Onboarding PSPs

This page relates only to third-party FX Providers.

For Source PSPs that provide their own FX, a different process applies. See Payment setup for PSPs who provide their own FX for details.

For a specific Nexus payment, the FXP is effectively trading with the Source PSP by selling them the Destination Currency. This means the Source PSP is a corporate customer of the FXP. The FXP therefore has a regulatory obligation to complete due diligence (Know Your Business, KYB) on a PSP before it provides FX conversion to that PSP.

Once the FXP has completed due diligence on a PSP, it must inform Nexus (via the Nexus administration portal or Nexus APIs) that it is willing to provide FX to that PSP.

When generating quotes in response to the GET /quotes/ API, Nexus will only provide quotes from the FXPs that have approved the PSP.

Streamlining the PSP onboarding process

FXPs must accept the Wolfsberg Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire (CBBDQ) from PSPs.

The Wolfsberg CBDDQ is a standardised questionnaire that can be used for due diligence by FXPs on PSPs (and by SAPs on FXPs). It ensures that a PSP only needs to complete the questionnaire once (and keep it up to date), rather than dealing with a bespoke application form for every FXP. From the FXP's side, the questionnaire ensures that each PSP provides the same information in a consistent structure.

Streamlining the PSP onboarding process in this way is important to ensure the FX market in Nexus is competitive. It is best if each PSP in an IPS is onboarded with each of the FXPs that provide FX in the PSP’s home currency. This means a PSP may wish to apply to be onboarded with multiple FXPs, and each FXP may wish to onboard multiple PSPs.

If every FXP imposes a different KYC/KYB process upon PSPs, the cost to a PSP of onboarding with an FXP would be higher, which could:

• discourage FXPs from onboarding smaller PSPs as the benefits of doing so (potential additional payment flows) may not outweigh the costs of the due diligence process;

• discourage PSPs from onboarding with multiple FXPs, as the benefit of doing so (more competitive rates) may not outweigh the costs of onboarding with additional FXPs.

Mandatory use of the Wolfsberg CBDDQ will help to streamline this process.

As Nexus scales, other ways to streamline the PSP-FXP onboarding and due diligence process will be explored, including possible digitalization of the process for a PSP to apply to onboard with an FXP. This may include the possibility of a repository for relevant information (such as the Wolfsberg Questionnaire and relevant evidence such as incorporation certificates) that can be accessed (with the PSP’s permission) by FXPs.