Onboarding & Settlement Pains for Smaller Ops

Running into persistent headaches lately with establishing and maintaining robust relationships with brokers and payment service providers, particularly for anyone operating on a slightly smaller scale. It seems like the landscape has bifurcated: either you're a giant institution with dedicated relationship managers, or you're stuck in a Kafkaesque loop of KYB requirements that feel designed to filter out anyone without millions in AUM or revenue. The initial onboarding can take weeks, even months, only for settlement times to stretch out, or for fees to unexpectedly increase. It severely impacts our ability to scale and offer competitive services.

Are others experiencing this, especially regarding payout reliability and the sheer overhead involved in managing multiple PSPs to mitigate risk? I'm not looking for specific recommendations for who to use, but more about the systemic issues. How are you navigating these challenges without just throwing more bodies at the problem? The regulatory burden is understandable, but the implementation often feels punitive rather than protective for smaller, legitimate entities.