Streamlining Crypto Transactions
Anti-Money Laundering Experience
COMPANY
Sygnum
ROLE
User Research, UX Design, Design System
Industry
Digital Assets
YEAR
2024
Context
To strengthen trust in its digital asset offering and meet rising regulatory demands, Sygnum prioritised a comprehensive redesign of its client-facing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) flow.
The goal was to reduce friction and improve clarity, making it easier for clients to complete mandatory compliance checks when depositing or withdrawing crypto through the bank.
Challenge
Users found the existing AML process time-consuming and difficult to navigate. Tasks took an average of 4–5 minutes to complete, with complex inputs and unclear steps causing delays and frustration.
Outcome
Reduced average AML task completion time from 4.5 to 3.5 minutes, a 22% improvement, saving Relationship Managers and Compliance Officers 20–30 minutes per day.
Streamlined the form from 9 sections to just 4, adding a clear step-by-step guide for better usability.
Contributed reusable components back to the Design System, accelerating development for other internal tools.
Increased UX visibility across teams, encouraging earlier and more consistent involvement of design in internal-facing projects.
Timeframe
4 months
Role and Collaboration
I led the UX design for the AML tool, working closely with Relationship Managers, the RegTech team, engineers, and my Product Manager in Switzerland. Through ongoing design reviews and collaboration, I ensured the solution met both user needs and regulatory requirements.
Process
The design process consists of five key stages: understanding client needs, defining requirements, developing ideas, prototyping the design, and testing it.
This approach enables me to break the project into manageable phases and clearly outline the activities required to address each stage.
Research and Planning
User research
In-depth interviews were conducted with stakeholders, relationship managers, and end users. A constant feedback loop was maintained for communication and testing with users, while insights from the client experience team significantly informed the process.
User personas
I created personas of users from different parts of the world, with diverse experiences and backgrounds, to help the team step into the shoes of our potential users.
The goal was to encourage our stakeholders to empathise and resonate with our users, where possible, and to keep them in mind when considering business objectives.
Insight
Users feel uncertain and frustrated due to a lack of clarity and guidance throughout the flow caused by excessive clicks, vague questions, and missing visual cues like progress indicators. This often results in hesitation or drop-offs during key tasks, requiring a Relationship Manager to step in and assist with completion.
Framing the Challenge
Based on the findings, we identified recurring friction points across the AML process. To turn these insights into a focused design direction, we framed a guiding question to anchor the rest of the project:
How might we streamline the AML flow to improve operational efficiency, reduce confusion, and ensure regulatory content is clearly structured and actionable?
Client Journey
In order to improve the workflow, mapping out the client journey helps me to identify opportunities such as improving the visualisation of the required information which is crucial at every step of the transaction verification process.
Content Audit
Another challenge was organising key information and simplifying technical terms. To better understand what users really needed, I looked closely at how the content was structured, especially for non-native English speakers.
Using Miller's law, I broke the content into smaller, easier-to-digest clusters, making it more user-friendly.
After revising the microcopy and tweaking parts of the questionnaire, we streamlined the form from 9 sections to just 4, adding a clear step-by-step guide for better usability.
User Flow
Mapping the movement helps me visualise user options on each page, ensuring tasks are completed efficiently. It also keeps stakeholders and the team aligned on the flow.
Before Redesign
The older version of the transaction verification site had a challenging content hierarchy and layout that made it difficult for users to read.
Additionally, the site lacked responsiveness, and some user interface components caused confusion, creating friction in the user experience.
Prototyping and Usability Testing
After finalising the wireframes, the focus shifted to visual design. Usability testing was conducted once the transaction prototypes were created, leading to iterative improvements based on user feedback.
Design Solution
Design Principles
To achieve what I want for the redesign, these core principles serve as a foundation to guide me in my design.
Improved Task Clarity and Flow
We introduced a guided stepper, simplified content hierarchy, and clear, accessible copy to help users progress confidently through tasks. User feedback reported higher completion ease and reduced friction.
Design Prototype
Click here to view prototype.
Key Takeaways
Designing the AML service experience demands clarity. Understandable copy can make or break the UX flow, yet it's often the hardest change to get buy-in for.
Securing management’s approval for copy changes is a crucial first step toward improving the user experience.
This project highlighted how UX improvements in a hybrid-facing tool used by both end clients and internal teams can drive measurable gains in clarity and efficiency.
While this case study focuses on the client experience, the underlying design decisions also laid a strong foundation for enterprise scalability and cross-team alignment.
Some areas to look into:
Integrated crypto deposit & withdrawal:
Take a step further to provide users the ability to have an integrated experience when making a crypto deposit or withdrawal.
Streamline wallet verification:
Provide recommendations for verifying wallet ownership based on previous selections to reduce users' cognitive load in decision-making.
Continuous feedback loop:
Introduce an in-app feedback feature for users to report issues or suggest improvements.