When Speed to Market Is Essential
The world of finance is rapidly changing, driven by new regulations, higher interest rates, volatile economics, and non-bank businesses looking to get in the game. As an industry leader, Central Payments, which provides payments technology and issuing solutions for fintech and embedded finance businesses, is always looking for ways to proactively address challenges and take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace.
“We’re focused on shortening our speed-tomarket timeframe, working with our partners on functionality that can set their products and programs apart,” said Heather Schumacher, COO and executive vice president at Central Payments. “Our business model demands that we keep up with what’s going on in the world to help people get their money faster. Having access to real-time data quickly along with the ability to normalize that information and analyze it across platforms is an imperative.” Centrals Payments uses multiple processors—all with different codes, statuses and parameters to identify—so getting data to match up across platforms became a huge focus. It was needed not only for reporting, but also for Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) monitoring and compliance reviews. “Initially, we were pulling and analyzing reports manually,” said Schumacher. “We would use reporting from the different processing platforms, but the information was very specific to the processors. We were using another tool for our BSA/AML monitoring that was simply not cost effective. The data would be delivered in a text file that we’d still have to upload into a spreadsheet to review. Again just a very tedious process.” In order to scale to meet demand, Central Payments turned to DataSeers for automated solutions that would help deliver data quicker, normalize it across platforms, and provide a central repository where the BSA/AML team could easily review information and reports.
A Multi-Faceted Financial Data Enterprise Solution
Before selecting DataSeers, Central Payments evaluated a number of different data tools, but they were expensive and involved long integrations. That was a path Central Payments did not want to go down.
“Our business model demands that we keep up with what’s going on in the world to help people get their money faster. Having access to real-time data quickly, along with the ability to normalize that information and analyze it across platforms, is imperative.”
“We learned about DataSeers through a referral and then conducted a lot of own due diligence,” said Schumacher. “DataSeers was very appealing because of how much work it was doing specifically for BSA/AML compliance. At the time, we had a small IT staff, so there were not a lot of resources to build out a comparable data tool. Additionally, the fact that DataSeers offered ancillary services for reconciliation and reporting was very appealing to the executive team.”
When DataSeers first came on board, Central Payments had four systems integrated into the new data tool. Since then, Central Payments has added three more systems and is now directing its Automated Clearing House (ACH) files in there. Add in all the customer files, and Central Payments is feeding data into the DataSeers’ solutions from 10 different systems.
According to Schumacher, the DataSeers’ team was very flexible and accommodating throughout the implementation, not only navigating all the moving pieces associated with integrating the different systems, but also understanding that Central Payments still needed to grow its business during the process.
“We are now using the DataSeers’ solutions enterprise wide,” Schumacher said. “They are some of our most strategic tools. When we have new-employee orientation, we dedicate an entire hour to DataSeers just to show them how we use it—and how it will affect their work areas. DataSeers is making an impact all the way from finance to compliance to fraud and settlement.”
More Reliable Alerts, Better Fraud Protection and Accessible Reporting
Central Payments, working in partnership with DataSeers, has been able to scale and grow business the way it has planned. “DataSeers’ solutions in combination with the customization we needed has helped us get to where we need to be. It’s been a very good relationship since the start,” said Schumacher. Central Payments has been most impressed with DataSeers’ BSA/AML alerts and reporting capabilities. The company is also extremely relieved that it didn’t need to devote additional resources or hire more staff to build any tools in house. “It’s mind boggling to see the large number of false positives we were getting while manually conducting the BSA/AML monitoring,” Schumacher said. “With DataSeers, we increased our accuracy by 32 percent and were able to decrease the number of alerts by almost 68 percent because of our new-found ability to quickly adjust levers and remove false-positive alerting. We have not had to add staff to the BSA area as we’ve added programs because of the lift DataSeers is giving us.”
Among the additional benefits the DataSeers’ solutions have provided:
- Filing Suspicious Activity Reports
The whole process from when Central Payments gets an alert to when it files an actual report is very comprehensive. Analysts and investigators now have quicker access to the necessary data for the required reporting—all in one place.
- Shorter training
Central Payments has many procedures that are repeatable. New hires can now come in, and within a couple weeks, can be up and performing their jobs with success. Previously, staff would spend a long time sitting side by side with their colleagues to learn the different ways to review data that was in spreadsheets.
- Better fraud detection and prevention
Central Payments is more dialed in on fraud and has gained more confidence that its programs are working as expected. Recently, it was able to identify a BIN attack on one of its programs within hours. As a result, Central Payments was able to quickly shut down the affected merchants and then take the necessary steps to mitigate any negative outcomes from the attack.
- Compliance with fees
Since fees constantly fluctuate in their amount and size, Central Payments relies on real-time insight into any amounts that go outside of the standard fees by automatically triggering alerts, which in turn activate a review.
Moving Forward
In the future, Central Payments is planning to explore more of the tools related to ACH processing as well as working with DataSeers on obtaining connections into VISA and MasterCard so that it can potentially get reporting from those networks directly.
According to Schumacher, “We very interested in partnering with DataSeers on anything that can give us real-time functionality. After all, that’s the name of the game if Central Payments is going to continue to lead the industry in terms of programs and services that help people have a better financial experience.”
DataSeers was very appealing because of how much work it was doing specifically for BSA/AML compliance.
At the time, we had a small IT staff, so there were not a lot of resources to even build out a comparable data tool. Additionally, the fact that DataSeers offered ancillary services for reconciliation and reporting was very appealing to the executive team at the time.”
— Heather Schumacher, COO and executive vice president at Central Payments
