liquidity fund onboarding
OVERVIEW
Institutional investors seeking access to JP Morgan Asset Management's liquidity funds faced a fragmented onboarding process that delayed deployment of short-term capital. Treasury teams at corporations, municipalities, and investment funds needed quick access to money market funds, but the 4+ day manual workflow created bottlenecks in a market where same-day liquidity is expected.
CLIENT
J.P. Morgan Asset Management
INDUSTRY
FINANCIAL
challenge
Liquidity fund business was growing rapidly, but the manual onboarding process couldn't keep pace.
Institutional investors needed quick access to money market funds to manage short-term cash, but the multi day onboarding workflow was creating competitive disadvantage.
The problem was particularly acute during market volatility, when clients wanted to quickly move cash into safe, liquid investments. Each day of delay meant lost yield opportunities and frustrated clients who expected same-day access in the digital age.
The challenge was to design an automated platform that could:
Guide investors through complex fund selection
Ensure regulatory compliance across 8 jurisdictions
Integrate with existing custody and trading systems
Enable same-day fund access for qualified investors
Scale to support billions in new assets
Research and Discovery
We have $500M sitting in our operating account earning nothing while we wait for fund access approval. In a rising rate environment, that's thousands of dollars per day in lost yield.
Corporate Treasurers
Every client wants a different fund mix,some need Treasury for safety, others want Prime for yield. The current process makes me choose funds for clients blindly without understanding their actual needs.
Asset Managers
We're manually verifying the same institutional investors over and over. The big banks and funds are known entities, we shouldn't need 3 days to approve them every time.
Compliance Officers
Existing Workflow Complexity
The existing process required coordination across 5 teams over 4+ days, with multiple manual handoffs, no real-time visibility, and significant bottlenecks. Here's what the journey looked like:
Existing liquidity fund onboarding workflow showing manual handoffs, bottlenecks (highlighted in red), and 4+ day timeline
This fragmented workflow caused cascading problems: treasury teams couldn't deploy capital quickly during market opportunities, compliance checks were duplicated across systems, relationship managers lost deals to competitors with faster onboarding, and nobody—client or internal team—had visibility into where things stood.
The pain points clustered around three areas: lack of intelligent routing (everything was manual), duplicated verification work, and no shared status visibility. These insights directly shaped our design approach.
Design Process & Exploration
Working closely with engineering, compliance, and operations teams, I explored multiple approaches to streamline the workflow while maintaining strict regulatory requirements.
Key Constraints:
SEC Rule 2a-7 compliance requirements (non-negotiable)
Legacy system integration with custody and trading platforms
Multi-jurisdiction KYC (Know your Customer) variations
Real-time data validation requirements
White-label capability for different fund families
Exploration & Iteration
I facilitated 5 cross-functional workshops with stakeholders to align on information architecture, approval hierarchy logic, and automation opportunities, and up to 15 users tested across roles.
Concept A: Single-Page Application
Feature:
Showed all onboarding steps on one scrolling page
Result
Rejected — Too overwhelming for complex multi-step process
Learning
Treasury teams needed guidance through fund selection
Concept B: Linear Wizard Flow
Feature:
Step-by-step progression through onboarding tasks
Result
Confusing for multi-role workflows where different stakeholders work in parallel
Learning
Not all steps happen sequentially; some roles work simultaneously
Concept c: Status Dashboard + Role-Based Tasks
Features
Central dashboard showing overall progress
Role-specific task views for each stakeholder type
Real-time status updates visible to all parties
Result
Selected — Scalable, clear, supports parallel workflows
Learning
Visibility and task clarity were more important than linear flow
Automated Platform Solution
We designed an intelligent platform that automated routing, compliance checks, and fund access—transforming the 4+ day manual process into a streamlined experience enabling same-day access for qualified investors.
Redesigned workflow showing automated routing, real-time validation, and same-day completion
Home Dashboard (Progress Visibility)
Bi-directional progress tracking showing application status for both clients and internal teams.
Design decisions:
Client view shows: application status, completed sections, pending actions, estimated timeline
Internal team view shows: all client applications, risk flags, team assignments, bottlenecks
Color-coded status system: In Progress (blue), Pending Review (yellow), Approved (green), Needs Revision (red)
Real-time updates when any stakeholder completes their portion
Progress percentage showing completion across all sections
Account Application (Entity & Ownership Structure)
Multi-entity selection with dynamic form expansion and complex ownership designation.
Design decisions:
Checkbox interface allowing one or more entity type selections (Corporation, LLC, Partnership, Trust, etc.)
Forms dynamically expand based on selections - select 2 entities, see 2 sets of required fields
Beneficial owner vs. control person designation with contextual decision tree
Inline help: "A beneficial owner owns 25%+ of entity. A control person manages day-to-day operations"
Ability to add same person to both roles when applicable
"Add Another" functionality for multiple owners/control persons per entity
Clear validation preventing submission with incomplete ownership structures
Smart Revision System
Automated revision workflow with email notification and step-by-step guidance.
Design decisions:
Revision state triggers when compliance flags issues
Automated email notification with direct link to revision dashboard
Revision dashboard shows all issues in prioritized list
"Fix This" buttons navigate directly to problem section
Highlighted fields with red borders showing exact areas needing attention
Inline instructions: "Issue: Missing beneficial owner signature. Required: Upload signed W-9"
Section-by-section fixing with save progress between fixes
One-click resubmit when all issues resolved
Audit trail showing what was changed during revision
Authorized Signers & Granting Authority
Dual signer designation for agreement completion and execution.
Design decisions:
Clear distinction between authorized signers (execute agreements) and granting authority signers (delegate signing power)
"Who should I add?" decision guide explaining difference
Ability to add multiple signers per category
Drag-to-reorder for signature sequence
Preview of how signatures will appear on final agreements
Email validation before allowing submission
Impact & Outcomes
The platform launched in Q2 2023 and processed 1,000+ institutional investors in the first year, representing over $50 billion in assets under management.
Business Value
Client retention
90% adoption rate indicates high product-market fit and sticky platform usage
Scalable foundation
Architecture supports future product expansion beyond liquidity funds, ie Morgan Money and Morgan Institutional
Reduced manual errors
Automated validation eliminated data entry errors that previously caused delays