Merchant KYC onboarding
The in-app onboarding journey that takes a business from invitation to an approved, KYC-verified account: identity verification, the commercial terms, and e-signed agreements, without paperwork or a sales call. I worked on it as a product engineer, on the cross-platform flow.
- ID + selfieIn-app identity verification
- E-signatureAgreements signed in the app
- iOS + AndroidOne cross-platform flow
01Context
A regulated acquirer cannot let a business take a payment until it is KYC-verified. This is the onboarding journey that does it, turning a regulatory requirement into a sign-up that happens entirely in the mobile app.
As with the app around it, the product and its interface belong to the client, so what follows is the problem and my part in it.
02The challenge
KYC is where onboarding conversion goes to die. Identity verification, document capture, and compliance checks all have to happen, and every one of them is friction that can lose a customer. The job was a flow that satisfies a regulated acquirer's due diligence and still feels like a quick consumer sign-up.
And it has to hold up under real conditions: a valid government ID, usable photo capture on a phone in bad light, encrypted handling of personal data, and a state you can come back to if someone drops out halfway.
03What I built
I worked as a product engineer on the in-app KYC and onboarding flow, cross-platform on iOS and Android in React Native and TypeScript. Every step carries explicit state, validation, and on-screen guidance, so a customer always knows what is being asked and what happens next.
The engineering weight sits in the parts nobody sees: document capture that works on real devices, a flow that survives interruption, and status handling so the gap between submission and approval is never silent.
04Outcome
The flow runs in production on iOS and Android inside an FCA-authorised platform: compliant onboarding that reads like a consumer sign-up rather than a form.
The aim throughout was fewer drop-offs without cutting a single compliance corner. Friction removed by design, not by lowering the bar.
Client companies are not named here, and their logos and screens are not shown. That is by agreement between the parties: the work is mine to describe, the brand and the product are theirs. Everything above is the engineering problem and my part in it.