Navigating the KYC/AML Labyrinth with New PSPs – Any Shortcuts?

Alright, folks in the Fintech Founders room, I'm throwing this out there because I'm genuinely curious about how others are handling it. We're in the midst of integrating with a new payment service provider, ostensibly to diversify our payment rails and improve resilience, especially for certain niche markets. The platform itself seems robust, decent API documentation, and the pricing structure is competitive. But good lord, the Know Your Business (KYB) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) onboarding process is an absolute gauntlet.

It feels like a multi-week odyssey of document requests, clarification calls, re-submissions, and a general sense that we're trying to prove we're not a shell corporation funneling illicit funds, despite having years of audited financials and a clean regulatory record. Every PSP seems to have its own unique flavour of compliance hoops to jump through, and it's not just the initial setup; ongoing monitoring is a whole other beast. Are there any best practices or pre-emptive strategies you've found effective to streamline this? Or is it simply a necessary evil, the cost of doing business in this regulated space? I'm half-tempted to hire a dedicated 'KYB Ninja' just to manage these integrations.