Project Overview
At RBC Wealth Management advisors manage the investments and estates of high-net-worth clients. When a client passes away, advisors are responsible for collecting Letters of Authorization (LOAs) from beneficiaries so the estate can be settled. Today, this happens across multiple disconnected systems and teams and the manual hand-offs introduce errors and potential rejections.
My team's goal was to bring this flow into COB (the Client Onboarding team), and turn the LOA process into a guided, templated, and digital experience that reduces touchpoints, removes manual rework, and gives beneficiaries a one-click way to consent.
What was not working?
The current estate settlement process is inefficient for advisors — too many touchpoints and no standardized workflow force them into manual work
Solution
Within COB, advisors can now enter the date of death directly and extract the required documents to initiate the estate process per account. Standardized LOA templates are generated and sent to beneficiaries — reducing the risk of rejection — and multiple LOAs can be sent at once through the e-sign package in COB, eliminating manual work and legal risk.
On the beneficiary side, signers receive a single-click signing experience through the client dashboard, designed with the familiar RBC look and feel.
Impact
Estate cases LOA process streamlined across RBC Wealth Management.
Pre-approved templates lower the chance of LOAs being rejected in compliance review.
Advisors no longer write LOAs from scratch, freeing up time for higher-value client work.
Design Iterations
After identifying the current pain points, we mapped out the requirements for each screen and began design iteration. The process focused on 2 key experiences: LOA Sending Flow for Advisors and LOA Signing Flow for Beneficiaries
Design Decision 1 - LOA Sending Flow for Advisors
For the advisor's LOA sending flow, we prototyped two versions: account-first (select the deceased client's account, then add beneficiaries) and beneficiary-first (start with the beneficiary list, then attach accounts). To check which option better fit advisors' mental model, I got feedback from former associate advisors. They mentioned that advisors almost always start from the client's account when reviewing an estate. We aligned the flow with that mental model.
Another consideration in the design was making sure advisors get to see the final templated version of the LOA that the client will sign. This way, advisors know their clients will get a consistent experience and the manual work of drafting LOAs is removed. We also integrated an e-sign package so advisors can send the LOA to multiple beneficiaries at once.
Design Decision 2 - LOA Signing Flow for Beneficiaries
For the beneficiary signing flow, I designed the experience with two priorities in mind: letting users see only the information they need to sign, and showcasing the RBC brand to establish trust.
I made it possible for beneficiaries to reach out to the advisors at any point during the signing process by placing the advisor team info on the left side. I also leveraged the existing COB header and RBC brand assets to give the page a familiar, trustworthy feel for clients. In addition, I streamlined the information shown to beneficiaries so they see a summarized version for signing the LOA, and built it as a template so every beneficiary has the same signing experience. Lastly, I designed this client-facing dashboard with future scale in mind, so additional elements could be added later as the product grows.
Final designs
Advisors can now select the account and beneficiaries and send out multiple LOAs in a single flow, removing the manual work that used to slow them down. This frees them up to focus on higher-value client work instead of paperwork.
Beneficiaries can now sign the LOA directly from the client dashboard. The design strips away unnecessary complexity, showing only the information they need to review before signing with a single click.
Key takeaways
I learned how to ask the right questions before designing — identifying gaps in the user flow and clarifying decisions needed to move forward. This ensured I had the requirements to design effectively.
Without a researcher on the team, user testing wasn't feasible. Instead, I gathered insights through brief interviews with team members who had worked as associates, and used their input to guide my design decisions. This taught me how to make user-centered choices even when ideal resources weren't available.
I joined this project after it had already started, which pushed me to quickly get up to speed on existing context — prior design decisions, ongoing flows, and the team's working style. I learned how to adapt to the team's workflow and contribute meaningfully in a short time.
Next steps
1. Developer reviews to align on technical feasibility and prepare for a smooth handoff to engineering.
2. Design iteration based on feedback from the team and developer reviews — refining the flows and resolving any issues before final handoff.
3. Measuring impact after rollout by tracking metrics like LOA rejection rate, time to complete the signing process, and user satisfaction from advisors and beneficiaries to evaluate the design's success and guide future improvements.
