Banking in the United States is complex, with many levels, regulating bodies, and types of operations and specializations. Understanding the banking system can be difficult at the best of times, but it’s important – especially in the payments industry – because banks play such a huge role in not only serving the needs of consumer and corporate clients, but also informing and transmitting monetary policy and driving the economy through lending and credit.  The following is a rundown of some of the main classifications of banks in the United States, how each is chartered and regulated, and ..read more

The payment processing landscape is fiercely competitive, and independent sales organizations (ISOs) and other acquirers face numerous challenges in their quest for success. One of the most significant pain points for many is the merchant onboarding process, which is often slow, error-prone and labor-intensive. Inefficient onboarding can lead to lost sales opportunities, strained relationships with merchants and degraded profits. In addition, manual data entry and cumbersome paperwork can result in costly errors that cause delays and jeopardize the entire onboarding process. To address the cha ..read more

In early March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest bank in the United States and the largest bank by deposits in Silicon Valley, filed for bankruptcy, sending shockwaves throughout the financial industry. SVB, a cornerstone of the region’s economy for decades, fell victim to a classic bank run – albeit one with a digital twist. One U.S. lawmaker called the panic the “first Twitter-fueled bank run” after social media posts rapidly spread the news that SVB suffered from a high proportion of deposits that were either uninsured or in hold-to-mature securities. With so many VC firms ..read more

IRIS CRM (an NMI company) is excited to announce the latest round of enhancements to our Web Forms functionality that will save users time and reduce the effort required from merchants. We have added new features that include generating a Web Form based on an E-Sign document, sending existing leads forms with their data pre-filled and a home page widget with summary data of all Web Form activity.  Save your administrators time when building new forms by having it automatically created using the selected E-Signature PDF. Your CRM will automatically create the form’s structure based on the ..read more

From shopping to banking to business and beyond, the modern digital experience is all about convenience. The lower friction a solution is, the more attractive it is to end users. For independent software vendors (ISVs) serving businesses, reducing friction and taking the end-user experience to the next level increasingly means offering their users the ability to access payment processing natively from their software. Traditionally, an ISV would require its merchant clients to get payment processing services on their own from a third party. The software might provide a payment gateway integrati ..read more

IRIS CRM is happy to share that we’ve revamped the way leads are managed in v2 for a more streamlined workflow. In the v2 we have combined the two separate pages that were used to update leads in v1 – Manage Leads and Manage Unassigned Leads – into one pop-up on the My Leads page. This will keep users on the same screen where they view leads and reduce the number of pages users need to learn. This will make lead management easier for users and more efficient.  In order to update leads in v2, select the applicable records on the My Leads page, click Actions, then click Manage Leads.  ..read more

In this article: What is a PayFac? The high-level steps involved in becoming a PayFac PayFac technology requirements The buy vs. build decision NMI payment facilitator enablement (FACe): a one-stop solution   What is a PayFac? A payment facilitator (PayFac) is a type of merchant acquirer that provides processing services to companies looking to accept card payments. Payment facilitators act as a middle layer in the payments industry, bridging the gap between merchants who need to accept credit cards and the acquiring banks authorized to issue merchant accounts by companies like Visa and ..read more

Between 2011 and 2020, losses from global payments fraud more than tripled from under $10 billion to over $32 billion. That already rapid growth was supercharged by the global pandemic, especially in the ecommerce sector, which on its own is expected to cost merchants around the world a staggering $48 billion in fraud losses in 2023. The trend is unlikely to reverse as digital payments continue to become the norm, and novel technologies like BNPL and P2P payments open up even more opportunities for cyberattackers and fraudsters.  Merchants already face naturally increased fraud exposure a ..read more

When independent sales organization Best Card realized it was time for a new CRM, it made the switch to IRIS CRM after being a Salesforce user for nearly a decade. By migrating from Salesforce to IRIS CRM, Best Card gained an entire suite of industry-specific payments features designed to solve the exact problems that were hindering the ISO’s growth. The following is a brief overview of Best Card’s journey from Salesforce to IRIS CRM, the benefits the company gained from a more powerful, industry-specific system, and the lessons other ISOs can take away from the transition.    The Pr ..read more

Recruiting new merchants is so important to residuals growth that ISOs can occasionally become completely focused on looking outwards for new sources of revenue. But it’s rare for any ISO’s portfolio to be perfectly optimized, meaning you may find that some of the best growth opportunities available for an ISO actually come from your existing merchants. From value-rich add-on services to opportunities to improve pricing efficiency and beyond, there is latent revenue waiting to be unlocked within your current roster of merchants – the most accessible and cost-effective pool of leads you’ll ever ..read more