Platform onboarding

At Increase, we believe you are in the best position to run your own compliance program. You know your business best, so you can judge what type of customer and transaction looks suspicious. This puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to onboarding customers and monitoring transactions.

You are required to maintain a full compliance program. This includes, but is not limited to, Bank Secrecy Act compliance and any applicable consumer protection regulation.

If you’re at the beginning of your journey, we strongly advise working with a consulting firm to help pull together a robust compliance program. We’re happy to recommend firms to work with. If you have questions, please reach out to us at support@increase.com.

To better understand your business and compliance program, we’ll collect information on your business model and team, Bank Secrecy Act / Anti Money Laundering program, compliance and risk management, data & security, and consumer protection policies, if applicable. We may have some follow-up requests.

Business experience and qualifications

We assess your company's legal and operational status, reviewing your business registration, licenses, and ownership structure. This ensures your organization has a solid foundation and meets the necessary criteria for providing financial services.

Document	What we're looking for
Onboarding Questionnaire	You can download the questionnaire here.
Manage biographies	Brief overview of your management team.
Employee overview	Total headcount, background check of key team members.
Corporate organizational documents	Articles of incorporation.
Investor overview	Overview of your product, team and business model.

Financial health

We evaluate your platform's financial stability, focusing on aspects such as balance sheets, cash flow statements, and credit ratings. This allows us to confirm that your business is financially sound and able to manage potential risks.

Document	What we're looking for
Financial statements	If you have been in operation for under 2 years, you may not have audited financial statements. Please provide your financial projections in this case.
Audit report	Report that evaluates your internal controls.
Volume forecast	Monthly origination volume (ACH credits, ACH debits, wires, card spend), expected balances, number of loans if applicable.
Funds flow diagram	Diagram of your flow of funds showing the full transaction from beginning to end, including clearly labeled Increase accounts.

Risk management and controls

We examine your risk management policies and practices, including how you identify, measure, monitor, and control various risks associated with your financial services. This ensures your platform is prepared to mitigate potential issues and maintain a secure environment for users.

Document	What we're looking for
Program risk assessment	Risk assessment should evaluate your specific business model and identify vulnerabilities that are managed by subsequent policies.
Vendor management policy	Policy that outlines the requirements to conduct vendor onboarding due diligence and ongoing monitoring.
Vendor list	List of vendors with risk ratings according to your Vendor Management Policy.

Regulatory compliance

We review your adherence to relevant regulations and laws, including anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) procedures. This helps guarantee that your platform operates legally and ethically within the financial services sector.

Document	What we're looking for
Anti-money laundering policy	Policy that outlines your approach to Know Your Customer (KYC) / Know Your Business (KYB), sanctions screening and transaction monitoring. You should ensure to designate a Bank Secrecy Act / Anti Money Laundering Officer in your policy.
Anti-money laundering procedures	Procedures that outline how you will operationalize your Bank Secrecy Act / Anti Money Laundering policy. You should name the third party vendor used for KYC/KYB and sanctions screening, and detail if you'll handle transaction monitoring in-house or with a vendor.
Compliance management policy	Governance document for your compliance program that covers oversight, testing/monitoring, training.
Complaints policy	Policy that details process for handling complaints in an effective and fair manner.
End user terms of service	Terms of service you share with your end users.

Information security

We assess your platform's security measures for safeguarding sensitive data, such as encryption techniques, access control, and vulnerability management. This enables us to ensure your users' information is protected from unauthorized access and potential cyber threats.

Document	What we're looking for
Information security policy	Policy that includes information on data management & security, controls related to physical and environmental security, detection and handling of security incidents, and other topics related to information security.
Network diagram	Detailed systems diagram and accompanying write-up that shows your system architecture, data segmentation, system access controls, and connections to third parties.

Operational resilience

We analyze your platform's ability to maintain critical functions during adverse events, such as system failures, natural disasters, or cyber attacks. This evaluation ensures that your platform can swiftly recover from disruptions and continue providing reliable services to users.

Document	What we're looking for
Business continuity plan	Document that outlines controls in place to mitigate failures such as system downtime or loss of data.
Penetration test report	Document that details the findings of a security assessment conducted using penetration testing, if you have completed this; otherwise a timeline of when you intend to complete this.
Insurance policies	Certificate of insurance. Coverage must be in place by launch. Requirements: Commercial Liability $1mm/$2mm, Workers Compensation based on number of employees, Professional Liability $3mm minimum but up to $5mm dependent on number of users, Cyber Liability $3mm/$5mm, Crime/3rd party crime $3mm.