Merchant Onboarding Officer

ROLE PURPOSE

The Merchant Onboarding Officer is responsible for the controlled onboarding of merchants across the Bank’s acquiring portfolio, ensuring applications, documentation, pricing, approvals and required due diligence are complete and accurate prior to merchant activation.

The role coordinates the onboarding process across Commercial, Cards & Payments, Risk, Compliance, Fraud, Operations, and other supporting functions, ensuring merchants are onboarded efficiently and in accordance with approved requirements, service standards, and controls.

The Officer supports a strong merchant experience while maintaining appropriate governance, documentation, and segregation of duties throughout the onboarding lifecycle.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

1. Merchant Application & Onboarding Management

• Manage merchant applications through the onboarding process from receipt through approval and handover for activation.
• Review applications and supporting documentation for completeness, accuracy, and adherence to established requirements.
• Coordinate outstanding information and requirements with Commercial, Sales, and Relationship Management teams.
• Maintain visibility of the onboarding pipeline and ensure applications progress within agreed service standards.

2. Due Diligence & Onboarding Controls

• Ensure required KYC, AML/CFT, merchant due diligence and internal approvals are completed prior to onboarding.
• Identify incomplete, unusual, or higher-risk applications and escalate to the appropriate Risk, Compliance, Fraud, or management function.
• Ensure merchants are not progressed to activation without required approvals and control requirements being satisfied.
• Maintain complete and audit-ready onboarding records.

3. Pricing & Commercial Validation

• Validate merchant pricing and commercial terms against approved pricing frameworks and authorities.
• Identify and escalate pricing exceptions or deviations for appropriate approval.
• Ensure approved pricing and commercial terms are accurately captured as part of the onboarding process.
• Support Cards & Payments and Commercial teams with onboarding requirements for new merchant propositions and opportunities.

4. Onboarding Coordination & Activation Readiness

• Coordinate with Cards & Payments Operations and relevant internal and external parties to ensure approved merchants are ready for setup and activation.
• Ensure all required onboarding information, approvals and documentation are complete before handover for system setup.
• Track onboarding dependencies and resolve or escalate issues affecting merchant activation.
• Support the introduction of new acquiring products, channels, and capabilities by ensuring appropriate merchant onboarding requirements and processes are established.

5. Merchant Onboarding Performance & Improvement

• Monitor onboarding volumes, turnaround times, outstanding requirements, and exceptions.
• Maintain accurate onboarding records and provide reporting on pipeline, SLA performance, and material issues.
• Identify opportunities to improve onboarding efficiency, controls, and the merchant experience.
• Support updates to merchant onboarding procedures, documentation and control requirements as the acquiring portfolio evolves.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

• Merchant onboarding completed within agreed SLAs.
• Accuracy and completeness of merchant applications and records.
• Compliance with KYC, AML/CFT, pricing and approval requirements.
• No merchant activation without required approvals.
• Timely identification and escalation of onboarding exceptions and risks.
• Quality of onboarding handover and merchant activation readiness.
• Accuracy of onboarding pipeline and management reporting.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent qualification in Business Administration, Banking, Marketing, Finance, or a related field.
• 3-5 years’ experience in banking, merchant services, onboarding, payments, or a related operational environment.
• Knowledge of KYC, AML/CFT, customer due diligence and banking control requirements.
• Understanding of merchant acquiring and electronic payment products would be an asset.
• Customer and Commercial Sales would be an asset.
• Strong documentation, analytical, organisational, and stakeholder-management skills.