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Overview

Introduction

An individual customer is an end-user who holds the balance. In a corporate travel-and-expense (T&E) use case, this would be a staff member who receives a T&E card. In a consumer-funded use case, this would be a retail end-customer who has an account. Depending on the nature of the product or program, the know-your-customer (KYC) and the onboarding process differ. Work with your Nium representative to determine the right approach. Where KYC is mandatory, vendors in multiple markets automate Nium's electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) options and KYC and onboarding process.

Customer onboarding process

The following are the steps of the Nium customer onboarding process:

  1. Customer account creation
  2. Customer compliance check
  3. Compliance score and status change flow
  4. Request for information (RFI) flow

1. Customer account creation

You can create the customer account by providing customer details through the Unified Add Customer API. The customer details include the customer’s personal, contact, KYC, and tax details. Some of the details are optional depending on the region and the defined KYC option.

These are the KYC options:

  • `MANUAL_KYC` is performed by the Nium compliance team for all markets.
  • `eKYC` is performed by the Nium compliance team for the Australia and US markets.
  • `eDocVerify` is performed by vendors in multiple European Union and UK markets.

    • Once you create the customer account, the compliance process begins automatically.

    2. Customer compliance checks

    The customer compliance check involves customer verification, screening, and the KYC process. Depending on the program, the customer may be screened or go through the KYC process.

    StepDescription
    ScreeningChecks whether the customer is part of any of the regulatory blacklists and if Nium can legally do business with the customer.
    KYCVerifies whether the customer details are accurate. It includes authenticating the customer's identity and address using proof of identity (PoI) and proof of address (PoA). The PoI and PoA are verified in two ways:

  • MANUAL_KYC is performed by the Nium compliance team for all markets.
  • eKYC is performed by the Nium compliance team for the Australia and US markets.
  • eDocVerify is performed by vendors in multiple European Union and UK markets.

    • Depending on how the KYC is performed, the compliance templates are defined for the particular client. These templates are also managed at two levels:

    • Screening
    • Screening + KYC

    Depending on the program, either of these can be configured. If both are configured, then Screening + KYC are initiated.

    3. Compliance score and status change flow

    These compliance templates are a group of compliance services that are meant to be run when compliance checks are initiated. Based on the template, these services are invoked whenever the customer is created on the Nium One platform.

    Each of these services has a separate compliance status as detailed in this table:

    Compliance statusDescription
    INITIATEDCompliance is initiated and the customer needs to take a few more steps to complete the KYC process, such as adding the required information. This status is applicable only for eKYC.
    IN PROGRESSThe KYC compliance process is in progress and the customer has some pending action, such as uploading a document.
    ACTION REQUIREDThe customer uploads documents and waits for verification from the compliance team.
    RFI REQUESTEDThe Nium compliance team raises a request-for-information (RFI) and the customer responds to the RFI through the Respond To RFI API.
    COMPLETEDThe compliance process completes.
    ERRORNo action is taken. The customer application fails due to an error. Contact Nium customer support for assistance.
    EXPIREDThe submitted document's date expires. The Nium team may raise an RFI.
    REJECTIf the compliance team rejects the KYC process, the status changes to REJECT. The reinitiate-KYC process is available in this case.

    Each action depends upon separate kycStatus and complianceStatus as detailed in this table:

    KYC statusCompliance statusYour next actionAPIs involvedRemarks
    PendingINITIATEDWait for the compliance status callback.Customer DetailseKYC is initiated. The system updates the status according the KYC vendor and our screening results.
    FailedREJECTReinitiate eKYC by providing the same customerHashId.Customer Details

    Unified Add Customer    		Check the remarks or the compliance remarks.
    PendingERROREmail Nium.Customer DetailsNium's compliance team might need to check the errors manually.
    PendingACTION_REQUIREDWait for the next compliance status update.Customer DetailsNium's compliance team requires a manual check on this request.
    PendingRFI_REQUESTEDCheck the rfiDetails array and provide the requested information through the Respond To RFI API.Customer Details

    Respond To RFI    		Nium's compliance team requires additional information to verify the customer.
    PendingRFI_RESPONDEDWait for the next compliance status update.Customer DetailsNium's compliance team verifies the information in your Respond To RFI API. Usually, the system updates the compliance status to ACTION_REQUIRED.
    ClearCOMPLETEDContinue your user journey, for example, Add card.Customer DetailseKYC is successful and the customer is onboarded.

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    NOTE

    Nium calls the compliance status callback URL to inform you of any change in the compliance status. Then, you need to call the Customer Details API to retrieve the detailed information.

    Within the complianceStatus:

    • INITIATED is the highest status.
    • COMPLETED is the lowest status.

    The overall compliance score is calculated based on the statuses of the individual services. The highest status among all the invoked services for that customer is considered the overall compliance status.

    The client learns about each customer compliance status change through the compliance status callback URL, which is captured during the client onboarding process. Whenever a client receives this notification, they get the updated customer details using the Customer Details API.

    4. RFI flow

    When the Nium compliance team finds insufficient information, it takes the following actions:

    1. Initiates the RFI and the customer's compliance status becomes RFI REQUESTED.

    2. The client receives a nudge during the compliance status callback URL; that is, the next time they call the Customer Details API, they get the status as RFI REQUESTED with the reason.

    3. The client calls the Respond To RFI API and provides the requested information.

    4. The compliance status changes to RFI RESPONDED.

    5. The compliance team reviews the information and takes the necessary action.

    Updated 29 days ago