Onboarding speed vs. compliance overhead for new trading firms

We've been scaling up our retail brokerage operation over the past year, and one consistent bottleneck has been the onboarding process for new clients, specifically the KYB/AML checks. While we understand the regulatory necessity, the friction point between robust compliance and a smooth, fast user experience feels increasingly pronounced. We're seeing drop-off rates climb slightly at the verification stage.

For those running similar operations, what balance have you struck? Are there any less conventional approaches to streamlining KYB/AML without compromising regulatory integrity, particularly concerning the speed of documentation review and identity verification? We're evaluating a few new vendors but the promises of 'AI-powered' solutions often don't quite translate to real-world efficiency gains when dealing with varied global documentation.