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Understanding the Challenges of High-Risk Business Accounts

Managing a high-risk business can be pretty daunting, especially with all the challenges associated with opening and managing a bank account. High-risk industries often face stringent scrutiny as well as rejections from financial institutions due to increased risks of fraud, chargebacks and compliance issues. However, businesses in such sectors can handle their financial operations despite unique challenges with high-risk accounts. High-risk business accounts are need of every business operating in sectors that are categorised as high-risk for seamless banking, streamlined financial operations and undisrupted cash flow. This blog explores some common challenges of high-risk accounts to understand the complications and find effective solutions to them.

Key Challenges of High-Risk Business Accounts

1. Limited Banking Options

As we are aware, not all banks are open to working with high-risk businesses; therefore, these companies often struggle to find financial services for their operations. This reluctance mainly stems from the elevated financial fraud and chargeback risks, which make high-risk sectors less appealing to traditional banks. The limited banking options for high-risk businesses lead to less competitive fees, increased dependency on one platform, and difficulty negotiating terms to align them with the company. However, businesses categorised as high-risk should look for non-banking financial services providers for their financial needs. Compared to banking options, financial service providers are more suitable for high-risk companies as they offer high-risk business accounts and services tailored to meet the unique needs of these high-risk sectors.

2. Strict Verification Processes

High-risk businesses often face strict regulations, which makes getting high-risk business accounts more challenging for them. Unlike other sectors, high-risk companies must face a stringent verification process followed by extensive documentation to ensure the business complies with the legal requirements and does not involve fraud or illegal operations. For instance, if a vape business is looking for a business account, due to its high-risk sector it may need to submit detailed licences, extensive transaction history, financial records and compliance proof, which will further undergo scrutiny to verify compliance with regulations. On the contrary, if a business like a retail clothing company applies for a business account, after verification of basic documents, their account will be active in no time without any intimidating scrutiny or lengthy application process.

3. Higher Fees & Charges

Another challenge associated with high-risk business accounts is higher fees than their low-risk counterparts. Due to the risks related to high-risk industries, such as fraud and chargebacks, which lead to financial loss, reputation damage, and financial strain, these businesses are charged higher fees for all banking services. High-risk business accounts often impose higher account set-up costs, transaction fees, monthly maintenance fees, and chargeback fees, which can eat up profit margins. It is essential to look for a high-risk business account which supports your business needs while offering competitive rates to avoid this further financial burden and streamline finances. It may seem very challenging with such limited available options, but you can always find non-bank service providers like Wirewand, which can cater to all your needs.

4. Frequent Account Monitoring

Along with various challenges for high-risk businesses, frequent account monitoring is also on the list. High-risk business accounts, unlike standard business accounts, are constantly monitored by banks or service providers. This added scrutiny helps banks or financial service providers protect against fraud, financial crimes, and regulatory issues, which are quite common in high-risk sectors. Frequently monitoring high-risk business accounts includes detailed transaction analysis, and the case of any suspicious activity can result in the potential freezing of accounts. Unfortunately, this added monitoring can disrupt your business operations, reducing flexibility and freedom.

5. Potential for Account Termination

Getting a high-risk business account is not the only challenging part for companies that come under the sectors flagged as high-risk; managing high-risk accounts is another constant struggle they have to go through for uninterrupted operations. High-risk business accounts remain under constant evaluation and scrutiny to assess ongoing risks. If a bank or financial service provider detects any unusual or risky activity that falls outside of their risk tolerance policy, they may choose to terminate the account straightaway. This decision protects the bank from financial loss, reputational damage or legal penalties. However, this termination of account can significantly impact your business, interfering with your operations, damaging your reputation, and derailing cash flow.

Wirewand – High-risk Business Account

Want to protect your high-risk business from the challenges of high-risk business accounts and regulatory issues? Worry no more! Get a Wirewand High-Risk Business Account today and enjoy competitive rates, higher transaction limits, and secure cross-border transactions without any lengthy application process or extra costs.

Apply today and take your high-risk business to the next level!

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FX Payment services for Wirewand Limited are provided by Sciopay Ltd. Sciopay Ltd is a company incorporated in England & Wales. Registration No: 12352935. Sciopay Ltd is licensed and regulated by HMRC as a Money Service Business (MSB). License No: XCML00000151326. Sciopay Ltd is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Authorised Payment Institution. Firm Reference Number: 927951. Frontier Global Consultants Ltd t/a FGC is the service provider of the payment accounts and e-wallets. FGC is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Authorised E-Money Institution. Firm Reference Number: 900903.