Payments / PSP · Merchant Onboarding · AML

Payvanta: Building a Merchant Onboarding Ecosystem

Accepting payments is not as simple as creating an account.

Before a business can start processing transactions, payment providers must collect, verify, and assess information from multiple documents, participants, and verification processes.

Payvanta helps merchants complete onboarding with confidence. This case study covers how registration and identity verification were designed as a connected sequence within a single onboarding ecosystem.

Based on real-world onboarding and compliance workflows. Some details have been modified to protect confidential information.

RoleProduct Designer

ProductPayvanta

TypeMerchant Onboarding (PSP)

Year2026

Problem

Accepting payments starts with verification

Two sides of the process want opposite things. Merchants want to start accepting payments quickly with as little friction as possible. Compliance teams need enough verified information to assess risk before any account can be activated.

Merchant Experience

Fast onboarding
Low friction
Clear guidance
Quick approval

Compliance & Risk Controls

Identity verification
Business validation
Document verification
Risk assessment

Without a structured process, applicants can struggle to understand requirements, and reviewers can spend significant time gathering and validating information. The result is a slower onboarding experience for everyone involved.

Key Participants

Who is Involved in the Onboarding Process

Applicants may be individuals or registered companies, and each path carries different verification requirements. For juristic entities, directors are required participants and must each complete identity verification independently before the application can proceed. See how we designed for each.

Merchant Applicant/POA

Goal

Complete onboarding quickly and understand exactly what is required to get approved.

Directors

Goal

Complete identity verification so the application can proceed.

Compliance & Operations Teams

Goal

Collect verified information to assess risk and meet AML and regulatory requirements before approving a merchant account.

Scope

What this case study covers

This case study focuses on two connected components: the merchant registration flow that collects application data, and the eKYC system that verifies identity before an account can be approved.

Merchant Registration

The application entry point

Merchants submit business details, contact information, and account preferences. This information drives all downstream verification and review processes.

See how the registration flow works →

eKYC

Identity verification

Applicants and directors verify their identity through ID capture and liveness checks. Results are shared with compliance reviewers as part of the approval process.

See how identity verification works →

How They Connect

From application to approval

Both paths end at the same reviewer workspace. The key difference is that juristic entities require director identity verification before the parallel verification tracks begin.

Merchant Registration Application entry point

Runs in parallel

Document Processing Upload, extract, validate

Shop Verification Entity checks

Risk Screening Automated pre-review

Reviewer Workspace Operations review

Merchant Registration

The starting gate

Registration collects the information everything else depends on. Business details, contact data, and account preferences all feed downstream into document checks, entity verification, and risk assessment. Getting field design and guidance right here reduces errors in every step that follows.

View onboarding form →

Document Processing

Runs in parallel

Document validation starts as soon as registration is submitted, running alongside entity and risk checks rather than waiting for them. Mismatches between uploaded documents and submitted form data surface early, before a reviewer is ever involved.

Shop Verification

Runs in parallel

Entity checks run alongside document processing, with neither track blocking the other. Both complete independently and deliver their results to the reviewer at the same time, keeping the overall process from serializing unnecessarily.

Risk Screening

Before the human reviewer

Risk screening runs before any application reaches a reviewer. Routine flags are caught automatically, so reviewers spend time on cases that genuinely require judgment, not on repeating the same checks across every application.

Reviewer Workspace

Where everything converges

All three parallel tracks deliver their results here. The workspace is designed to support a decision, not just present raw data. Verification outcomes, extracted documents, and risk signals appear in one consolidated view.

Merchant Registration Application entry point

Director eKYC Identity verification

Runs in parallel

Document Processing Upload, extract, validate

Shop & Business Verification Entity checks

Risk Screening Automated pre-review

Reviewer Workspace Operations review

Merchant Registration

The juristic entry point

For juristic entities, registration includes company structure and an authorized director list. This additional information is what triggers the next required step. Parallel verification cannot begin until director identity is confirmed.

View onboarding form →

Director eKYC

The juristic gate

Director verification is a hard dependency unique to juristic entities. Parallel verification tracks cannot start until all listed directors have completed identity checks. This single step is what most distinguishes this path from the individual one.

Document Processing

Runs in parallel

Once director eKYC is complete, document validation starts immediately alongside entity and risk checks. Uploaded documents are extracted and cross-checked against form data, with mismatches surfacing before they reach a reviewer.

Shop & Business Verification

Runs in parallel

Corporate registration, beneficial ownership, and director records are validated together. Running this in parallel with document processing means neither track blocks the other, and both deliver results to the reviewer at the same time.

Risk Screening

Before the human reviewer

Risk screening runs before any application reaches a reviewer. Routine flags are caught automatically, so reviewers focus on cases that require real judgment rather than working through every application from scratch.

Reviewer Workspace

Where everything converges

Director verification, entity checks, document validation, and risk signals all converge here. The workspace consolidates every result into a single view, designed to support a decision rather than just present raw information.

Outcome

Tested across the full registration and verification flow

Usability testing ran across 8 participants: 2 moderated, 6 unmoderated. Each session covered the full onboarding flow through to eKYC completion, with one forced fail and one pass for both ID document capture and liveness. The prototype reached 100% form completion rate, a result shaped by motivated participants and a system that had been iterated to resolve known friction before testing began.

8 Usability test participants

2 + 6 Moderated and unmoderated sessions

100% Form completion rate

The working prototype covers the full merchant registration flow and the director identity verification experience. Each component was designed independently but built to hand off cleanly to the next. See what testing changed →

Explore the work

Modules of the ecosystem

This case study covers registration and identity verification. Each module was designed independently and built to hand off cleanly to the next.

Onboarding Flow → eKYC →

Document	Required for	Issued by	Purpose
National ID card Front + back	All	Thai government	Identity verification. OCR extracts name, ID number, DOB, and address. Selfie is compared against the ID photo for liveness.
Bank book / statement	All	Any Thai bank	Confirms settlement account ownership. Account name, number, and bank name must be visible and match the submitted details.
Storefront + product photos	All	Applicant	Evidence of business existence. Physical shops: show frontage with visible sign. Online sellers: screenshot of website or social page.
Company registration cert Issued within 3 months	Juristic	DBD (กรมพัฒนาธุรกิจ)	Confirms legal entity status. Used to auto-prefill company name, registration number, and registered address in "Individual profile".
Shareholder list (Bor Jor 5) Issued within 3 months	Juristic	DBD	Identifies authorized directors and ownership structure. Used to auto-prefill the director list for eKYC assignment in "Company directors".
VAT certificate (Por Por 20)	Juristic, if VAT-registered	Revenue Department	Confirms VAT registration status. Only required if the business answers yes to the VAT question in "Company documents".
Power of attorney	Juristic, if not a director	Applicant + director signature	Authorizes a non-director to submit the application on behalf of the company. Must be signed by a listed authorized director.
Refund policy document	All, if refunds offered	Applicant	Compliance record for chargeback handling. PDF or image. Only required if the merchant answers yes to having a refund policy in "Refund policy".

Document

Required for

Issued by

Purpose

National ID card
Front + back

All

Thai government

Identity verification. OCR extracts name, ID number, DOB, and address. Selfie is compared against the ID photo for liveness.

Bank book / statement

All

Any Thai bank

Confirms settlement account ownership. Account name, number, and bank name must be visible and match the submitted details.

Storefront + product photos

All

Applicant

Evidence of business existence. Physical shops: show frontage with visible sign. Online sellers: screenshot of website or social page.

Company registration cert
Issued within 3 months

Juristic

DBD (กรมพัฒนาธุรกิจ)

Confirms legal entity status. Used to auto-prefill company name, registration number, and registered address in "Individual profile".

Shareholder list (Bor Jor 5)
Issued within 3 months

Juristic

DBD

Identifies authorized directors and ownership structure. Used to auto-prefill the director list for eKYC assignment in "Company directors".

VAT certificate (Por Por 20)

Juristic, if VAT-registered

Revenue Department

Confirms VAT registration status. Only required if the business answers yes to the VAT question in "Company documents".

Power of attorney

Juristic, if not a director

Applicant + director signature

Authorizes a non-director to submit the application on behalf of the company. Must be signed by a listed authorized director.

Refund policy document

All, if refunds offered

Applicant

Compliance record for chargeback handling. PDF or image. Only required if the merchant answers yes to having a refund policy in "Refund policy".

Step	Identity	Business	Financial	Documents	System
Contact details
Phone + email OTP
Terms + privacy
Account type
Shop profile
Sales + photos
Payment + refund
Company documents
Company profile
Settlement account
eKYC consent
ID card scan
Selfie / liveness

Field	Reason collected
Statement display name	Printed on the customer's bank slip. Capped at 13 characters, English only, to fit payment network character limits.
Business category (MCC)	Determines the interchange fee tier and flags restricted categories that require additional compliance review before approval.
Average order value	Sets the baseline for chargeback risk scoring. High-value orders trigger closer review during underwriting.
Source of income	Regulatory requirement under AML/KYC rules. Used to verify that declared income is consistent with expected transaction volume.
Estimated monthly sales	Used to set the initial transaction limit on the merchant account during underwriting.
Sales channels	Distinguishes online from physical commerce. Each channel carries a different fraud risk profile and may trigger different document requirements.
Refund policy document	Required as a compliance record for chargeback dispute resolution. Only collected if the merchant declares they offer refunds.
Selfie for liveness check	Confirms the applicant is physically present and matches the ID photo. Prevents identity fraud using stolen documents.

Accepting payments starts with verification

Who is Involved in the Onboarding Process

What this case study covers

The application entry point

Identity verification

From application to approval

Merchant Registration

Document Processing

Shop Verification

Risk Screening

Reviewer Workspace

Merchant Registration

Director eKYC

Document Processing

Shop & Business Verification

Risk Screening

Reviewer Workspace

Tested across the full registration and verification flow

Modules of the ecosystem

Swimlane

Content Tree

Step Matrix

Document reference

Why fields are collected

Merchant Applicant

Directors / Authorized Representatives

Compliance & Operations Teams