Setting Up Light Cards (KYC)

What's this page about: This article walks through KYC verification for Light Cards, from starting onboarding to funding accounts, setting limits, activating cards, and handling lost, damaged, or expired cards. Use it if you're a company admin setting up corporate cards for the first time, or a finance team member managing existing cards.

Setting up Light Cards is straightforward: verify your company once with Adyen, fund a card account, and start issuing cards. This guide takes you through each step and covers what to do if a card is ever lost, damaged, or expiring.

# On this page

• Card types: physical and virtual
• KYC verification process
• KYC compliance
• Funding your card account
• Activating a physical card
• Setting up a virtual card
• Card limits and controls
• Card activity and reconciliation
• Fraud alerts
• Replacing a card
• Offboarding an employee

# Card types

Light issues two kinds of cards, both funded from a card account you top up by bank transfer.

Physical card

• Mastercard, issued in the employee's name
• Works in stores, online, and at ATMs
• PIN protected
• Spending limit configurable per card

Virtual card

• Digital card number, issued instantly, no physical card
• Used for online and contactless payments
• Spending limit configurable per card
• A common choice for employee expenses or recurring vendor payments like subscriptions

Card transactions feed automatically into Expense Management, there's no separate step to reconcile them.

# KYC verification process

KYC verification confirms a company's identity with Adyen before it can issue any cards. It happens once per entity, not once per employee, and only a company admin can start it.

Step 1: Start onboarding for an entity

1. A company admin enables cards for the entity.
2. Light registers the entity with Adyen, creating a legal entity and account holder.
3. The entity's card customer status moves from Pre-onboarding to Onboarding.

Step 2: Complete verification with Adyen

1. Light generates a hosted onboarding link for the entity.

2. The admin opens the link and completes Adyen's hosted onboarding, providing:

   • Company legal name and registered address
   • Registration number or tax ID
   • Beneficial ownership information, required for anti-money-laundering (AML) compliance
   • Supporting documents, such as proof of registration and identification for beneficial owners

3. Documents go directly to Adyen. Light doesn't store them.

4. Adyen may request additional information if it can't verify something the first time.

Step 3: Activation

1. Once verification is complete, the entity's status becomes Active.
2. Admins can then create card accounts, fund them, and issue cards.

Card customer statuses

Employee requirements

Individual employees don't go through KYC. To receive a card, an employee needs:

• An active Light user account
• An authentication phone number, for 3D Secure verification on card payments
• A shipping address, for physical cards only

# KYC compliance

Light's KYC process exists to meet a set of regulatory requirements:

• Bank Secrecy Act: verify customer identity
• USA PATRIOT Act: check against OFAC sanctions lists
• AML regulations: monitor for suspicious activity
• GDPR and other privacy law: protect personal data

Verification documents are submitted directly to Adyen through the hosted onboarding flow. Light never stores them.

# Funding your card account

Before any card can be used, its card account needs funds. Transfer money to your Adyen wallet in the same currency as the account. Funds are available as soon as Adyen receives and processes the transfer, which normally takes no more than 2 to 3 business days, depending on your bank.

# Activating a physical card

1. Receive the physical card in the mail (typically several business days after it's issued).
2. Open Light.
3. Go to Cards and open the card.
4. Click Activate card.
5. Confirm you have the card in hand.
6. View your PIN securely in Light.

The card is now active and ready to use.

# Setting up a virtual card

1. Open Light and go to the Cards page.

2. Click + Create card.

3. Select Employee card or Vendor card. Vendor cards are always virtual.

4. Fill in:

   • Owner: who the card belongs to
   • Authentication phone number: for 3D Secure verification
   • Card account: which account the card draws from
   • Vendor: for vendor cards only, the vendor the card is for
   • Limits: limit interval and amount

5. Click Create card.

Virtual cards are issued instantly. The card number, expiry date, and CVV can be revealed securely in Light whenever needed. A virtual card stays valid until it's closed, and spending is controlled entirely through the limits set on it.

# Card limits and controls

Company admins and controllers manage card limits.

1. Open Light and go to Cards.

2. Open the card details drawer.

3. Click Edit.

4. Set a limit with one of these intervals:

   • Per transaction: maximum per purchase
   • Weekly: maximum per week
   • Monthly: maximum per month

5. Click Save.

Employees can view their own cards and limits under Cards in the Personal section, but only admins and controllers can change them.

Admins can also set a default limit, with its own interval and amount, on a card account. This default applies to every card issued under that account unless a card has its own limit set.

# Card activity and reconciliation

1. Open Light and go to Cards → Transactions.

2. Each transaction shows:

   • Merchant name
   • Amount and currency
   • Date and time
   • Status: authorized, captured, refunded, posted, declined, or voided

3. Transactions appear in Expense Management automatically, categorized by AI, and follow your existing manager approval workflow.

# Fraud alerts

Light monitors card activity for signs of fraud:

• Unusual amount: a transaction far above the card's normal spending
• Geographic anomaly: the card used somewhere unexpected
• Multiple rapid transactions: several purchases in quick succession
• Suspicious merchant: a merchant flagged for fraud or high risk

When an alert triggers, Light can freeze the card temporarily, notify the employee to confirm the transaction, and alert the finance team if needed.

# Replacing a card

Lost or stolen

1. Freeze the card immediately in Light, or contact support.
2. Freezing stops all transactions instantly.
3. Report when it was lost and whether you suspect fraud.
4. The card is closed.
5. A new card ships, typically within several business days.
6. While you wait, use a virtual card for online purchases, or the corporate account for anything urgent.

Damaged

1. Request a replacement in Light.
2. Light ships a new card.
3. Return or destroy the old one.

Expiring

1. Request a new card before the current one expires.
2. Activate the new card in Light.
3. The old card is closed automatically.

# Offboarding an employee

1. The employee returns their physical card, if they have one.
2. Light closes the card immediately.
3. Any pending transactions are reviewed.
4. Outstanding expenses are reimbursed if needed.
5. Card activity is archived for the record.

Once closed, a card can't be reactivated or used again.

# Related Articles

• Issuing and managing corporate cards
• Virtual cards
• Apple Pay and Google Pay

Also searched as: Light Cards KYC, corporate card verification, Adyen onboarding, card limits, virtual card setup, lost or stolen card, card offboarding.