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The Illusion of Data and Money Ownership

  • 16 hours ago
  • 1 min read

Companies own their revenue, their customer relationships and their data and the resulting payment flows. Thats what we think.


But do they, really?


Banks and payment providers operate under a different layer of responsibility, as they are required to protect the financial system as a whole. This includes enforcing KYC, AML, sanctions screening, fraud prevention and rules against tax evasion. These obligations are built into the very fabric of the system, where every single entity handling funds must be regulated to monitor and report the wrongdoings.


Banks and financial institutions focus is on risk - and not on legality.


Today, companies fully depend on the decisions of their banks and payment providers. It does not matter if they are legal or if they do everything right: if they are PERCEIVED as fraudulent, they cannot trade. That's it.


From the merchant’s perspective, this feels like loss of control - from the provider’s perspective, it is risk management. Most organisations never fully understand this difference.


Only education can close this gap, but the industry is still lacking of standardised and certified expertise. Head of Payments are still accidental career choices and not planned and studied, clearly defined roles. We still have no scope, best practises – not even a single code of ethics!


 
 
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