Onboarding Friction for EU-based HFT Desk
We're an established EU-based HFT desk, primarily trading $EURUSD and various major indices. Increasingly, we're finding that the KYC/KYB process for new brokers, particularly those outside of traditional tier-1 banking institutions, has become an absolute quagmire. We're talking 6-8 weeks for what should be a straightforward institutional onboarding, often with redundant requests for documents already provided, or demands for obscure certifications that seem to change midway through the process. This eats into deployment time and, frankly, opportunity cost. Is anyone else experiencing this level of operational friction lately, or have we just been unlucky with a string of less-than-efficient compliance departments? Curious to hear if there are specific regions or types of regulated entities that seem to navigate this more smoothly.