Building a fully compliant payment platform that can adapt to future regulatory changes while supporting continued innovation is a formidable challenge. However, solving it is essential to delivering the best possible solution and service. That’s why, two decades ago, we set out to tackle this challenge head-on when we designed the first iteration of our platform.

It was a tough task, and an ever evolving journey, but, ultimately, an extremely valuable endeavour. There are two major benefits of this approach. It’s helped us to innovate whilst keeping compliance at the core, and also led to additional benefits that are driving huge value for our clients and their customers. 

Let’s first look at how we’ve achieved these two benefits. Rather than starting with a payment product and building compliance on top, we achieved our goal by building the compliance layer first. By establishing this robust foundation, we achieved three significant advantages:

1. Products can be developed in line with our clients’ visions, with all regulatory compliance fully baked in by design.
2. As the regulatory environment evolves, our platform can swiftly adapt to changes saving our clients from the cost of redevelopment.
3. Adding new features is quick and easy, as they naturally follow established compliance protocols.

In contrast, if we didn’t have our compliance layer, adding new features into an existing product would be a far more complex and expensive task. It would require significant changes to the technical architecture and the functionality of the service taking up people’s time and adding substantially to the cost. Additional compliance overhead would also be necessary for complex ongoing monitoring.

For example, imagine developing a cutting-edge mobile phone, only to realise later that you want to add waterproofing. Adding this feature once the phone is built would be complex and costly, altering its functionality and aesthetics. In the same way, retrofitting compliance into an existing payment product can be equally challenging and expensive.

Every regulatory change has the potential to undermine your product’s design, leading to expensive alterations, added complexity, and potential negative impacts on the user experience. By building the compliance layer first, we have ensured this is never an issue for us or our clients.  

Customer-Centric Design

Our philosophy is simple: putting compliance at the heart of your business means putting people at the heart of it. The rules regulators put in place are fundamentally designed to protect users and ensure they receive the best products and services. It is because of this that our core belief is when you prioritise compliance in your platform design, you are prioritising people.

When planning the Accomplish business, we did not think of the card as the focal point of value. We think of ‘the person’ and their motivation for using the service. We ask ourselves: Why do people need this service? How will they interact with it? How can we make the experience frictionless?

This approach differs from simply configuring a card for use. Answering these questions has enabled us to ensure our clients and their customers experience the best outcomes. We consider the card within the broader context of the customer’s life.

And we can go even further. As both the payment processor and platform provider, we have a comprehensive view of every transaction. This provides the insight needed to respond to each customer’s individual needs as they arise.

When considering the spirit of regulatory frameworks such as The Consumer Duty, which require products to be relevant to each customer’s needs, deliver valuable outcomes, and adapt to changes in their lives, this customer-focused, data-driven approach becomes essential.

It enables us to:

1. Continuously adapt services to always deliver a optimal experiences
2. Easily add and offer new products when relevant and beneficial
3. Spot issues early and help customers to overcome them

In this way, a customer-focused, compliance-first approach not only ensures regulatory adherence but also delivers mutual benefits to our clients and their customers. By promoting adaptability and a seamless user experience, we help achieve the best outcomes in an ever-changing regulatory landscape.