Onboarding Friction for PSPs – KYC/AML Automation vs. Manual Review

We've been doing a deep dive recently into the onboarding pipelines for new merchant accounts with several different PSPs, particularly focusing on those handling a mix of fiat and crypto payments. What's becoming apparent is the wide spectrum of efficiency, especially around the KYC/AML checks. Some providers are leveraging quite sophisticated automation, and merchants are cleared in hours, while others seem to be stuck in a predominantly manual review process, leading to multi-day or even week-long delays. My question to the room is, for those of you who've implemented or overseen these processes on the PSP side, what's the internal trade-off you're weighing? Is the cost/complexity of truly robust, compliant automation still prohibitive for smaller or mid-tier PSPs, leading them to tolerate higher manual overhead and slower onboarding? Or are there specific compliance requirements (geographical, industry-specific) that fundamentally necessitate more human intervention, making full automation a pipe dream in certain segments? This isn't about naming names, but understanding the operational realities that drive these divergent experiences.