PSP Migration: all the questions you may have

Changing a payment service provider (PSP) is not an insignificant decision and legitimately raises a few questions! Our answers to the most frequent interrogations.

Why should I change my payment service provider?

Dissatisfaction with customer service, need for additional payment methods, a more ergonomic dashboard, a more robust API, or specific features… There are many reasons why a platform may need to change its payment service provider. The trigger is sometimes regulatory: the platform seeks to be more compliant by acquiring a more rigorous PSP, capable of obtaining the payment agent status. In other cases, the marketplace or alternative finance platforms is simply looking for a more efficient solution and better support.

How long does a PSP migration take?

The duration of a migration project does not only depend on the new PSP alone. There are indeed incompressible deadlines on the side of the banking actors. On average, a PSP migration lasts two months.

Knowing that migration projects are often accompanied by more extensive projects, such as a website redesign for example, these kinds of projects may take a longer period to complete. Conversely, what could happen is that, faced with a regulatory emergency, a platform will wish to perform a very quick PSP migration.

This was the case, for example, with EasyTransac, a platform that allows you to use your cell phone as a payment terminal. To be fully compliant with regulations, EasyTransac managed to migrate its business to Lemonway in just four weeks.

What are the prerequisites for a successful PSP migration?

The main criterion is to ensure that the selected PSP has already performed successful migrations from different PSPs. The presentation of a clear roadmap, with well-defined processes and milestones over time, provides a reassuring framework. From your side, all you will have to do is follow the procedure indicated by the new PSP!

How does a PSP migration take place?

A migration takes place in two main stages:

• Preparation for migration. Payment accounts to be created, payment account balances, KYC documents…the objective is to collect all the information available from the existing data in the payment environment of the former PSP, in order to reproduce a snapshot of the same payment architecture within the new PSP environment. This step usually takes two months.
• Migration. Once the groundwork has been prepared, the funds along with the KYC documents must be sent to the new PSP, in order to reproduce exactly the same payment environment in the new system, in accordance with the compliance procedures.

Does changing PSPs involve a service interruption?

No. It is entirely possible to migrate from one PSP to another without any service interruption. Lemonway has completed several migrations for platforms that could not afford to stop working.

Recently, Lemonway, for example, accompanied Credit.fr, a platform specialized in lending to SMEs (crowdlending), towards a seamless migration. With more than 10,000 payment accounts and flows of several tens of millions of euros per year, it was indeed unthinkable for this platform to stop working, even for only 48 hours.

Is a PSP migration noticeable for your end customers?

No, in the sense that the migration has no impact on the end-users of the platform. On the other hand, for regulatory reasons, users must accept the new PSP’s General Terms and Conditions of Use (GTCU).

Also see our case study – PSP Migration: How Credit.fr gained in efficiency with Lemonway

Because the PSP role is so crucial for smooth operations of a platform, changing PSP represents a big challenge.  However, with clear steps and the right processes, the migration can happen without any issues.  This is why it is essential to choose an experienced payment service provider who will have already anticipated all the project’s ins and outs. Are you planning to change your PSP? Do you have other questions about migration? Tell us about your project!