Business Account Opening for New Applicants

Our Business Account Opening product provides your applicants with a simple flow that includes information entry, document upload, funding, and identity decisioning. Note: Currently, business account opening is available from a web browser, not our mobile app.

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

Open a New Business Account

To open a new business account from a web browser:

1. Welcome 

Applicants 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 per their answers to the other questions, they will be taken through the existing user flow. If the answer is No, they will continue through this 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 step 7, 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.

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 include hyperlinks, which open in a new browser tab, so users do not exit the account opening flow. Please contact your Narmi Implementation Manager to customize these questions.

After answering all questions, select Next.

4. Document Checklist

If the applicant is eligible, a dialog appears with information about what is required for the application. Your institution can customize the descriptions of the items in this list by contacting your Narmi Relationship Manager. The actual business document names shown in step 8 cannot be edited.
Select Next.

5. Business Type

On the Business type page that opens, the applicant can select the business type that applies to them. The steps involved in the application display on the left sidebar so the applicant can see their progress.
As an independent, the option is Sole proprietor, which means the user has not registered their business with the state and they're the only owner. This includes Doing Business As (DBAs) or non-DBAs.
As a business or company, the options are either Limited liability company (LLC), General partnership, or Corporation. For these options, users have registered the business with the state. They have certified documents and their business may have more owners than just them.
After choosing a business type, select Next.

6. Business Details

For sole proprietors, the next page asks whether or not they are a DBA (Doing Business As). A DBA allows business owners to conduct business under a business name instead of their legal name. Select Yes or No, then Next.

Next, a form specific to the selected business type appears for the applicant to enter personal and business details. This page includes the following fields.

For sole proprietors, DBA or non-DBA (image shown below):

• First name and Last name (auto-populated)

• DBA Name (if applicable)

• Social Security Number or ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number)

• Date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY)

• Business name – Your institution can opt to have non-DBAs enter a business name. This can be enabled in the Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > Ask additional fields > Non-DBA Business Name. By default, if the sole proprietor is not a DBA, we do not show the Business Name field. 
  You can also enforce character limits for business names to comply with any core requirements for business name length. This can be configured under Configurations > Institution settings > DAO Character Limits.

• EIN (Employer Identification Number) – Optional

• Ownership percentage – Percentage of ownership in the business

• Email address – This is auto-populated based on the email address entered in step 1 and cannot be changed once verified. We encourage applicants to update their email address via Digital Banking or by contacting your institution.

• Phone number

• Industry – Select your business’ six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code from a list categorized by industry.

• Physical address – The residential address

• Mailing address – Your institution can opt to have the mailing address separate from the residential address. This is configured in Configurations > Institution settings > Has Mailing Address. This adds a Mailing address is the same as your residential address box, which is selected by default if added. Clearing the box opens a form to enter a different mailing address.
  Note: Different mailing and residential addresses are only supported on the following cores: Symitar, IBS, DNA, Corelation, Silverlake, and Enterprise Service Bus (ESB).
  If you would like to allow applicants to use P.O. boxes for mailing addresses, you can enable this in Configurations > Institution settings > Edit Allow P.O. boxes as mailing addresses for Digital Account Opening (DAO). Note: Support for P.O. boxes differs depending on your core and the way it is configured. Please contact your Narmi Implementation Manager for more information.

• Add an authorized signer – Sole proprietors can select Add an authorized signer 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. Once added, select Remove to remove the signer. Applicants can review authorized signer information in the Review step. The following fields must be completed when adding an authorized signer:

  • First name

  • Last name

  • Social Security Number/ITIN

  • Date of birth (MM/DD/YYY)

  • Email

  • Phone number

  • Address

For LLCs, general partnerships, or corporations (image shown below):

• Business name – You can enforce character limits for business names to comply with any core requirements for business name length. This can be configured in the Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > DAO Character Limits.

• Phone number

• Email address

• Website – This is an optional field that can be enabled in the Admin Platform by selecting Configurations > Institution settings > Ask additional fields > Business Account Opening tab > Website.

• Physical address – The residential address. The Mailing address is the same as my residential address box is selected by default. Clear the box to open a form where you can enter a different mailing address.

Business details:

• Date of organization/partnership/incorporation – This date defaults to the format “MM/DD/YYYY.” You can opt to collect this date in the shortened format “MM/YYYY" to improve application completion rates. You can enable setting this in the Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > Ask additional fields > Business Account Opening > Short date of incorporation. After this setting is enabled, all previous applications will also display in the format “MM/YYYY”.

• State of organization/partnership/incorporation

• Tax ID or EIN (Employer Identification Number)

• Industry  – Select your business’ six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code from a list categorized by industry.

Select Next to continue.

7. Ownership

For LLCs or corporations, the next page asks the applicant if they are a beneficial owner (for LLCs, this is 25% or more of the business, for corporations, this is 10% or more of the business). For partnerships, the next page asks if they are a partner of the business. This page does not appear for sole proprietors. If the applicant selects No, they’ll have to enter their Role in the form below.

The ownership info page includes the following fields:

• First name and Last name (auto-populated)

• Social Security Number or ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number)

• Ownership percentage – Percentage of ownership in the business.

  • For corporations or LLCs, your institution can set the percentage at which owners are required to be reported on the application. This setting is in the Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > Minimum ownership percentage LLC or Minimum ownership percentage corporation. The default is 25% for LLCs and 10% for corporations. For example, an application requires individuals who own 10% or more of the corporation to be reported on the application.
    Note: It is recommended to keep this setting at 25% for LLCs and 10% for corporations in order to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regulation. Additionally, we do not check the minimum ownership percentage for authorized signers or control persons. We only have that check in place for beneficial owners because the Beneficial Ownership Regulation requires those owners to be declared.

  • For General Partnerships, we enforce a 25% ownership requirement when adding additional partners who are NOT the control person or authorized signer. This ensures compliance with the BSA regulation.
    

• Date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY)

• Role – This shows for applicants who are not beneficial owners. If your institution would like to enable the "Role" field for all owners, go to the Admin Platform > Configurations > Institution settings > Ask additional fields > Business Account Opening tab > turn on Role toggle.

• Email address – This is auto-populated based on the email address entered in step 1 and cannot be changed once verified. We encourage applicants to update their email addresses via Digital Banking or by contacting your institution.

• Phone number

• Address

• I am a control person for this business – The applicant can select the box to indicate whether they are the control person, which means 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.

• Add another owner – The applicant can select Add another owner to add another owner/partner to the application and enter their information. When the applicant adds another owner, additional boxes appear which they can select to indicate that the additional owner/partner is a control person (having the ability to control, manage, or direct the business) and/or that the additional owner/partner is an authorized signer (legally permitted to spend or commit monies on behalf of the business).
  

  

• Ownership acknowledgment – Applicants must select the ownership acknowledgment box at the bottom of the Ownership info page to confirm that information on all beneficial owners has been included in the application. The applicant cannot proceed to the next step unless they select this box.

The example below is an ownership form for an LLC.

Select Next to continue.

8. Documents

At this point, we check whether the Tax ID/EIN entered in business details already exists in our database or the core. If the Tax ID/EIN does not exist in our database or the core, the applicant must upload business documents. The documents vary depending on the business type and the number of documents (indicated in the list below) cannot be changed. The names of documents and description text on the "Upload your business documents" page can be customized by contacting your Narmi Relationship Manager. 

Note: Only one file can be uploaded per document, so if there are multiple files—such as two PDFs—the applicant must combine them into one file. Maximum file size is 2.5 MB.

The documents by business type are:

• LLC – Two documents, one required and one optional; default names are "Articles of Organization" (required) and "EIN Verification Letter" (optional)

• General Partnership – One document is required; default name is "Business Registration"

• Corporation – One document is required; default name is "Business Registration"

• Sole Proprietor (DBA) – One document is required; default name is "DBA Certificate"

• Sole Proprietor (not a DBA) – No documents required

After application submission, your staff can view these documents in the Admin Platform, under Applications.

After uploading, select Next.

9. Confirm Account

If the Tax ID/EIN entered in business details already exists in our database or the core, the following page appears. This provides a streamlined process for the applicant to continue applying. 

Once they select Continue my application, we send a verification code to the core-provided email and redirect the applicant to a page where they can enter the code. If the code is correct, a page appears to confirm the account information before proceeding to account selection in step 10.

10. Account Selection

On the Choose your accounts page, the applicant selects which of your institution’s products they would like to open, such as Checking, Savings, or Certificates of Deposit. 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.
Select Next.

11. 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.

12. Funding

Next, applicants choose a funding method—either link 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.

13. 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.

14. Review

The final step is a review of the completed application before submitting it. Applicants can select Edit to update any information or select Submit application to complete.
If the application is successful, a summary of the opened accounts and initial funding appears. A confirmation email is sent to the applicant. Your institution can customize this email from our Admin Platform under Configurations > Institution settings > Application Approved Template. Note: There are separate templates for business and consumer applicants. 

If your institution uses Narmi for Digital Banking, applicants can select Enroll in online banking to create a user profile.

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

If additional documents are required, instead of the approval page, the applicant is prompted to take a photo of their government-issued ID as well as a selfie. This flow occurs only for institutions integrated with Vouched. Go to Application Statuses for more information about the Docs Requested flow.

Continue a Business Application

Users can easily continue a business application at the step where they left off, without having to re-enter their information. 

To continue an application:

1. From the account opening URL, select Continue it now.

   

   
   

2. Enter the email address used to start the application and select Next.

   

   
   

3. Verify the email address by entering the verification code sent to the trusted device and selecting Next.

   

   
   

4. The application in progress appears. Select Next to continue applying.