Business Account Opening for Existing Businesses

Our Business Account Opening product allows existing organizations with accounts at your financial institution to open additional accounts. For example, a business with a Checking account may also want to open a Savings account. The business account opening flow for existing users is always enabled.

To manage pending or submitted applications, from the Admin Platform sidebar, select Account opening > Applications.

To open an account as an existing user from a web browser:

1. Welcome

Existing users start at your financial institution's business account opening page. This URL varies by institution, so please contact your Narmi Relationship Manager to discuss setting up and accessing your URL.
Applicants enter their first name, last name, and email address, then select Get started.
Those who already started an application can select Continue it now to return to their application.

Your institution can opt to include a CAPTCHA box for human verification at the bottom of the welcome page. You can turn this box on or off in the Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution Settings > Ask Additional Fields > Business Account Opening tab > CAPTCHA.

2. Verification Code

We verify identity by sending a verification code to the email address entered. The code expires after 10 minutes. Enter the code and select Next.

3. Eligibility

A page with eligibility questions appears. The first question asks whether the business has opened an account with your institution before. If the answer is Yes, and the applicant is eligible for an account from their answers to the other questions, they will be taken through the existing user flow. If the answer is No, they will be taken through the new user flow. If the applicant forgets they already have an existing business account and answers No to the first question, when they enter the EIN (Employer Identification Number) in the new user flow, we check if they are an existing user and direct them to the existing user flow. This allows us to avoid creating duplicate business accounts.

Note: If the applicant already has a business account at your institution for one business (for example, their restaurant), but wants to open an account for another business that they own (for example, a gym), they should answer No to the first question and go through the new user flow (assuming they have a unique EIN for both businesses). We currently do not support accounts for different businesses with the same EIN.

Your institution can customize the eligibility questions, but we recommend not changing the first question. There is a 128-character limit for each question, but no limit on the number of questions. The questions can contain hyperlinks. Please contact your Narmi Implementation Manager to customize these questions.

After answering all questions, select Next.

4. Confirm Account 

The next page asks if the business is a sole proprietorship without an Employee Identification Number (EIN). No is selected by default and the applicant is prompted to enter the EIN.

Sole proprietors that don’t have an EIN, should select Yes and enter their Tax ID or Social Security Number.

Select Next.

At this point, we check if the EIN/Tax ID entered matches an organization on the core. If an account is found, the applicant proceeds to step 5. If the account is not found, an error message appears and the applicant should contact your institution’s Support team.

If the organization’s account was found on the core, we verify identity by sending a verification code to the email address associated with the account. The code expires after 10 minutes.
Enter the code and select Next.

A confirmation page appears with the existing business account information on file. Select Next if it’s correct.

5. Applicant Info

On the Applicant(s) page that opens, the applicant can enter their personal details. The steps involved in the application show on the left sidebar so the applicant can see their progress. This is a much shorter version of the new applicant flow since we already have the existing business's information. The email address cannot be changed once it is verified.

There are three actions at the bottom of this page:

• Add an authorized signer – Select this option to add an additional owner/partner who is an authorized signer, meaning they are legally permitted to spend or commit monies on behalf of the business. Authorized signers are created at the account level, so this is the opportunity for business owners to add any signers.

• I am a control person for this business – The applicant should select this box if they have the ability to control, manage, or direct the business. To comply with BSA regulations, there must be at least one control person indicated to proceed with the application.

• Review and confirm(required) – The applicant must select the box confirming the information was reviewed and is correct.
  
  Select Next to continue.
  

  

6. Account Selection

On the Choose your accounts page, applicants select which of your institution’s products they would like to open, such as Checking or Savings. To customize the product offerings at your financial institution, including restrictions on the number of products that can be opened, required products, recommended products, and hidden products, please contact support@narmi.com.
Selected accounts are shown at the bottom under Your selection.
Select Next.

7. Account Activity

If configured by your institution, the Account activity page contains a list of customer due diligence questions for the applicant to answer. These custom questions give you the ability to capture an applicant’s intended usage of their accounts and help you build a risk profile for the account/applicant. For example, “Do you intend to send wire transfers from this account?”
You can configure these questions (which can be yes/no, freeform, or dropdown) in the Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > Customer Due Diligence Business Questions. For more information, go to Account Activity Questions. These questions can also be product-specific, depending on which product(s) the applicant selects on the Account Selection page. Go to Product-Specific Account Activity Questions for details.
Select Next.

8. Funding

Next, the applicant chooses a funding method—either an external bank account or a debit/credit card. To enable/disable ACH or card funding, please contact your Narmi Relationship Manager

In the "Choose a funding method" section:

• To fund with a bank account by logging in, select Log in with your bank and follow the prompts to enter your banking credentials

• To fund with a bank account by manually entering account information, select Manually link a bank account. Enter the routing and account numbers, and select the account type. External account numbers are limited to 17 characters.
  Note: The Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Agreement disclosure displays by default when applicants link their bank account. You can opt to remove the EFT Agreement disclosure in the Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > Ask additional fields > Business Account Opening > Remove Electronic Funds Transfer Agreement text.
  

• To fund with a card, select Use a credit/debit card and enter the card information

The selected account information appears onscreen with an option to edit the account details.

Next, below the funding method, enter the amount of funding for each new account. Amounts must be entered in $0.25 increments. Your institution can customize minimum balances and maximum funding limits by product. Please contact support@narmi.com for assistance with setting the minimum balances and funding limits. For information on funding limits, go to Funding Limits.

Select Next.

9. Disclosures

The Review disclosures page can vary by financial institution and there may be multiple sections.  You can configure disclosures in the Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > Business Account Opening Disclosures.
Check the boxes to accept the disclosures and select Next.

10. Review

The final step is a review of the account(s) selected and funding. Applicants can select Edit to update any information or select Submit application to complete.

If the application was successful, a summary appears of the opened account(s) and initial funding. A confirmation email is sent to the email address associated with the account. Your institution can customize these emails from our Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > Digital Account Opening > Emails.
If your institution uses Narmi for Digital Banking, applicants can select Log in to online banking to open online banking.

If your institution would like to hide the account number, routing number, and direct deposit number on the Approval page, go to the Admin Platform under Institution Settings > Approved screen show account information, and set it to False.