Prop Firm Payouts: Are We Seeing the End of the Wild West?

Been trading with various prop firms for a few years now, and the payout process has always been a bit of a mixed bag. Early on, it felt like some outfits were intentionally making it difficult, with drawn-out reviews, obscure fees popping up, or just general delays that felt more like a liquidity management issue on their end than a genuine compliance check. You'd hit your profit target on something like $GBPUSD, request a payout, and then the waiting game began.

Lately, I've noticed a shift, particularly with some of the more established names. The KYC/AML process on onboarding is still thorough, as it should be, but once you're past that, the actual payout requests seem to be smoother and quicker. I'm curious if others are observing the same trend. Are prop firms finally cleaning up their act on the withdrawal side, or is it just the bigger players solidifying their operations while some of the newer, less capitalized firms still struggle? Interested to hear diverse experiences.