How MFI, NBFC, and Banks can Operate at 10x Faster Speed and Generate More Profits

The key to operating at 10x faster speed

How MFI, NBFC, and Banks can Operate at 10x Faster Speed and Generate More Profits

By using digitized technologies, MFI companies, banks, and non-banking financial companies have started to make more money. A company must adopt the right technologies to grow faster in this situation. At the same time, such businesses can reduce their operational costs to a large extent by implementing the technologies.

People have become well-accustomed to digitalized financial transactions nowadays. Therefore, the mobile banking service brings more customer satisfaction. On the other hand, digital processing of various financial services saves people time. Banks and other financial institutions can reduce loan processing by simplifying KYC verification and implementing the latest technologies. In the following section, you can find a guide on how financial institutions can operate faster and generate higher revenue.

Table of Contents

Advanced Self-Service Capability

An advanced self-service capability will help small-scale financial companies to a large extent. The banks often hire third parties to deal with various jobs. For example, a third-party service provider is required for KYC verification. Technology can help banks and other financial institutions adopt self-service capabilities. The financial companies will perform multiple complex tasks without requiring any third-party intervention.

On the other hand, banks and other financial institutions must offer self-service facilities to customers. People want banking services without the hassle of a long verification process. Moreover, people also seek transparency in financial transactions. A digitized platform ensures transparency and provides a self-service facility for customers. Financial institutions can render more satisfactory services to customers with minimal interactions.

API integration for Task Management

A financial organization may have to deal with multiple non-skilled and repetitive tasks. Hiring employees to manage such tasks increases the organization’s operational costs. At the same time, the efficiency of humans is limited. You can get an output at a particular level from a human employee.

The APIs can manage various repetitive tasks with precision and achieve higher efficiency. Moreover, API integration helps financial organizations reduce their dependence on human workers. Many tasks will be automated, which eventually reduces operational costs. As a result, financial organizations can become more profit-making institutions.

Instant Payment Processing Networks

Payment processing is a concern for both small and large financial institutions. Imagine that you run a lending company or a MFI. People expect faster loan processing from such companies. However, quicker loan processing is not the easiest thing to achieve for financial institutions.

Developing a secure payment processing channel is essential. Conventional payment processing is time-consuming, and you can reduce the time by embracing electronic payment.

A digital payment process can happen instantly. However, it may take one to three days for MFIs in most cases.

Cloud Computing for Easy Data Access

Data is the most important thing for a business, and today’s financial institutions make decisions based on data. When you collect and understand data in the right way, it will help your financial institution make better decisions. Most banking and non-banking financial companies invest in developing a powerful cloud infrastructure.

Cloud infrastructure provides easy data access to companies. Financial companies can maintain company portfolios and customer data on cloud storage. Data stored in the cloud is accessible anytime, and KYC verification is expedited. Nevertheless, financial institutions often check the data of loyal customers to provide better services. The overall financial verification will happen seamlessly with the cloud data storage.

Biometric Technology for a Faster Identity Verification

The financial industry has been developed on the foundation of trust. Developing trust is essential to improving customer satisfaction. At the same time, businesses should build a trustworthy brand by adapting to standard security practices.

Biometric technology has become a key technology in such a scenario. The technology assures seamless security in the verification process. Moreover, it brings quicker identity verification for financial institutions. As a result, loan requests have been processed faster due to digital identity verification.

Chatbots for an Automated Customer Support

Besides selling a product, financial organizations must render seamless after-sales service. The customers may have multiple queries regarding a product. Nevertheless, they may inquire about obtaining certain information from a financial company. In such cases, small financial institutions and non-banking companies need help managing a separate customer support department.

Instead of recruiting humans for customer support, implementing chatbots can be more cost-effective and productive. The chatbots deliver all necessary information to the customers without requiring human intervention. With the advent of time, chatbots will become more efficient in providing information to customers or clients.

Process Automation through AI and ML

Intelligent Automation is another key technology for MFI and non-banking financial organizations. The banking sector has already implemented automation and started reaping the benefits. Nowadays, banks can manage multiple tasks without human intervention. Small-scale financial companies should also focus on automation to reduce operational costs.

Artificial intelligence can make an organization less dependent on human resources. Various non-skilled tasks will be performed quickly and accurately. At the same time, machine learning can slowly take over a skilled job while making it easier to manage.

Facilitating Micro Services

Traditionally, the banking sector works with a monolithic approach, which refers to a uniform approach for everyone. But financial requirements vary from one person to another. A lender should check the creditworthiness of a person. Every person has a unique credit behavior, and financial companies must understand their clients with precision.

Understanding the clients helps financial institutions provide various MFI services. 

Instead of adopting one approach for everyone, financial companies can offer more customized products for their clients. Introducing such products will enhance the credibility of financial institutions to a large extent.

Internet of Things for Faster performance

Financial companies must embrace the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve performance. The technology helps with faster payment processing. Moreover, financial institutions can introduce smart notifications for their customers. The Internet of Things can also help in developing and managing digital wallets.

Advanced Analytics through Big Data

Financial organizations should adapt to advanced analytics for better decision-making. Making the right decisions is the key to running a business seamlessly. A data-driven approach to decision-making can improve decision accuracy. Moreover, business managers can make critical decisions with more conviction.

Conclusion

So, these are the technologies that MFI, non-banking, and banking institutions can adopt to improve productivity. Technology helps financial companies render better services to their clients. Moreover, adapting to the latest technologies improves organizations’ security of sensitive data. As a result, NBFCs and banks can reduce operational costs and improve revenue. The overall profitability of such organizations increases drastically.

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How Digital Tools are Transforming the Way Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Collect Loan Repayments

The benefits of digital tools in loan repayment collection

How Digital Tools are Transforming the Way Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Collect Loan Repayments

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are financial agencies that provide small loans to customers who need access to banking facilities. A loan below Rs. 1 lakh will be considered a microloan microfinance institution’s offer. Microloans have various benefits for people and are essential to economic development. However, microfinance faces several challenges, including a need for more investment validation, debt collection, and more.

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The Challenges for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)

The main objective of the microfinance concept is the financial growth of backward sections, especially women in India. This concept has helped improve the country’s economy since it was introduced. But MFIs still face several challenges that they must overcome. The MFIs face indebtedness because of poor risk management. Microfinance institutions provide collateral for loans, increasing the risk of bad debt. Hence, microfinance institutions require a robust risk management system.

Another issue microfinance institutions face is regulatory oversight. The RBI is the premier regulatory body for MFIs in India. Some regulations from the RBI benefit MFIs, but other regulations must address any issues. With new regulations, microfinance experiences structural and operational changes, which also cause ambiguity in norms of conduct. Hence, the microfinance industry requires separate regulatory authorities to survive.

Microfinance institutions are as dependent on the Indian banking system as commercial banks, and most MFIs are non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The banks help MFIS stabilize the fund and carry out their lending activities. The commercial banks that offer loans to microfinance institutes charge higher interest rates for a shorter period. It causes microfinance institutions to charge higher loan interest rates than mainstream banks. Also, people prefer loans with low-interest rates, causing MFIs to lose potential customers. 

The solution to these challenges for the microfinance institution includes proper regulation, a complete variety of products, different sources of funds, technology like debt collection software, etc.

The Benefits of Digital Tools in Loan Repayment Collection

Digital tools like automated cash collection solutions help MFIs minimize the risk of defaults. Moreover, digital tools offer more benefits to MFIs. Let’s look at the key benefits of digital tools hold for loan repayment collection:

Tracking the Loans Correctly

With a digital solution, MFIs can track debtor accounts. You can easily access the unpaid loan data immediately with the help of a Cash collection system. For instance, one of your customers purchases a loan from you to buy a car and pay off their loans. Normally, it takes a long time to update this information. However, if you have an automated system, you can see loan repayment updates immediately. You can also track your buyer’s financial position and find the right time to connect and remind them to repay the remaining loan.

Automate Communication with Borrowers

Debt collection software allows lenders to automate communication with their borrowers across several channels, such as SMS, email, and calls. People have different preferences for communication channels. You can improve your customer contact strategies by using digital tools to determine which communication channel each customer prefers.

For example, some customers may feel more comfortable sending an email, while others may prefer a live chat. The digital solution gives you a clear picture of which channels your customers prefer so that you can tailor your message to each one. You can also automate contacting people to improve your debt collection.

Sending Timely Repayment Notifications

Aside from recovering debt, a digital solution can make any process automated. Hence, improving the workflows for the organization. It will help the MFIs to reach the larger customer pool as your service volume increases.

Automation also helps you regularly send notifications to customers to help them remember to repay their loans. It reduces the risk of bad debt and allows you to recover the loan on time. It can send messages to customers via different channels and can keep a conversation with them at any time. Digital solutions also analyze and predict the best time to contact clients.

Streamlining the Tasks

Another benefit of automation in the operation of the microfinance sector is that it drives more efficiency. Digital solutions help generate machine learning-based chatbots that communicate with your clients in their language. It can also increase agent efficiency by freeing call center agents for other, more complex tasks. It also saves a lot of time to conduct manual and transactional processes for the organization.

Automation also aids MFIs in testing different strategies and discovering one that works best. You can make small changes in send time or written copy and compare them with each other to find the best engagement results.

Better Transparency between Lenders and Borrowers

Using digital solutions to maintain transparency between the borrowers allows lenders to obtain comprehensive insight into customers. Lenders can easily access the data describing borrowers’ behavior with a cash collection tool. It helps lenders choose the right borrowers and better understand the customer’s credit risk. It also helps MFIs to make better and faster decisions regarding loan applications. In simple words, digital solutions help collectors to predict future repayment and the risk of delinquency. With this MFIs can significantly protect themselves from the risk of delinquency. It also allows lenders to find trustworthy clients who can repay their loans on time.

Calculating Additional Charges Due to Late Repayment

A debt collection software is integrated with various digital tools and technologies. Hence, MFIs can use this software to instantly calculate their customer’s overall due loan information. It can also send this information to respective customers and help them understand the repayment plan. Knowing the penalties on their late loan repayment will prevent the customers from becoming delinquent. It enables you to get your money fast and maintain the cash flow. Effective collection software solutions include convenient payment options for customers, making a collection of signatures for payment arrangements easier

Quick and Hassle-free Dispute Management

With digital solutions, you can notify your clients about the progress of their disputes, analyze the cause, and speed up the resolutions. It will help MFI boost its image as a reliable sales partner. Automating the collection process allows you to send the payment reminder notice before the invoice is due. It also reduces the risk of errors, meaning less cause of dispute between the customers. A cash collection software tracks and collects all relevant information about the customer accounts to reduce the chance of misunderstanding when different employees work on the same accounts. Hence, you can improve customer satisfaction with digital solutions by providing accurate and responsive information about their account status. 

Conclusion

Nowadays, people prefer companies that offer a wide range of payment options. The microfinance sector also uses the technology to improve its Cash collection system. MIMOIQ offers a well-integrated software solution for NBFCs and microfinance institutions along with cash collection services. The cash collection software helps the MFI handle all their cash management needs. The key benefits of debt collection software service from MIMOIQ include simple-to-use service, reduced risk of fraud, theft, & mismanagement, and fast settlements.

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How to Automate the Cash Collection process?

Automate Cash Collection Process for your Business

How to Automate the Cash Collection process?

For any organization, the collection process is incredibly mundane. The team that supervises this process has to spend an hour, and this process also makes the team unmotivated to complete their work each day.

Cash collection is an essential part of any organization. The cash collection management team has to send endless reminders via email, phone calls, and more to clients who forget to pay you. Using technology, you can improve your business’s overall collections experience while boosting your team’s morale.

Here, you can learn how automated cash collection improves cash flow, minimizes invoice query times, and reduces debtor days.

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What is the cash collection process?

A cash collection Process is whereby an organization recovers cash or due payment from other businesses or customers for whom it has previously issued an invoice. The primary function of cash collection is to receive invoices paid on their due date.

The process also manages new payment settlements or credit terms. New payment settlements are essential as it saves companies from doubtful and bad debts. Moreover, a company with massive volumes of payments means more manual work, and it can result in a time-consuming and arduous process. It affects the overall productivity of the company

Why should you automate the cash collection process?

Many companies are implementing an order to cash Automation Software in their organization to speed up their cash collection process. With an automated cash collection process, you can receive payment faster from your customer. Your cash collection team needs to be faster to remind customers of the importance of timely payments, and their pending payments will pile up. The automation software has automated reminders that remind your customers about their past due. It uses an automated email sequence that reminds all the customers at once.

Cash flow problems make it difficult for businesses to pay their staff, supplies, and creditors. It hurts your creditworthiness, causing more problems in your business. An automated cash collection makes the accounting process less troublesome and reduces the chance of any error. With less time, your team can focus on maintaining the organization’s financial health.

Automated software also allows your team to access documents from anywhere. The software uses cloud-based platforms that enable access to accounting data on various devices from any secure location. It helps your business keep moving forward even in case of any disturbance.

If you think that your data is unreliable, you can’t make the right decision and lose your clients and customers. To provide accurate products and services, you should focus on accurate financial reporting. With the automated cash collection process, you can remove the error likely to happen because of

humans. It helps in making data more accurate. It also enables you to analyze the data, spot new trends, identify challenges, and instantly find solutions.

Ways to automate the cash collection process with automation software

Generally, you can automate your organization’s cash collection process with the help of automation software. However, many things, such as the software’s features, your business requirement, and more, help determine whether the software works for your business or not. Hence, you will need some tips while automating this process to have effective solutions. Here’s a list of ways that allow you to automate your cash collection process, including:

Use AI-based OCR Engines

Your cash handling team should use AI-based OCR engines to reduce the dependency on bank lockbox key-in fees by offering accurate capture of check stub information. It also reduces or eliminates the reliance on in-house resources. When looking for automation software services, ensure that the provider offers this feature.

Identification and Application of Reason Codes for Short-Payment

Sometimes, customers make short payments but need to share the reason code information. It causes me to generate invoices for the same item twice. Choose a software that offers a feature to identify short payments and map the customer-provided reason code to the internal reason code. It helps reduce the error on an invoice.

The capture of Remittances from Various Sources

Automated Cash collection requires software that captures remittance details from various sources, such as emails and attachments, web portals, EDIs, and more. Customers send remittances in multiple formats, including PDFs, JPED, XML, HTML, CSV, PNG, Excel, and more

Automatic Linking of Payments and Remittance for Online Transaction

People send remittances through EDIs, emails, and web portals. It makes it difficult for a team to extract these remittances and map them to the incoming payments with proper payment data, invoice numbers, and more. To avoid exceptions, you should implement automation to link payment and remittance files for online transactions.

Open Account Receivable Invoice Matching and Exception Handling

When a person works manually for an accounting process, the risk of error is high. The team may find these issues, such as incorrect invoice numbers or missing remittance information. 

It can cause delays in cash posting, so you should prevent these problems with the help of Automation Software. Use AI-based software that automates matching invoices to payments, even in exceptions.

Post Cash Directly to Your ERP

You should ensure that your software features output file generation that is compatible with any ERP system. Your software should be able to create files in various formats, including EDI, BAI, and other formats. Having software that works well with your ERP system helps reduce the manual effort to recognize the file and streamline the cash posting to the ERP system.

Study Performance Metrics and Report for Better Insight

Monitoring the cash collection process metrics helps the organization to analyze the performance of the cash collection process. It will help if you implement software that displays the day-to-day activities and analyzes KPIs. It helps organizations to make further decisions based on accurate information.

Use AI and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning algorithms help solve any challenge while using automation software. The software featuring machine learning allows it to learn about your organization independently. It saves time manually putting information about the customer’s invoice number and other data.

Identify and handle Complex Parent-Child Relationships.

Parent-child relationships make mapping payments of customers challenging. Sometimes, an organization posts sales invoices on a parent account level but deducts at the child level. You should get software that can identify and map parent-child relationships in the customer to eliminate the exception during cash posting.

Auto-match Customer' Open Invoices with Incoming Payments

The cash collection software should be able to auto-match the payments from their customer to their open invoices. This process, also known as customer identification, helps the AR team to verify the account numbers when customers make payments.

The Final Word

Many ways are available for your business to automate its Cash Collection Process. When you look for a solution, make sure that it can make your team more efficient and offers your consumers a smooth transaction experience.

With MIMOIQ, you can get trained professionals to handle the entire collection. They also help reduce the risk of fraud, theft, and cash mismanagement. You can choose multiple models, such as doorstep pickup, cash collection point, etc., that meet your business needs.

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Merchant Onboarding in India: A Simple Guide

MErchant Onboarding in india a simple guide

Merchant Onboarding in India: A Simple Guide

Many new businesses are rising and joining other businesses to increase their profit. The payments industry is also a growing business. The payments industry adopts efficient merchant onboarding practices to carefully onboard new merchants. It identifies good and bad merchants and quickly accepts only good ones in its system.

Onboarding is essential for any merchant acquirer and payment service provider. It allows you to get more secure transaction options, resulting in huge profits and growth for your business. Merchant onboarding practices also alert the company of fraudulent transactions.

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Merchant Onboarding Overview

Merchant Onboarding in India is a process that involves a payment industry that onboards a merchant or a vendor to their platform. In simple words, merchant onboarding is an activity through which new vendors or merchants are added to a specific payment gateway system. It verifies your business and helps you create an electronic profile for your business, including all essential details.

Merchant onboarding is significant as it helps payment service providers to detect fraud and ensure their reputation. Many PSPs organizations verify the business’s identity. This onboarding process must collect information about a new merchant using in-depth and accurate risk assessment to ensure seamless practices.

Many merchants who run online gaming or gambling platforms have a higher risk of being a fraud and have a criminal background. Checking the complete details about the merchants and their business requires more time and is tiresome. The PSPs must finish merchant onboarding quickly, so they don’t lose potential merchants. 

Merchant Onboarding Practices

Many payment service providers have automated onboarding processes, saving more time and money for both merchants and PSPs. Automation also enables seamless integration between the onboarding steps. Some merchant onboarding practices include:

● Merchant KYC Process

Performing a KYC procedure on the merchant ensures that the business exists and is currently operational. It also ensures that the account submission is authorized. This process involves the merchant providing a background verification, which may take some time to process.

However, speed up the KYC process thanks to the latest technology and advancements in digitization and automation. You can submit all the required documents for verification online instead of submitting their physical form. Automating the KYC process also saves manual work as most PSPs have API-based integrations that help merchants save time by directly submitting their applications to the PSP online platform.

● Prescreening

When a merchant applies for merchant onboarding, the acquirer conducts a pre-screening process. It is a quick process that ensures that merchants have everything in order. It helps PSP to detect and eliminate obvious fraudsters and scammers.

This process is the common first stage that many PSPs conduct. This process allows merchant and onboarding partners to get in touch and start the process from here.

● Business and Operational Model Analysis

The Merchant Onboarding Partner determines the level of risk when onboarding a merchant and performs the business and operational model analysis. It provides a simplified, transparent, and common view of any business. PSP uses this method to create strategies to effectively identify the type of organization. However, this practice is only done for high-risk merchants to avoid any.

● Web Content Analysis

This practice is another onboarding process that an onboarding partner conduct is web content analysis. During this process, the PSP looks at all the online content from their merchant website. They check their posts, videos, pages, and more to determine their online presence, weakness, strengths, and status. The onboarding partner team looks for the language used within a post and article.

● Merchant History Check

The onboarding partner closely examines the track record of your business and checks your personal credit history. This process involves the evaluation of an account of a merchant’s business. It ensures that the merchant has no red flags in their financial history and checks whether the business owner is a reliable borrower. Merchants must submit all their certifications and legal documentation to conduct their business to their onboarding partner.

● Credit Risk Underwriting

It is a process by which a lender checks an applicant’s creditworthiness. This process involves verifying the applicant’s assets, income, property details, and debt for approving a loan from a bank or lender. Credit risk underwriting helps in the merchant onboarding process as it allows PSP to decide whether an applicant is a trustworthy merchant or not.

● Information Security Compliance

A minimum set of the latest network security requirements ensures all transactions go smoothly. It is a part of the operational phase and protects the confidential data of the merchant. For example, if you are taking payments via the contactless method, your business will need information security compliance to secure the details of your customers. Once this practice is installed in your onboarding process, you can start accepting transactions via various contactless payment options from your customers. It will attract more customers to your business and increase your revenue.

Benefits of Merchant Onboarding in India

Here are the benefits of the Merchant Onboarding process in India:

What is Merchant Acquiring Business Products

Merchant-acquiring services are integral to the digital ecosystem that PSP provides to merchants. Some merchant-acquiring business products include BHIM Aadhaar Pay, Point of Sale, BHIM QR Code, and Internet Payment Gateway. These products allow you to accept payment from your customer much more quickly.

Merchant Risk Management

The Merchant Onboarding Partner uses appropriate countermeasures to determine the correct onboarding friction. Some companies like foreign exchange, online brokers, and gaming companies have a high risk of being a fraud or involved in money laundering.

The level of risk differs from merchant to merchant, and they must undergo different levels of due diligence checks. However, all merchants must undergo the standard verification set by the card network. Some standard verification includes KYC, KYCC, credit underwriting, and AML.

Merchant Monitoring

The onboarding partner also monitors their new merchant to ensure that they don’t change the nature of their business. The merchants must re-evaluate for risk if PSP experiences a sudden change in transaction amounts. Some merchant monitoring practices include spikes in activities, exceeding thresholds, Changes on the website like changes in links or products, and wrong media mentions.

Conclusion

Merchant onboarding plays a critical role in contributing to one’s revenue. You can also benefit from merchant onboarding practices. Start with submitting the merchant processing application (MPA). You can fill out this application online as it is much easier and faster than filling out the paper. The application contains all the information about the documents needed for the merchant acquiring services. Generally, the processing partner asks about these details, including banking, business, ownership, and more.

MIMOIQ has been providing excellent and fast merchant onboarding services to all types of businesses and helping them improve their online reputation and presence and attract more customers.

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Top 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing the Right Payment Processing Software

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Top 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing the Right Payment Processing Software

Online transitions have become familiar, and the eCommerce industry has obtained an excellent boost due to the familiarity with online payments. A seller can now create a website to sell his goods and get paid through an online payment processing system. However, every online business should integrate a safe online processing system. Making sure payments are safe improves the customer experience and can help your business grow in the long run. While choosing the right payment processing software, online businesses may ask the following questions.

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#1. Is the payment processing software compatible with your currency?

The payment processing tools are registered in different countries. Most software developers register their tools in multiple countries, though some tools are dedicated to serving a particular country. So, you need to check the compatibility of the payment processing software with your trading currencies.

Customers from a particular country will not be able to pay for the products or services through your web store if the payment gateway does not support that country’s currency. Therefore, judging by the geo-location of your target audiences, you should choose a payment gateway system for your eCommerce platform.

Many businesses integrate multiple payment gateways to serve customers from different countries. Multiple payment gateways are also a good thing for the buyers’ currencies to receive money. Irrespective of the number of payment gateways you integrate with your online business, you must check the currency compatibility of those payment processing systems.

#2. Is the payment processing software PCI compliant?

While accepting online payment, a business is responsible for maintaining top-notch security for the buyer’s financial data. Therefore, you should choose the SaaS payment processing systems that come with PCI compliance. If you have not heard the term, PCI DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.

In 2020, a report claimed that only 28% of online businesses in the USA had PCI compliance. The shocking revelation is that the number has been dropping in the last few years. If you choose payment processing systems that aren’t PCI compliant, you might break security rules. As a result, the financial data of customers will not remain safe.

The best way to see if a payment processing system is PCI-compliant is to look at how it encrypts data. Tokenization is a standard way to encrypt data that takes out credit card information to add an extra layer of security. Such payment gateways are PCI-compliant payment processing gateways.

#3. What should the business expect after onboarding?

Every payment solution is unique, and the onboarding experience varies from one provider to another. A more rapid and seamless onboarding process is critical for a positive customer experience. While choosing a payment gateway, eCommerce businesses should keep the following things in mind.

#4. Does the payment processing software accept multiple payment modes?

A reliable and professional SaaS payment processing service in India should offer a payment gateway that works with more than one payment method. In India, debit and credit card payments are popular, though UPI payments have also become convenient for buyers.

Besides these conventional payment options, the payment gateway should support digital wallet payment, internet banking, pay-later features, and many more. Featuring multiple payment gateways, it attracts more buyers to an online store.

Still, the payment processing system is a key part of keeping customers returning to an online business.

#5. What Is the Cost of Payment Processing Software?

Nowadays, merchants can find multiple payment processing systems to integrate into their online stores. But the price of a tool for processing payments depends on its features, security, and other factors. Since the market has become competitive, most SaaS payment processing companies offer low-budget deals to their customers.

However, it is still crucial for merchants to check the cost and features before choosing a payment gateway. You can check out multiple software packages and judge which one is the most cost-effective one for your business. Typically, the payment processing gateways come with a monthly package cost. In a few cases, they have fees for particular payment methods.

#6. Can You Customize the Payment Processing Software?

Every business is different, so owners need customized software as a service (SaaS) to keep track of all their tasks. So, it would help to look for a customizable payment processing tool for your online store

Customizable tools help businesses add or delete payment processing gateways according to their requirements. For example, some businesses want to offer a “pay later” option to buyers to lure more buyers. This payment option increases the conversion rate because it makes it easier for buyers to buy and pay for a product later

Some businesses receive a good number of buyers from a specific country. In such cases, the sellers want to offer currency compatibility to such buyers.

#7. Will You Be Able to Switch Providers Quickly?

While choosing payment processing software, eCommerce businesses seek long-term cooperation with the service provider. However, it does not happen that way in a few cases, and online businesses are looking for a better option.

You can easily find better options due to the availability of multiple payment processing gateways. However, migration from one service to another can be a daunting task. Businesses do not want to lose customers due to technical hiccups during the migration.

Before choosing a payment processing system, you should look at the terms and conditions for migration. It will help you to migrate easily if such a requirement arises.

#8. Does the company offer dedicated customer support?

Profound and dedicated customer support is essential for choosing the right SaaS payment solution. If a company doesn’t have good technical support, it could be challenging for eCommerce merchants to work with them in the future.

Nobody likes losing customers due to technical glitches on the payment gateway. Moreover, frequent glitches on the payment gateway are unsuitable for your business reputation. Effortless customer support is essential to deal with such technical glitches.

#9. What Is the Company’s Expertise in Fraud Management?

SaaS fraud management for SaaS payment processing is essential to protect customers from financial fraud. People lose money due to fraud, and gaining back the trust of such people becomes difficult. It is difficult to bring back a buyer once you have lost him. Therefore, you must have a payment gateway system with an efficient fraud management mechanism.

#10. Is the payment processing software tax-compliant?

The payment processing software should be tax-compliant to reduce your hassles in dealing with taxes. The payment gateway should add GST for domestic and international transactions. At the same time, it must include additional transactional fees for international payments. Choosing such a payment processing tool reduces hassles for small-scale eCommerce stores.

Conclusion

So, these are the questions you should ask before choosing the SaaS payment processing provider in India. Finding reliable payment processing software can improve the conversion rate of your business. At the same time, it enhances the momentum of customer retention by making things easier for them.

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Start Digital Merchant Onboarding with MIMOIQ in Minutes and Beat Your Competition

Merchant Onboarding 22

Start Digital Merchant Onboarding with MIMOIQ in Minutes and Beat Your Competition

Merchant onboarding refers to the stage of the first encounter between a sales organization’s payment processing partners and new merchants. The stage is crucial to launching the underwriting process, which eventually defines the risk profile of a merchant. Avoiding this risk is essential to protect a business from financial losses. Moreover, it also helps the independent sales organization find trustworthy merchants. Therefore, merchant onboarding is crucial, though the traditional onboarding process can be time-consuming. A business can adopt digital merchant onboarding to reduce time and hassles in the process. 

MIMOIQ is one of the leading platforms that offer fast merchant onboarding. Faster onboarding through this digital platform prevents various hassles. Nevertheless, the onboarding process happens quickly, enabling businesses to run multiple merchant onboarding without difficulties. 

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The Drawbacks of Traditional Merchant Onboarding

Traditional merchant onboarding comes with many hassles, and most companies have taken measures to adapt to digital onboarding. In the following section, some of the drawbacks of traditional onboarding have been listed. 

Omit the Errors:

Traditional merchant onboarding is error-prone. Since the process is handled through human interactions, mistakes can occur at various stages. Therefore, most businesses nowadays move toward digital merchant onboarding.

Expensive Process:

Human intervention in a process makes it expensive due to the wages that should be paid to the executives. On the other hand, an automated process does not involve employee wages. As a result, the process becomes cost-effective.

Time-Consuming:

The merchant onboarding is time-consuming if a business follows the traditional human-based onboarding. While humans may take 30-40 minutes or even more in traditional onboarding, MIMOIQ’s digital onboarding takes only a few minutes.

Lesser Application Denial:

The application denial rate is significantly high in traditional merchant onboarding. You can reduce the application denial rate through digital onboarding. The traditional process can be erroneous, which increases the rejection rate.

How Can MIMOIQ Offer Seamless Merchant Onboarding?

Through digital onboarding, an independent sales organization can enhance speed and accuracy in merchant acquiring services. MIMOIQ offers a cutting-edge Merchant Onboarding platform, which omits manual intervention in the merchant onboarding process. Besides automating the overall process, MIMOIQ ensures a safe, error-free, and hassle-free process. 

 

In the following section, you can find more information on the digital onboarding services offered by MIMOIQ. 

A Fully Digitized Merchant Onboarding

MIMOIQ offers a completely digitized merchant onboarding system that does not involve human interactions. In the past, companies had to deal with paperwork for merchant onboarding. The executives had to create new files and check the past files for the merchant’s risk profile development. MIMOIQ’s digital onboarding system will eliminate human engagement in the process. Risk profile judgment and new merchant profile creation will happen automatically. 

A digitized system also gives easy access to the merchant’s onboarding information. The companies can check the merchants’ onboarding status and related documents. As a result, the decision-making process of an organization improves drastically. 

Lightning-Fast Onboarding Process

Faster merchant onboarding brings excellent convenience to business management. Adding new merchants quickly will help your business develop good relationships with the merchants. The conventional onboarding process becomes slow for two significant reasons. Firstly, the process is handled manually, which is time-consuming. Secondly, manual processes can get erroneous, and it takes a long time to address the errors and rectify them to continue with the merchant onboarding. 

Using the MIMOIQ digital onboarding solution is time-saving for businesses. You can obtain a lightningfast onboarding process without worrying about errors during the process. The digital merchant onboarding is error-free and hassle-free. Therefore, most businesses have gradually started adopting digitized merchant onboarding to reduce the time involved in the process. 

Reduce the Business Overhead Expenses

Paying wages to employees is the most significant business overhead expense for a business. In traditional onboarding, an independent sales organization must hire multiple employees to handle multiple merchant onboarding management tasks. The process often becomes lengthy due to risk profile analysis, and document verification which needs to be done depending on many factors. A machine can calibrate the risk profile with a higher conviction. Moreover, the chance of error is also low when you use a tool for digital onboarding. 

Therefore, businesses can save their expenses in two ways by adopting digital onboarding. Firstly, it can reduce the number of employees dealing with the onboarding process, as the tool is capable of handling multiple tasks. Secondly, the tool eliminates errors from the process and eventually saves the business money. You can notice a significant cost reduction by integrating the MIMOIQ with the merchant onboarding process. 

A Transparent Preboarding Process

Transparent and systematic pre-boarding is essential for fast merchant onboarding. Manual pre-boarding is also possible, though it increases the burden of employing a few more people. However, pre-boarding comes with many rewards too. Businesses that adopt this strategy can improve their onboarding speed. Nevertheless, risk profile analysis during onboarding will become easier due to the availability of necessary documentation that was procured during pre-boarding. 

MIMOIQ’s digitized merchant acquiring services come with a pre-boarding feature. The system allows merchants to pre-board and conduct the onboarding after the agreement between the parties. You can introduce such a flexible and standard merchant onboarding model to your business using the MIMOIQ platform. 

A Seamless and Accurate Compliance

Compliance is a concern for every organization during merchant onboarding. A mistake in maintaining compliance can lead to many troubles. Firstly, compliance leads to penalties for organizations, and the penalty amount is hefty in most cases. Secondly, compliance enhances the risks of operating a business with multiple merchants. Business transactions with a potentially risky merchant lead to financial losses. 

MIMOIQ’s digital onboarding platform helps businesses achieve compliance in digital onboarding. Accurate compliance eliminates the risks discussed above. The platform can access merchant data like credit scores, company structures, company information, director details, company turnovers, merchant reputation, and many more. 

Improve engagement with the Merchants

A digital onboarding process gives excellent satisfaction to the merchants. Every merchant expects minimal onboarding hassles to develop a long-term business relationship. Finding annoyances in onboarding also creates a wrong impression of your business among the merchants. The merchants want to collaborate with the businesses that readily embrace technologies to improve multiple business processes. 

A digitized process also helps businesses to find merchants from various locations. Physical distance will not be a big issue in digital merchant onboarding. As a result, independent sales organizations can find multiple merchants from various locations. It eventually helps the organizations grow their business quickly. 

Conclusion

Besides offering fast merchant onboarding, the MIMOIQ platform also ensures a personalized, seamless, and adaptable merchant onboarding experience through the digitized platform. As a result, it develops a flourishing partnership between the sales organizations and their merchants. Onboarding is the first interaction between an organization and a merchant. The first interaction should be effortless and hassle-free to build a flourishing relationship in the long run. MIMOIQ is one of the most trusted platforms for advanced digital merchant onboarding. 

Simplify Instant Digital Merchant Onboarding

Create a world-class digital merchant onboarding process with MIMOIQ. Streamline your Merchant onboarding process using one platform to handle KYC, AML, transaction monitoring, and risk analytics.

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TraQPayments Receives Payment Processing Software Recognition from Leading B2B Review Platform

TraQPayments Receives Payment Processing Software Recognition from Leading B2B Review Platform

TraQPayments Receives Payment Processing Software Recognition from Leading B2B Review Platform

Recently, a leading B2B software marketplace presented TraQPayments with a prestigious industry award in recognition of its exceptional performance in the payment processing software category.

CompareCamp, one of the most trusted and widely-known sources for comprehensive B2B and B2C SaaS reviews, recently lauded TraQPayments as one of the best payment processing platforms this year. The software review platform granted TraQPayments with a Rising Star Award, a type of recognition usually presented to payment processing platforms that have accumulated a growing number of followers and positive mentions from satisfied users on social media.

Following a strict criteria, CompareCamp came up with an authoritative ranking of the best payment processing and invoicing platforms and considered TraQPayments as a strong contender among the software products included on the list. CompareCamp’s team of expert software reviewers evaluated the features and functionalities offered by TraQPayments, considering it as one of the finest payment processing software products in the marketplace.

CompareCamp performed a thorough assessment of TraQPayments’ overall performance in terms of accepting payments, generating invoices, and offering subscriptions. In its detailed TraQPayments review, CompareCamp examined each of the key features that the platform offers. The review especially highlighted TraQPayments’ ability to support automated payments, increasing customer satisfaction and convenience, and improving the efficiency of payment collection processes.

TraQPayments was also commended for its invoicing features, which make it easier for businesses of all scales to generate and send invoices. The platform is built with a QR code function that allows customers to complete transactions and settle payments more easily. TraQPayments also supports a variety of payment options, such as digital wallets like GPay and BHIM UPI. Integrations with the platform make it possible for customers to settle their balances through credit, debit cards, and net banking.

According to a recent report, 82% of Americans today use online payments, which include in-store checkout via a phone or QR code, in-app digital purchases, and person-to-person (P2P) payments. With COVID-19 accelerating digitization in banking, payment processing software products like TraQPayments offer the most essential features for businesses to set up and manage online payments and provide a seamless experience for their customers.

CompareCamp carefully evaluated all of the features and functionalities offered by TraQPayments and included it in their list of best invoicing platforms. As an all-in-one electronic payment solution, TraQPayments equips businesses with all the right tools to accept payments online, streamline the billing process, and provide the best customer experience.

All things considered, our team at TraQPayment would like to express our gratitude to CompareCamp for presenting us with such a prestigious award. The honor of receiving this award from such a reputable organization inspires us to continue providing top-quality payment processing solutions to all kinds of businesses.

We would also like to thank our customers and users for trusting us with their payment processing requirements. Rest assured that we will continue to develop and provide you with newer and better services in the years to come.

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How Electronic Payment Solutions are the First Step into the Digital Age

ffirst step into

How Electronic Payment Solutions are the First Step into the Digital Age

Finance is a big part of people’s daily lives— both on a consumer and professional level. We rely on financial transactions for so much of our day-to-day living. We buy groceries, pay our bills, receive salaries and sales, budget our finances, and so much more. Over the years, many of these activities have moved to electronic platforms, sparking a vast movement in financial technology or fintech.

Nowadays, 64% of consumers use some form of fintech platform. And while the adoption of these tools for payment has increased, there is still some pushback. But the importance of electronic payment systems cannot be denied. We rely on it heavily today. So do businesses. And soon, there might come a time the majority of our transactions will happen electronically.

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Aspects of Payment You Can Digitize

Just what can businesses and people digitize today when it comes to our finances? There are many aspects that have now gone electronic when it comes to money. Here are just a few of them.

Purchasing

Probably one of the biggest shifts in the past half-decade has been the growth of e-commerce. Consumers are no longer just buying more online. They’re actually at a point where many of them prefer it over offline methods. In 2020 alone, amidst the height of the pandemic, e-commerce grew by 27.6%.

Hence, there has been a massive shift towards online payment gateways and systems. Some electronic payment system examples we might be familiar with include PayPal, GooglePay, ApplePay, AmazonPay, Stripe, and so many more. Another growing option is TraQPayments, which merchants can use to collect money via payment links.

B2B Payables

Not only are people buying more in a B2C setting. They’re also starting to shift many of their B2B payables online. Businesses prefer to pay their suppliers, providers, and utilities online. Doing so is not only more productive. It’s also easier to track. Without the problem of unnecessary travel times and queues, business owners and managers can now allot their time towards other more important activities in the business.

Invoicing

People no longer just want to pay online. They want to be paid online as well. Online invoicing has radically shifted accounting and finance in a whole new direction. Because merchants want to pay online, companies should now start thinking about providing digital invoicing options online. These invoicing softwares do more than just online billings— which accounting can then file much easier. They also allow invoice recipients to settle payments online with ease.

Some of the invoicing software and examples that people should start looking into are PayPal and Stripe. However, these two options can be known for their massive fees. So you might also want to look at TraQPayments as an invoicing software option, given it has competitive fees and many other features and benefits.

Accounting and Book keeping

Now that so much money is moving online, 40% of accountants want to automate accounts payable and invoicing. By doing so, they’re able to accomplish bookkeeping and finance tracking tasks faster. For an accounting firm, this advantage could mean being able to get more clients. For an accounting department in a large corporation, that means that accounting managers will be able to stay up-to-date on all finance tracking with very little chance of falling back on work.

Personal Budgeting

Not only can professional accountants automate their bookkeeping. Individuals can also do so at a personal level. For someone who wants to pay their internet bill or water bill, electronic payments will most likely be a more viable option. It removes the hassle of having to leave the office for an hour to head over to the nearest payment center, for example.

There’s also the abundance of budgeting apps on mobile phones now that make it easier for people and families to get better control of their finances.

Payroll

Human resource departments also get to benefit from the growth of online payments’ popularity. 54% of small businesses say that there is room for improvement in their payroll policies and systems. Switching to online payroll services could be one of those improvements for your business.

Online payroll systems help HR departments save time and energy by automating salary computation and making it possible to disburse payments to employees virtually. That, in turn, speeds up the payout process. When employees get paid faster and more promptly, you’ll also have happier staff in general.

Expense Management

If your business still relies on manual systems to disburse, liquidate, and report back petty cash expenses, travel expenses, and so on, then there’s a chance you’re leaving money on the table. Expense management software makes small expenditure management more convenient for entrepreneurs, managers, and finance departments. Because most expense management systems are cloud-based, companies can also collect reports from traveling staff even before they get back to the office. This added edge allows for smoother accounting and more accountability.

Advantages of Going Electronic With Your Payments

All in all, it’s safe to say that electronic payments make our lives easier. And there are many advantages that build that case. If you’re not convinced, these benefits should be able to solidify this case.

Ease of Business

The ease of doing business should be a priority across economies, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. With the added features of electronic payment systems, SMEs can transact faster, take payments from clients and customers wherever they are, and grow much easier than traditional methods alone. 

The pandemic taught us that e-commerce and digital business should be a staple for any business, no matter how large. And more innovations in electronic payment markets make it easier for everyone to do that. Mobile adoption has also helped increase the ease of doing business. 90% of fintech users have used some form of mobile payment.

Saved Time and Resources

Electronic payment options save everyone time and resources. Imagine the decreased hassle of having to buy food because food delivery apps now make it possible to order and pay for food without leaving their home or office.

The cost savings brought about by electronic payments also compound massively. For instance, the cost of sending digital invoices is much lower than having to print and freight hard copy invoices. Invoice management software can also automate payment reminders so that business owners and finance staff no longer have to do so manually when clients fail to pay on time. 

Security

There’s an ongoing debate about the security of online payments, given how cybersecurity threats have risen with time. But overall, online payment options can provide more layers of security. Processes like KYC procedures and authentication steps add more layers of protection to people who send or receive payments online.

The security advantages of electronic payment systems will only improve through time as more protection innovations arise. We’re in the early stages of digital adoption still, and there’s plenty more room to grow, particularly around financial security.

Increased Reach

Businesses that use electronic payment options like e-commerce and online invoicing now have the ability to reach more clients, no matter what part of the country (or even the world) they are. Purchasing trends like cash on delivery and digital wallets are improving transactions online and encouraging more customers to buy virtually. As that reach grows, businesses will only grow more.

The Future of Business with Electronic Payment

All in all, the business world has drastically improved as electronic payment solutions improve with time. And those two will only keep growing together as more businesses and consumers start adopting this new era of commerce.

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What are the KYC Procedures for Merchant Onboarding?

KYC procedures for merchant onboarding

What are the KYC Procedures for Merchant Onboarding?

The merchant onboarding process is at the core of the payments industry, its effectiveness either enabling or inhibiting growth for businesses in this soon-to-be $2-trillion market. The global payments sector is rapidly evolving, with legislative changes, macroeconomic developments, and fintech’s push into the payments industry that is posing problems and opportunities. 

As payments companies negotiate the industry’s challenges, they are all affected by the digital change that is sweeping financial services. Customers and merchants have grown accustomed to faster, more convenient service, prompting payment providers to invest in digital infrastructure upgrades to gain speed and flexibility. Meanwhile, new businesses are emerging onto the market with unprecedented speed. 

When onboarding merchants, certain risks must be addressed, such as fraud, excess chargebacks, money laundering, tax evasion, and so on. Regulatory guidelines and applicable regulations compel us to take a number of preventive measures, including Know-Your-Customer (‘KYC’) and merchant due diligence procedures, in order to achieve this. As a result, we conduct a series of checks for merchants that begin before onboarding and last until the conclusion of their engagement with us. Financial service institutions or any other businesses who want to onboard merchants onto their platform can use the techniques described here to comply with guidelines and mitigate risk. 

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What is KYC?

When a client attempts to open an account or on board with a regulated financial institution, such as a bank, a private bank, or an investment company, KYC is conducted (e.g.: the KYC process you undertake when opening a bank account). An individual or a legal entity can be a client. The goal is to verify the client’s identity, address, and legitimacy through crucial document verification. When combined with due diligence and other mandatory tests, these allow us to identify possible fraudsters, and shell corporations and detect money laundering, among other things. Non-regulated enterprises, such as an online marketplace, are frequently required to conduct a full or partial KYC as a precaution. These enable us to secure ourselves and our end customers and the financial system as a whole. 

The Complete KYC Procedure

The KYC document check, also known as the Customer Due Diligence Check, is in the initial stage. Individual KYC and Business KYC are two types of KYC that can be used: 

Step 1: The KYC document check or CDD process

  • Individual KYC: We do a ‘KYC’ process, or CDD for an individual, when you are a merchant who is an individual (e.g., a sole proprietor). In general, we check your identity using an OVD check (identity documents such as Aadhaar, passports, driving licenses, and so on), individual PAN verification, and, if applicable, current address proof check (utility bills, etc.). We can also request additional documents to confirm your financial or company position, such as your business registration documents. 
  • Business KYC: When we are on-boarding a business partner, we perform a Business KYC procedure, also known as a CDD for a business. The OVD check is replaced by an ‘entity-proof’ check in this case. This, too, varies depending on the type of legal company you are. If you’re a company, for example, we’ll need to verify your certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles of organization, and other documents. If you’re a trust or partnership, we’ll need your trust/partnership deed, registration certificates, and other documents. 

Step 2: Check for sanctions and PEPs on the sanction and PEP lists.

The names of our clients and their beneficial owners must then be checked against specified lists, such as national and international terrorism lists, or lists of “Politically Exposed Persons.” We must also notify the Financial Intelligence Unit of India (‘FIU-IND’) if a name appears on a sanctions list. We also check blacklists, greylists, and defaulter lists for firms, directors, and other individuals issued by banks, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Enforcement Directorate, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (US), and others (for a detailed list please see Appendix II below). These checks help us combat terrorism and money laundering, as well as determine risk thresholds for individual clients. 

Step 3: Merchant screening and onboarding policies

Following that, we do a background and antecedent check in the form of an initial screening, for which we establish an internal merchant Onboarding Policy. The purpose of this step is to confirm the nature, purpose, and legitimacy of a potential client’s business. To determine business legitimacy, we conduct a variety of checks, including licensing/registration checks, credit checks, profit and loss statement checks, balance sheet reviews, and so on, based on information we obtain directly from the prospective client, as well as publicly available information such as the merchant’s websites, product listings, end-customer reviews, social media activity, and so on. We must additionally check for PCI-DSS compliance because it is mandated by law.  

Step 4: Merchant profiling and levels of diligence

Following these preliminary assessments, we must categorize merchants as low, medium, or high risk. Based on this, we determine the levels of due diligence and post-onboarding monitoring we do; for example, we need to conduct enhanced due diligence for PEPs but simpler due diligence for self-help organizations. We’re also barred from doing business with some industries (tobacco, hacking, gambling, weapons, and so on), while others are considered high-risk (pharmaceuticals, matrimony, gaming, security brokers, jewelry, and so on), necessitating more scrutiny and caution. 

Step 5: Continuous due diligence

Following onboarding, our due diligence procedures will continue to monitor any suspicious changes in merchant behavior. A change in the merchant’s website details, for example, or an unexpected display of high-risk products, could suggest fraud. These circumstances may necessitate a review of merchant risk profiles and due diligence levels. 

Step 6: Keep track of your transactions

We monitor merchant transactions as part of our onboarding process to look for any potential red flags, such as differences in expected transaction characteristics. Expected total transaction volume, average order value, chargeback frequency, and so forth are examples. For instance, if a merchant exceeds the maximum transaction limitations, exhibits a strange refund pattern, or receives frequent end-customer complaints, these are all red flags. Regulated entities must report any suspicious transactions (such as those that raise money laundering concerns) as well as transactions above specific thresholds (e.g., cash transactions over Rs.10 lakh, cross-border wire transfers surpassing Rs.5 lakh) to the FIU-IND. 

Step 7: Requirements for record-keeping and internal governance

Then, for at least 5 years, we preserve records of all merchant transactions and identity documents. These must be made available to the authorities upon request, such as in the case of an investigation. Internal governance demands such as dedicated internal committees, internal audits, periodic risk assessments, and proper employee training are also in place to ensure effective implementation of requirements. A Designated Director and a Principal Officer must also be selected, as they have specific reporting responsibilities under the PMLA. 

Step 8: Updates on a Regular Basis

Finally, both merchant risk profiles and KYC must be updated on a regular basis. It is required by law to update merchant KYC every 10 years for low risk, 8 years for medium risk, and 2 years for high risk. This is also aided by the continuous due diligence checks. 

Final thoughts:

Merchant onboarding is beset by the same age-old regulatory, trend, and competition issues that hamper the payments industry as a whole. Where once the industry dynamic was split between large retailer’s competitive margins and smaller merchant’s regulatory issues, the spectrum has now expanded to embrace the rising marketplace economy. Because everyone is a merchant in today’s environment, merchant onboarding volume, and transactional volume are both lucrative and hard. The marketplace economy has created a risk and regulatory gap, which is being navigated by a subset of creative payments organizations. 

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Best Practices for Managing and Improving Merchant Onboarding

Merchant Onboarding

Best Practices for Managing and Improving Merchant Onboarding

The recent global health crisis has had an influence on a wide range of industries and geographies, not least the payments industry, which has seen an unprecedented transformation. Consumer purchasing habits have evolved to online shopping for products and services, resulting in the requirement for faster onboarding and better continuing merchant monitoring to reduce fraud and compliance risk for merchant acquirers. 

When it comes to onboarding new merchants, automation is critical in order to make a smooth transition from the previous time-consuming approach to a slicker, faster process that reduces friction for the new merchant. But what steps should merchant acquirers take to guarantee that they are prepared to meet this new challenge of changing the customer experience while limiting risk? 

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Automation of underwriting processes

It is critical for acquirers to provide a smooth merchant onboarding experience for their customers. With the epidemic hastening the general public’s shift to a more online approach, new smaller digital-only merchants are popping up all the time, with low margins and a need to be up and running quickly; for them, a swift onboarding procedure is vital. 

Before an underwriting decision can be made, the normal merchant onboarding process comprises a number of phases that must be completed, as shown in the creative below. This is typically a 3–5-day process. This process is too protracted, as previously said, given the current climate and the unique terrain of online-only micro-merchants. 

Digital automation can shorten the time it takes to underwrite a new merchant from days to minutes. However, if not done appropriately, this speed in decision-making can come at the expense of risk management and have a detrimental influence on the acquirer’s profitability. 

Collecting data that is both actionable and objective

Effective onboarding decisioning requires access to meaningful and objective data. To enrich their perspective of each applicant, merchant acquirers should use a combination of their own data, third-party data, and assessment services. The best strategy is to combine application data with external data from a growing industry of data suppliers who can provide essential insight and assessment on topics like bank account validation, email addresses, IP addresses, device IDs, and negative hotlists. Internal data from various sources is ingested, which eliminates human data entry and reduces judgmental underwriting decisioning while also ensuring consistency. 

Using analytics and algorithms

Acquirers should not only have precise and objective data, but they should also be able to analyze it using analytic models and procedures. The tools should allow the acquirer to import models, scorecards, trees, and tables, and they should be completely user-configurable. Acquirers frequently have historical data about applicants in addition to external data, but it is inaccessible owing to the sprawl of data. Rather than going through the pain of trying to centralize all referential data in a single data store, design a solution that allows you to take data from multiple sources and retrieve it when you need it. 

Effective risk management, tracking, and learning rates

Risk management should not be the primary consideration for merchant acquirers and their merchant customers during the onboarding process. Merchant acquirers’ portfolios have become riskier as a result of increased digitization and demand for innovative payment options. As new entities pop up and enter the system at breakneck speed, the barrier to entry into the digital/ecommerce economy has increased. Validating these new entities necessitates the use of more robust systems that can make use of both internal and external data. 

Acquirers should improve their ability to manage fraud and compliance risk by evaluating possible collusive or fraud-targeted merchant behavior, the chance of merchant attrition or insolvency, and current and prospective merchant profitability. 

There is an increasing requirement for merchant monitoring in real-time in order to spot aberrant merchant behavior in time to prevent losses. We also find a lot of value in linking pre-book (onboarding) performance/results with post-book (monitoring) outcomes in order to establish a faster learning loop and enhance both areas. In reality, many acquirers are looking to meet both of these demands with a single platform/capability to improve insight sharing. 

Ensuring that merchant monitoring methods are comprehensive

Risk management is a continuous necessity that does not end after a merchant is onboarded. The world of business moves quickly, and many businesses, particularly smaller, more flexible ones, must pivot or alter their course quickly to stay competitive. Their consumer profile may alter as a result of these developments. As a business grows, a merchant may need to expand into new markets or adjust the way they accept payments to accommodate a greater range of card types and payment methods. As a result, their risk profile may shift, leaving your company vulnerable.

Identifying potential changes in a merchant’s sales operations that could influence their risk criteria requires some type of ongoing monitoring. Keeping note of indicators such as surges in sales activity, surpassing payment thresholds, out-of-area or strange sales activities, and altering website products or connections can provide you with an up-to-date image of each merchant you work with and show any potential red flags. Keeping a lookout for their presence on punishment lists, as well as any unfavorable or adverse media coverage, will be essential.  

An effective merchant monitoring approach will be automated, leverage cutting-edge analytics, real-time urgency and flexible data ingestion, and be able to proactively alert acquirers to potential risks and double as a competitive advantage for attracting new merchants to their network. 

Technology that is 'plug and play'

It’s critical to get your relationship with your new merchant off to the greatest possible start. A quick and flawless automated sign-up procedure can help attract and secure new merchants to your payments firm, but if things go wrong once they’ve signed on the dotted line, all your efforts could be for naught. A key component of the merchant onboarding process is a faster merchant setup. It enables merchants to swiftly deploy the equipment and technology they require to accept payments right now. As a result, this step should be as simple and straightforward as signing up.

Your new merchant will be a happy customer if everything is ready to ‘plug and play’ right out of the box. If it’s difficult to set up and get ready to use, they’ll toss it in the back of the drawer before it’s even used – and your brand’s reputation suffers as a result. As a result, make sure that all of the software, training materials, and other information that the merchant will need to get up and running is preloaded or supplied with the device, so that your new customer has everything they need right away. 

Quicker go-live

Because of the ecommerce boom, the introduction of smart technology, and the pervasiveness of social media, today’s consumers demand fast access. This puts pressure on merchants and brands to be available to their customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which necessitates collaboration with service providers that can assist them in achieving this high level of service. Merchants, like customers, don’t want to wait weeks for a new potential payment provider to process their manual (or even paper) application. They expect to be up and running in a matter of minutes. Why not a merchant account if they can obtain this level of service with a commercial banking account?

To learn more about our advanced merchant onboarding solutions. 

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