Reimagining Merchant Onboarding In Financial Services

InnovationReimagining Merchant Onboarding In Financial ServicesBySurendra Kamasani,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)Jun 08, 2026, 08:45am EDTSurendra Reddy Kamasani is CTO at IBM, and a leader in AI, cloud, and digital transformation in financial services. gettyIn today’s competitive financial landscape, success hinges on speed, accuracy and delivering a seamless customer experience. The traditional merchant onboarding process, long regarded as a necessary but cumbersome step, has become a significant bottleneck for banks and fintech companies aiming to scale swiftly and operate efficiently. This process—characterized by lengthy timelines, manual compliance reviews, high operational costs and inconsistent documentation—has often resulted in frustrated merchants, regulatory risks and lost revenue opportunities.Recognizing these challenges, forward-thinking organizations are turning to AI and automation to reshape and accelerate their onboarding workflows. The journey toward a fully digital, scalable and compliant onboarding system requires a careful combination of advanced technology, strategic planning and enterprise-wide governance.Over the past several years, I've worked closely with enterprise organizations across financial services, insurance and other regulated industries to modernize and transform critical business operations using AI and automation technologies. One of the most impactful initiatives I've been involved in focused on modernizing merchant onboarding processes for a large financial payments organization, where I collaborated closely with engineering and architecture teams to help shape an AI-driven, multi-agent onboarding framework with measurable operational goals and phased business outcomes.Based on those experiences, I'll explore how integrating a comprehensive AI-dri...