Finom Bank · Account Opening

Onboarding — the system behind opening an account

Opening one Finom business account quietly sets a large machine in motion: identity checks, company-registry look-ups, risk scoring and document signing. This map shows the systems and outside providers that cooperate to do it — and why the work is spread across several engineering teams. It's meant to make the scope and complexity tangible, not to be read line by line.

15+
internal & external systems involved
5
engineering domains cooperating
11
applicant steps to complete
6
points where an application can be declined
★

The Onboarding team (Growth domain) builds and runs five of these systems — bankonboarding, bprocess, idcheck, csearch, aibridge, highlighted throughout. The rest are owned by neighbouring teams. No single team can open an account alone, which is part of why the flow touches so many systems.

Legend

How systems talk Direct request (REST) Workflow engine (Camunda) Async event (queue) Data sync (Kafka) Analytics feed (DWH) External provider Live push to screen
Domains Growth · Onboarding your team Risk & Compliance Data & Integrations Banking & Payments Platform & BackOffice

System map — what's involved

Each box is a system; each arrow is one system asking another to do something. The detail of the wiring matters less than the picture as a whole — opening an account touches this many moving parts, owned by five different teams. bankonboarding in the centre is the conductor.

★ Growth · Onboarding Growth Risk & Compliance Data & Integrations Banking Platform runs workflow AI chat InfoCert · document signing analytics feed → DWH Web / Mobile the applicant FRONTEND cometpush live screen updates Data warehouse thepipe · analytics bankonboarding THE CONDUCTOR · runs the whole flow ▸ Pre-onboarding phone · turnover · get-started ▸ Onboarding & verification company · owners · identity · ownership ▸ Additional questions compliance follow-ups ▸ Document signing ▸ Extra data collection ▸ Post-opening data collection tax · VAT · registry documents ▸ Open account → wallet / card / plan bprocess · workflow engine Camunda · runs checks in order automates the fast-track process idcheck identity checks (via Sumsub) csearch company look-up / pre-fill aibridge AI onboarding chat customerdossier the customer record (source of truth) checks · ownership · questions · docs auth users · companies · access riskengine risk scoring & decision + screening / financial crime bizdatasources company-registry data externalgateway calls out to providers bank / tariffs wallet · card · plan tooling · cstools feature flags · back office AI CFO assistant casper / aiassistant Sumsub identity verification · liveness · video · QES InfoCert qualified e-signature Creditsafe worldwide company search Company registries KVK · CBE · Librebor · CompanyInfo Papers · InfoCamere · Kompany OpenCorporates · address providers Risk & screening models FCRM · FC-Score · Taktile financial crime · limits · decision

Who owns what

No single team can open an account on its own — the flow deliberately spans five domains. Ownership is taken from the domains registry (which records a team lead per service rather than a named domain); the Growth attribution for the onboarding cluster is per your input.

Growth · Onboarding YOUR TEAM

Owns the flow & the applicant experience

  • bankonboarding
  • bprocess
  • idcheck
  • csearch
  • aibridge

Risk & Compliance

Checks, decisioning & the customer record

  • customerdossier
  • auth
  • riskengine
  • screening
  • FCRM/*
  • docsrecognition
  • tasks
  • signature

Data & Integrations

Company data from external registries

  • bizdatasources
  • externalgateway
  • eventsproxy
  • reporting
  • dwhfilesync

Banking & Payments

The account, card & pricing

  • bank
  • tariffs
  • finom
  • banklimits
  • reward

Platform & BackOffice

Shared plumbing & internal tools

  • cometpush
  • tooling
  • cstools
  • thepipe
  • backoffice
  • notify

What happens, in six moves

01

Getting started

  1. A few pre-onboarding screens (phone, turnover) tailored by country and business type.
  2. "Open Account" kicks off the automated process.
  3. Company look-up (csearch → Creditsafe) pre-fills what we already know.
02

Company check (KYB)

  1. We confirm the company against official registries (via bizdatasources).
  2. customerdossier builds the file and maps who really owns the business.
  3. If registry and applicant data disagree, it goes to manual review.
03

Identity check (KYC)

  1. The system decides who must be verified.
  2. The person verifies through Sumsub (via idcheck).
  3. Results flow back automatically; a mismatch triggers a review.
04

Risk & questions

  1. riskengine scores the application and returns a decision.
  2. Anything still missing becomes additional questions for the applicant.
05

Signing

  1. The account agreement is signed with a qualified e-signature via InfoCert.
  2. In some markets an in-app signature (Sumsub) is used instead.
06

Open & after

  1. On approval, bank creates the wallet, card and plan.
  2. Some accounts open with limits first, then upgrade once extra data arrives.
  3. Later, post-opening data (tax, VAT, documents) is collected.

The account-opening process

How an account actually gets opened, end to end. Behind the screens the applicant sees, an automated process (the fast-track flow) runs the compliance checks in a fixed order and only opens the account once every gate passes. Any gate can send an application down the red decline path. Technical names are kept as a reference for engineers; the shape of the flow is what matters.

Automated step Sub-process (zoomed out) Decision point Start End svc= system involved
COMPANY FILE APPLICANT STEPS (see below ↓) IDENTITY RISK & REVIEW DECISION OPEN ACCOUNT unlimited limited upgrade → complete decline signal decline not verified decline decline Application started Build company file dossier · registries red flags? Applicant fills in details pre-qualification · steps shown below ↓ dossier · registries · auth proceed? Check verification status identity · Sumsub / idcheck Verify the people identity check · Sumsub / idcheck verified? Verification complete move to risk assessment Risk scoring & review scoring loop · risk / financial crime decision? Compliance review dossier · risk · signing · pricing approved? Approve onboarding green light to open limited? Open account wallet · bank Complete onboarding account ready Full account no limits · bank Apply limits restricted start · bank Open limited account wallet · bank Collect extra data runs in the background; upgrade to full, or downgrade / close Abort & decline runs from any decision point Decline account applicant is informed

Simplified for clarity: the parallel freelancer fast-track and the inner detail of each sub-process (building the company file, verifying people, risk scoring, compliance review) are collapsed into single boxes here.

What the applicant fills in

The screens a business owner actually sees, in order. Most run inside the "Applicant fills in details" box above. waits = the screen pauses until a background check finishes; optional = shown only when that information is still missing.

1
Company registration number waits
The applicant enters the company number. This is what kicks off the whole automated process behind the scenes.
registriescustomer recordauth
1a
Upload registration documents waits optional
Only if we can't find the company automatically — the applicant uploads the paperwork.
customer record
2
Business details, activity & address waits optional
Company details, what the business does, and its address — each shown only if not already known.
customer record
3
Are you a legal representative? waits can end here
Confirms the applicant is authorised to open the account. If not authorised, the application can stop here.
customer record
4
Declare representatives & ownership waits
List the legal representatives and confirm the ownership picture.
customer record
5
Personal details
Personal information for the applicant and representatives.
customer record
6
Beneficial owners (UBO)
Who ultimately owns the business — may include an ownership questionnaire or an org-chart upload.
customer recordrisk check
7
Identity verification
The representative proves their identity through Sumsub (document + selfie, or a video/e-signature flow depending on the market).
Sumsub / idcheck
8
Verification status
The applicant sees the verification progress for everyone who needs to be checked.
Sumsub / idcheckcustomer record
9
Choose a plan instant
Pricing / plan selection.
tariffscustomer record
10
Additional questions instant optional
Extra compliance questions, shown only when the checks ask for more information.
customer record
11
Sign the documents instant
A final completeness check, then the account agreement is signed (InfoCert e-signature, or an in-app signature via Sumsub in some markets).
InfoCertSumsub e-sign

German companies — the most complex path

Germany is the heaviest onboarding we run. A registered German company (e.g. a GmbH) is matched against the commercial register (Handelsregister), needs its exact registering court, and — when the ownership is layered (companies owning companies) — every representative traced through that chain has to be verified. On top of the normal business-details collection it adds a business-activity questionnaire and extra documents. This branch expands "what the applicant fills in" above for the complex German case.

🇩🇪

A German company flagged corporate / complex stays on the German registration-number & court journey (it is not simplified into a single business-details screen, because Germany has a full registry) and branches into the deeper ownership and activity checks below.

Handelsregister number + court

The registration number plus the exact registering court (Amtsgericht) — auto-suggested from the registry and stored as the company's registration issuer. Germany-only.

Legal form sets the path

GmbH / UG / AG / e.K. take the registered path; a GbR partnership and not-yet-registered companies follow their own document journeys.

Register pull & pre-fill

Company data is fetched from the German commercial register (CompanyInfo / Handelsregister) and pre-fills the form. Retrieval runs in the background.

Ownership traced end to end

When companies own companies, the whole chain is resolved and every required representative along it must be verified — not just the applicant.

Business-activity questionnaire

Complex companies answer a tailored questionnaire — holding / investment / services / sale of goods — then provide payment info and supporting documents.

Identity & signing

Verification by video-ident or an in-app penny-drop e-signature (A/B). Joint setups may need a second representative to verify and co-sign.

1
Company number & registering court DE-only waits
The applicant enters the Handelsregister number and the registering court (Amtsgericht, auto-suggested from the register), the German legal form, business name, activity and registration date. The legal form decides the journey (registered company, GbR, or not-yet-registered). This kicks off the background register look-up.
Handelsregister / CompanyInfocourt look-upcustomer recordauth
2
Registration documents DE variants waits optional
Uploaded when the register doesn't give us everything. A GbR provides the partnership agreement (Gesellschaftsvertrag) and trade licence (Gewerbeschein); not-yet-registered companies have their own document set.
customer record
3
Business details & activity waits
Company details and the type of activity (NACE) — largely pre-filled from the register, with known fields locked.
customer record
4
Company address waits
Registered / business address.
customer record
5
Representatives & ownership waits
Confirm the applicant's authority, declare the legal representatives, and confirm the ownership picture.
customer record
6
Personal details
Personal information for the applicant and representatives.
customer record
7
Beneficial owners & ownership structure chain traced
Who ultimately owns the business — an ownership questionnaire and, where needed, an org-chart upload. For layered structures the full chain of companies is resolved here to work out exactly who must be verified.
customer recordrisk check
8
Verify all required people DE video-ident / QES
Each required representative proves their identity through Sumsub — Germany uses video-ident or an in-app penny-drop e-signature (A/B test). Complex ownership means everyone traced in step 7, and joint setups add a second signer.
Sumsub / idcheck
9
Complex business-activity questionnaire complex-only
A tailored questionnaire based on what the company does — holding, investment, services, or sale of goods — followed by payment information and any supporting documents. This is the extra layer complex companies carry over a simple company.
customer record
10
Plan → questions → signing final
Choose a plan, answer any remaining compliance questions, then sign the agreement (InfoCert e-signature, or the in-app signature). A second representative co-signs where required.
tariffsInfoCertSumsub e-sign

Every system-to-system call

The full list of interactions behind the map above — a reference for engineers.

From → ToHowWhat flows
Applicant → bankonboardingrequestthe onboarding screens
Applicant ↔ aibridgerequestAI onboarding chat
cometpush → Applicantlive pushscreen updates as steps complete
aibridge ↔ AI CFO assistantexternalchat responses / form submission
bankonboarding ↔ bprocessworkflowruns the process; calls back to advance each step
bankonboarding → idcheckrequeststart identity verification, get status
idcheck ↔ Sumsubexternalidentity verification, documents, e-signature
idcheck → bankonboarding, customerdossiereventverification approved / declined / pending
bankonboarding ↔ customerdossierrequestsaves collected data, ownership, KYC results; reads questions
customerdossier → bankonboardingeventfile created, company changed, new questions
customerdossier → bankonboarding, authdata syncthe master person record
bankonboarding ↔ authrequestcompany info, temporary access for co-signers
customerdossier → authrequestcompany data written back after checks
customerdossier → bizdatasourcesrequestregistry company data, owners, documents
bankonboarding → bizdatasourcesrequestcompany existence check
bankonboarding → csearch → Creditsaferequestcompany search / pre-fill
bizdatasources → externalgateway → registriesevent / externalpull data from national company registries
bankonboarding → riskenginerequestthe company's final risk level
riskengine ↔ risk modelsexternalscoring, financial-crime & limits decisions
riskengine → customerdossiereventthe risk result
bankonboarding → InfoCertexternalqualified e-signature of the agreement
bankonboarding → bank / tariffsrequestwallet, card, plan (account opening)
Data warehouse ← bankonboarding, idcheckanalyticsonboarding & verification data for reporting

Notes & caveats