• JCC Payment Systems is implementing IBM’s watsonx.ai to automate merchant onboarding.
  • The initiative is designed to significantly reduce merchant verification times.
  • Manual, slow and complex verification processes will be replaced by AI-driven automation.
  • The change could speed onboarding and reduce the operational burden on staff.

What happened

JCC Payment Systems has announced an initiative to accelerate the automation of merchant onboarding using IBM’s watsonx.ai. The project targets the verification stage of onboarding—an area the company describes as slow and complex—by applying IBM’s enterprise AI platform to streamline checks and decisioning.

Why this matters

Merchant onboarding is a critical step for payment companies: slow verification delays revenue for merchants, increases workload for compliance teams, and creates friction in customer experience. By introducing watsonx.ai, JCC aims to shorten those verification times and replace manual steps that currently slow the process.

Even without detailed rollout metrics, the move signals a broader shift in payments and fintech toward embedded AI for routine, compliance-related work. Automating repetitive verification tasks can free staff for higher-value reviews and reduce the time merchants wait to start taking payments.

How the automation will affect merchants and operations

The initiative is presented as a replacement for slow, complex manual processes. Practically, that means some verification steps previously handled by human reviewers will be assisted or automated by AI models running on watsonx.ai. The immediate effects organizations typically see in similar projects are faster approval cycles and a reduced manual workload, though JCC has not published specific time-savings figures in the announcement.

For merchants, faster onboarding can mean quicker access to payment acceptance and faster time to revenue. For JCC, automation can improve efficiency in operations, reduce error-prone manual checks, and help scale onboarding capacity without a proportional increase in staff.

Reactions and next steps

JCC’s initiative underscores the growing interest among payment providers in AI-driven process automation. While the company has stated the objective of significantly reducing verification times, further details on timing, the scope of automated checks, compliance safeguards, or pilot results were not provided in the announcement.

Readers should watch for follow-up communications from JCC or IBM with implementation timelines, specific efficiency gains, and how the companies will handle regulatory and data‑privacy requirements as the system rolls out.

Bottom line

JCC Payment Systems’ use of IBM’s watsonx.ai to automate merchant onboarding focuses squarely on eliminating slow, complex manual verification steps. The move aims to speed up onboarding for merchants and reduce operational strain—marking a clear step toward AI-driven automation in payments.

Image Referance: https://www.cbn.com.cy/article/125768/jcc-payment-systems-accelerates-the-automation-of-merchant-onboarding-with-ibm-s-watsonx-ai