic Bank Uganda's Personal & Private Banking division, requiring only a valid ID, photo and digital signature and integrated with mobile money so accounts are usable on creation. The bank reports account opening times reduced from days to minutes and a significant increase in new accounts, particularly among tech-savvy and rural customers.
Read case study - BankingUganda
Unifying business and trade banking for SMEs at Stanbic Bank Uganda
Cloud23 engineered a unified banking platform for Stanbic Bank Uganda's Business & Commercial Banking division, integrating business, individual and SME trade accounts behind one view. SMEs gain a single view of their financial operations, real-time transfers between linked accounts and access to trade finance options previously out of reach.
Read case study - BankingSouth Africa
Building Perx: a two-sided employee-benefits platform for Standard Bank
Cloud23 helped Standard Bank build Perx, an employee-benefits platform spanning its Business & Commercial Banking and Personal & Private Banking divisions. Engineered as a two-sided marketplace, Perx lets employers offer the programme at no cost while employees gain financial advice and exclusive deals across banking, insurance and lifestyle benefits — giving the bank a new digital acquisition and cross-sell channel.
Read case study
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