An international onboarding specialist has signed up a major Asian client.

A Hong Kong subsidiary of one of China’s largest brokerage firms has implemented Appway Client Onboarding, an offering from Switzerland-headquartered technology firm Appway. The Asian client aims to expand wealth management and investment banking.

The Appway onboarding system has been taken up by Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong), a subsidiary of Huatai Securities Co, Appway said in a statement yesterday.

Huatai Hong Kong said it is collaborating with Appway to automate all client lifecycle processes and adopt industry best practices in client onboarding.

The challenge of bringing clients on board a wealth management firm faces a number of increasingly severe challenges at a time when regulators are demanding more stringent anti-money laundering controls and know-your-client processes, while firms want to avoid alienating potentially lucrative clients with long delays in getting through the front door. Onboarding is an important wealth management area – a high-quality process can be a competitive edge for a firm.

Hutai Hong Kong said it chose Appway for its reputation as an industry leader in client onboarding solutions. “We chose Appway over competitors for the company’s ability to understand our goals and requirements quickly,” Lucy Sun, chief operating officer at Huatai Hong Kong, said.

Established in 2006, Hutai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huatai Securities, which has been listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange since 2010. In 2014, HTHK started to build its overseas investment banking platform with specialised services such as underwriting, private investments, structured finance and corporate finance, including financial advisory and merger and acquisition.