Andrea McGeachin

Delivering on conversions

Andrea McGeachin, CCO of Neosurf, talks to Gambling Insider about the role of payments in supporting gambling regulations

Do payments providers support the operator or merely provide a generic service? Yes, we should support and make sure operators know how we do that.

In providing that support, however, the imperative is not just for payments companies to create their own rules that add complications and kill conversions; but rather to embed systems that both respect the regulatory obligations and at the same time drive up conversions.

There are some territories where gambling regulations are very clear and actually some where both the payments and the gambling regulations are clear.

But there are countries where they aren’t – and operators need clarity. Particularly in those areas where the rule sets are ill defined, or indeed are onerous.

Payments servicers offer the capacity to provide an enormous support function to operators in the management of AML and fraud, and transparency of this support to the operator is key.

Traceability of non-KYC vouchers is a big discussion point across Europe, where many countries adopt the MLR5 standard rule of €100/€150 ($108-163) maximum purchase value. In the Netherlands, for example, the KSA (not a payment regulator but as a gambling regulator dictating payment rules in online gambling) requests traceability of the non-KYC vouchers, but its real definition of this is not listed. Some payment methods chose to tick a box and create an extra three steps for the players.

It meets the regulation for sure, but the player experience deteriorates and there is a much easier method to achieve this requirement without hurting the player experience.

So businesses like Neosurf have had to apply themselves to identifying and implementing solutions that meet a broad range of situations. They’ve had to use a dual lens, on the one side supporting the operators’ regulatory minefield, and the other on delivering a seamless experience.

Some payments services have created new user experiences to add KYC before spending, forcing players to use wallets. The resultant user experience is frequently a clunky one that kills conversions.

Keeping the bad players out and the good players converting within local gambling rules is the payments responsibility, and part of the overall relationship with the operator. Again, this balances the management of the regulatory risk, and the business goal of optimal conversions.

This demands care and attention, and when it comes to the local payments and APMs that are considered higher risk to AML and fraud (not that they are; it is a perception), the ability to provide clean conversions while ensuring the operator has security needs to be a joint effort.

USER EXPERIENCE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE CLUNKY

The technology out there enables smart execution. For example, we analyse and learn from the digital lenders and banks that facilitate optimised onboarding and KYC.

Onboarding is built on the game-changing principle of dynamic conversations. It onboards more customers at a lower cost while reducing regulatory risk.

In total, 43% of players surveyed cite ‘application processes taking too long’ as the biggest reason for abandonment.

Also, prospective players abandon their deposits for any number of reasons, but many routes to failure result from one simple fundamental…. that every player is different and needs to be treated differently.

Today’s generic digital customer onboarding journeys are inadequate. Their one-size-fits-all static web forms try to find a compromise between stakeholders’ conflicting demands but fail to deliver any of them well.

The answer in improving alignment to regulatory compliance lies in leveraging the rich digital big data world we live in, while exploiting advances in personalised player onboarding and orchestration.

This functionality is served by platforms like PrinSIX that use what/if styled workflow scripts to personalise KYC questioning scripts around the given answers. It enables the fastest user onboarding experience without asking firms to re-engineer their IT.

The same technology wizardry used to deliver this richer level of KYC also happens to be useful in maximising commercial opportunity, allowing payments wallets and operators to say ‘yes’ more often because of a richer appreciation of both regulatory and compliance risk.

In addition, the dynamic user journeys adopted by financial institutions elsewhere are valuable, proven assets the payments businesses can adopt and embed in their models for the operators. The journeys develop dynamically, as a player’s details and behaviours are understood rapidly and intuitively. This ensures that any sign of vulnerability is fully explored, as well as potential issues such as geolocation vs where they should be living.

This range of tools is now available for use by payment providers to deliver unique behavioural insights, granular tracking, predictive outcomes, risk controls and commercial controls.