# Breaking the Deposit Barrier: How WaFd Bank Turned Account Opening into a Growth Engine _Published: 2026-04-16T00:00:00.000-04:00_ Learn how WaFd Bank used nCino Account Opening to go from 70 clicks to 16 seconds, growing digital accounts from 50 per year to 1,400 in one quarter. With nCino, WaFd Bank turned their biggest client pain point into a growth engine, replacing a 70-click account opening process with one that returns account numbers in 16 seconds. The experience delivered during account opening can be the difference between winning a relationship and losing one. Outdated, manual processes create friction that drives clients away and costs banks real revenue. For many institutions, the challenge isn't recognizing the problem but knowing where to start. [WaFd Bank](https://www.wafdbank.com/) started by asking the right questions. In a recent webinar, [_Breaking the Deposit Barrier_,](https://ncino.pathfactory.com/01_07) Jill Boyle, Head of Commercial Product and Treasury Solutions at WaFd Bank, shared her team's journey to modernizing business account opening with the nCino Platform. ### **The Problem: Friction on Both Sides of the Counter ** For WaFd Bank, the case for change was coming from two directions at once. Boyle made a habit of asking clients the hard questions in every meeting: What’s the challenge? Where are the pain points? What can we do better? The answers were always the same. > "Our corporate clients would tell us all day long: it's the speed to open an account, it's the documentation, it's the back and forth, it's the security associated which are friction points we all struggle with." — Jill Boyle, Head of Commercial Product and Treasury Solutions, WaFd Bank Similar pain points were felt internally. Their retail colleagues were navigating a platform that required roughly **70 clicks** to open a deposit account while commercial colleagues were working out of a separate core system entirely. When a large client relationship in New Mexico brought hundreds of new accounts at once, WaFd Bank’s solution was to bring the whole team in for the weekend. > "It took all of us away from our families for two full weekend days to be able to deliver on something that technology should be able to do faster." — Jill Boyle, Head of Commercial Product and Treasury Solutions, WaFd Bank The friction was real, but so was the opportunity. ### **How WaFd Went from 70 Clicks to 16 Seconds** WaFd Bank had already built out commercial lending and treasury management on the nCino Platform, but Boyle knew the experience wasn't complete without deposit account opening in the mix. Adding nCino Account Opening was about connecting lending, treasury, and deposits into a **unified experience,** and unlocking the automation and growth that come with it. With all three in place, WaFd could finally let the platform work _for _them. The decision came down to integrations. WaFd was already transitioning to Alloy as their enterprise-wide identity verification vendor, and nCino had a ready-made integration. Combined with DocuSign for paperless documentation and Sandbox Banking for real-time core connectivity, the pieces came together faster and more cost-effectively than an internal build ever could have. > "It was about maybe a hundredth of what our internal org had quoted us to hire a developer to do the work." — Jill Boyle, Head of Commercial Product and Treasury Solutions, WaFd Bank The result? Account numbers returned to bankers in roughly **16 seconds. **An experience that once took 70 clicks transformed into something colleagues wanted to use. ### **Managing the Shift: “It’s That Simple?” ** WaFd's rollout touched nearly 250 branches and roughly 1,200 colleagues, many of whom had spent careers in a paper-based banking environment. The shift to electronic signatures and automated workflows was a genuine cultural change. During one of WaFd's change management sessions, a colleague working through the new process stopped and asked: "It's that simple?" That moment, Boyle shared, was exactly the kind of validation the team was hoping for. After launch, WaFd only received one support call across the entire organization — a signal that the technology was working the way it was designed to. ### **The Results: Growth that Speaks for Itself** The impact was immediate and measurable. In the year before launching nCino Account Opening, WaFd opened just 50 business accounts through their digital channel. In the first full quarter after launch, that number reached **1,400. ** One story Boyle shared captures the shift better than any metric: A prospect in Oregon left a competing bank after a frustrating experience, sat in her car, and opened a WaFd account through the nCino client portal in under five minutes. She then texted WaFd's CEO to tell him how impressed she was. Beyond account volume, treasury revenue grew 60% year over year following the launch. Employee satisfaction scores moved from concerning to green, and Net Promoter Scores reached record highs. ### **Three Takeaways for Your Institution** For institutions considering a similar move, Boyle’s advice is straightforward. **Push the boundaries.** Challenge every step of your current process. Ask whether something is truly necessary or just familiar. The best version of your account opening experience probably looks different from what you have today. **Know your requirements.** Use the initiative to build the experience you've always wanted, not just replicate the one you have. It's an opportunity to eliminate friction and design with both your clients and your colleagues in mind. **Lean into the partnership.** Your technology vendor relationship matters more than most expect. When both sides are aligned on where they're headed, you move faster and go further than either could alone. ### **Ready to Break Your Own Deposit Barrier?** WaFd Bank's story is proof that account opening doesn't have to be a bottleneck — it can be a growth engine. With the right platform, the right integrations, and the right partner, what feels like a barrier becomes an opportunity. Interested in learning more about WaFd's journey with nCino? [Watch the full webinar here.](https://ncino.pathfactory.com/01_07) --- [View sitemap](https://www.ncino.com/sitemap)