UK FCA-Authorized Payments Institution

FCA-authorized payments institution based in the United Kingdom. The company was established in 2010 by former American Express and RBS bankers. The platform provides named multi-currency accounts to corporate clients globally — covering 200+ countries, 300 currency pairs, and 35 local payment markets. The company owns its own onboarding, compliance, and service fulfillment end-to-end, making process reliability and automation business-critical rather than a nice-to-have.


Business Challenge

The platform was running on a combination of manual processes and legacy infrastructure that could not support growth ambitions:

  • ~95% of all transaction monitoring alerts required manual human intervention;
  • Client onboarding was fragmented across disconnected systems with no straight-through processing.
  • The CRM in use was operating at ~3% of its functional capacity: effectively used only as an email archive.
  • An estimated 70% of core platform infrastructure required architectural redesign to support a target client base of 4,000+ corporate accounts.
  • No scalable foundation for planned expansion into the EU and Gulf markets.

Solution Architecture

We designed and implemented a process-first automation architecture spanning onboarding, compliance, transaction monitoring, and payments execution.

Process Audit & Automation Layer

All operational workflows across onboarding, KYC/KYB, transaction monitoring, and lifecycle management were mapped end-to-end. Automation opportunities were prioritized based on risk and business impact.

Automated KYC & Onboarding

Integration with SumSub enabled straight-through onboarding flows, including support for complex international entities. Manual review was reduced to exception-only cases.

Transaction Monitoring Automation

Rebuilt TM infrastructure using rule-based and risk-scored screening systems, reducing reliance on manual intervention for routine alerts.

CRM & Lifecycle Automation

CRM transformed into a fully operational system managing:

  • Client onboarding stages
  • Communication workflows
  • Account lifecycle tracking

Payments Infrastructure Integration

Integrated with Currencycloud (Visa) and ClearBank to automate:

  • Settlement
  • Reconciliation
  • GBP & SEPA payment flows
  • SWIFT processing (99% same-day delivery)

Compliance Architecture

Designed a modular compliance framework aligned with:

  • FCA requirements (AML, KYC, operational resilience)
  • Future expansion into EU (CSSF/MiCA) and Gulf (VARA/DFSA)

Enterprise-Grade Capabilities

  • Deterministic automation for compliance-sensitive workflows
  • Exception-based human intervention model
  • Full auditability across onboarding, transactions, and payments
  • Strict access control aligned with regulatory requirements
  • Seamless integration with existing financial infrastructure
  • Scalable architecture supporting multi-region expansion

Business Impact & ROI

  • Transaction monitoring: manual intervention reduced from ~95% → <5%
  • Onboarding: from multi-day manual process → same-day automated flow
  • CRM: from 3% utilization → fully operational client management system
  • Payments: near-complete automation across settlement and reconciliation
  • Platform scalability: redesigned to support 4,000+ corporate clients

The organization achieved significant operational cost reduction, faster processing times, and improved compliance posture, while enabling growth without proportional headcount increase.


Scalability & Long-Term Value

The platform was designed for regulatory and operational expansion:

  • Ready for EU and Gulf market entry
  • Modular compliance framework adaptable to new jurisdictions
  • Infrastructure scales with transaction volume—not team size
  • Extensible to additional financial products and services

Technology Stack (Representative)

  • Compliance & Identity: SumSub
  • Payments Infrastructure: Currencycloud (Visa), ClearBank
  • Backend Systems: Enterprise databases, custom automation services
  • CRM: Fully integrated lifecycle management system
  • Automation & Orchestration: Custom workflow engines
  • Monitoring & Analytics: Operational dashboards, audit logs

Result:
A fragmented, manual-heavy payments operation was transformed into a fully automated, compliance-ready platform.

The institution now operates with:

  • Minimal manual intervention
  • High process reliability
  • Scalable infrastructure for global growth

This establishes a future-proof operational foundation, where automation—not headcount—drives scale.

What This Means for Your Business

The challenges solved here are not unique to financial services.

Organizations in logistics, fintech, and operations-heavy industries face the same patterns:

  • Manual handling of high-volume transactions and workflows
  • Fragmented onboarding and compliance processes
  • Teams focused on routine tasks instead of exceptions
  • Systems that don’t integrate, creating operational friction

The approach remains consistent:

  1. Map processes as they actually operate
  2. Identify where manual work replaces missing automation
  3. Integrate—not replace—existing systems
  4. Reduce manual touchpoints with measurable outcomes

The result is scalable infrastructure that grows with your business—without scaling operational complexity.