The banking and finance industry deals with an overwhelming amount of paperwork daily. Between loan agreements, customer contracts, and onboarding documents, it’s easy to see how banking professionals and customers can quickly become lost in an endless sea of forms, files, and paper trails.

Traditionally, most banking activities require an in-person visit to a branch. But now, digital tools like eSignatures have injected some much-needed flexibility and convenience for both professionals and customers. Banks can use eSignatures for personal loans, the wealth management account opening process, bank loan contracts, document management in finance, and more.

While there are still a few instances where a physical or wet signature must be used—like certain loan applications—in the majority of cases, signing activities can be replaced by a digital eSignature.

Here are five instances where eSignatures in banking can make your life a lot easier.

Eliminating manual and paper processes

The fact is, people don’t like filling in physical forms. It takes time, it’s boring, and it results in stacks of paperwork that need to be mailed out at left at the mercy of unreliable postal providers.

With eSignatures, banks can eliminate these manual processes. Instead of printing, mailing, and waiting for documents to be signed or asking customers to wait in line during specific hours, you can send documents out with a click of a button, direct to customers—and they can sign at a time that suits them. This makes the signing process much faster and it makes it easier for customers—especially if you’re asking them to fill out lengthy forms or complicated agreements.

Reducing errors in the signing process

Signatures are a critical part of a bank loan contract or application. It’s what makes the document complete and legally valid in the eyes of the law. But unfortunately, human error can quickly disrupt the process, add additional back-and-forths, and cause delays.

Signing errors are most common when applicants leave out critical information. Sometimes they forget to sign, miss a section, or make mistakes. Other times, they might forget to include their full name or correct address on the form, making the whole document invalid.

The good news is that eSignatures can help reduce these types of errors. With eSignatures, you can set up required fields, so applicants can’t submit and sign unless they’ve filled in all the necessary information. This takes human error out of the equation, so mistakes can be identified and rectified without the signer skipping a beat.

Onboarding new customers

eSignatures help curate a digital onboarding experience for new banking customers. They can help to streamline the wealth management account opening process.

While many digital banking solutions have closed the gap and introduced services that let customers skip the queues and access their accounts online, deposit checks, and make transfers—onboarding often still requires an in-person visit to complete.

eSignatures let banks take this process online too. Rather than completing an account application in person, customers can sign their onboarding documents from anywhere, at any time—making things much easier for customers and banks alike. Key contracts can be sent out, signed, and returned in a matter of minutes. And best of all? Bank clerks don’t have to waste time chasing customers for missing information.

Reviving stalled bank applications with document tracking

There’s nothing worse than losing track of an important document. You’ve filled it out, sent it on time, and now you’re twiddling your fingers, worrying about it getting processed according to plan. Maybe it’s stuck in document limbo, floating through the ether, or lost in transit on its way to its final destination.

The best way to avoid getting stuck in paperwork purgatory is by using eSignatures. With the right eSignature solution, you can digitize your paper trails and prevent files from getting lost.

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They allow you to keep a digital audit trail of your banking history, so you’ll always know the status of documents without chasing them down.

Dropbox Sign, for instance, tracks the status of every document and let you know whether it’s sent, viewed, signed, or canceled. What’s more, Dropbox Sign automatically sends out reminders for unsigned contracts, so you don’t have to spend time following up.

Storing documents with ease

Whether digital or paper documents, filing is messy, time-consuming, and difficult to track—especially at the volume banks and financial institutions send and receive documents.

However, combing document storage tools like Dropbox or Google Drive with eSignature tools can automate away much of these document organization and finding pains. Dropbox Sign, for instance, integrates with most storage tools, so that as soon as a customer signs a document it’s automatically saved into your storage system. Ultimately, eSignatures are an excellent way to streamline document management in finance.

Bank better with eSignatures

If you’re looking for an easy way to improve efficiency in your banking division or branch, then eSignatures is your best bet.

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