Starting a new business carries a heavy burden beyond the day-to-day responsibilities. Business owners must establish a business plan, obtain a business license, get insurance, open new accounts, possibly apply for a loan, hire staff, find a location – the list goes on and on. Regardless of the product or service, business owners are faced with hurdles they may not be expecting and cannot overcome without the help of their trusted financial institution (FI).
In recent years, fraud has increased at an alarming rate, giving businesses another challenge to face. According to The Federal Trade Commission, over 2.1 million fraud attempts were reported in 2020. 65% of treasury and finance professionals attribute payment fraud spikes to the COVID-19 pandemic. With fraudsters becoming more tech-savvy, FIs must protect their clientele’s accounts in order to maintain primary FI status. The question is not “if fraud will occur,” but “when.” If FIs do not take a proactive approach, they run the risk of losing the relationship entirely.
As a business account holder, the user is not as protected as they would be with a personal checking or savings account. Instead, under the UCC4A protection, businesses only have twenty-four hours to notice a fraudulent transaction and take action. Without taking action during this short period, the liability shifts from the FI to the business instead. This places a heavy burden on users to monitor account activity daily in order to maintain the integrity of business accounts. As requirements become more complex for compliance, security, and fraud prevention, business owners may feel overwhelmed; negatively impacting the success of their operations.
By introducing multi-channel payment fraud prevention and information reporting tools, businesses can easily identify fraudulent transactions entering and exiting their accounts. From small coffee shop owners to larger-scale businesses, like insurance brokers or municipalities, all users can benefit from ACH Alert’s platform. ACH Alert removes the middleman, the FI, from the fraud monitoring equation. ACH Alert’s platform interfaces directly with the business user on any fraudulent attempts. Gone are the days of phone calls or in-branch visits to dispute suspicious transactions. With such a short time frame to take action, business owners cannot afford to wait for in-person service as they juggle the responsibilities of running their business. Instead, they expect the same ease of use they experience when managing their personal finances.
Beyond improving the user experience, FIs can eliminate time FI staff spent monitoring suspicious transactions, establishing ACH blocks or filters, and mitigating known fraud through automation. Rather than seeing fraud prevention as a costly resource, FIs can benefit from a new source of non-interest fee income.
By deploying ACH Alert, FIs can meet compliance regulations, improve visibility and user convenience, and strengthen relationships with business account holders. Alkami extends the business banking experience beyond fraud prevention into user acquisition with business account opening, business loans, and credit cards. Once the relationship is established, Alkami’s platform supports existing users with everyday business banking tools. FIs leveraging Alkami’s comprehensive business banking platform can onboard new businesses, automatically mitigate fraud, and set up the user for success as they grow their operations. With more tools in place to support business owners, users can dedicate their time to achieving their business goals.
