OLB GROUP, INC. 10-K

Item 1. Business. Forward-Looking Statements Unless the context indicates otherwise, as used in this Annual Report, the terms “OLB,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company” and “our business” refer, to The OLB Group, Inc., including its subsidiaries named herein. Certain statements, other than purely historical information, including estimates, projections, statements relating to our business plans, objectives, and expected operating results, and the assumptions upon which those statements are based, are “forward-looking statements.” These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believes,” “project,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “strategy,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Our ability to predict results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain. Factors which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and future prospects include, but are not limited to: changes in economic conditions, legislative/regulatory changes, availability of capital, interest rates, competition, and generally accepted accounting principles. These risks and uncertainties should also be considered in evaluating forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. On November 12, 2019, the Company effected a one-for-thirty reverse stock split of its common stock (the “Reverse Split”). All shares, options and warrants throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K have been retroactively restated to reflect the Reverse Split. Overview We are a FinTech company and payment facilitator (“PayFac”) that focuses on a suite of products in the merchant services and payment facilitator verticals and seeks to provide integrated business solutions to merchants throughout the United States. We seek to provide merchants with a wide range of products and services through our various online platforms, including financial and transaction processing services. We also have products that provide support for crowdfunding and other capital raising initiatives. We supplement our online platforms with certain hardware solutions that are integrated with our online platforms. Our business functions primarily through three wholly-owned subsidiaries, eVance, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“eVance”), OmniSoft.io, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“OmniSoft”), and CrowdPay.Us, Inc., a New York corporation (“CrowdPay”). 1 OmniSoft operates a cloud-based business management platform that provides turnkey solutions for merchants to enable them to build and manage their retail businesses, whether online or at a “brick and mortar” location. The OmniSoft platform, which can be accessed by merchants through any mobile and computing device, allows merchants to, among other features, manage and track inventory, track sales and process customer transactions and can provide interactive data analysis concerning sales of products and need for additional inventory. Merchants generally utilize the platform by uploading to the platform information about their inventory (description of units, number of units, price per unit, and related information). Once such information has been uploaded, merchants, either with their own device or with hardware that we sell directly to them, are able to utilize the platform to monitor inventory and process and track sales of their products (including coordinating shipping of their products with third party logistics companies). We manage and maintain the OmniSoft platform through a variety of domain names or a merchant can integrate our platform with their own domain name. Using the OmniSoft platform, merchants can “check-out” their customers at their “brick and mortar” stores or can sell products to customers online, in both cases accepting payment via a simple credit card or debit card transaction (either swiping the credit card or entering the credit card number), a cash payment, or by use of a QR code or loyalty and reward points, and then print or email receipts to the customer. For more information regarding our OmniSoft platform, see “Business — Description of our OmniSoft Business.” 2 eVance provides competitive payment processing solutions to merchants which enable merchants to process credit and debit card-based internet payments for sales of their products at competitive prices (whether such sales occur online or at a “brick and mortar” location). eVance is an independent sales organization (an “ISO”) that signs up new merchants on behalf of acquiring banks and processors that provides financial and transaction processing solutions to merchants throughout the United States. eVance differentiates itself from other ISOs by focusing on both obtaining and maintaining new merchant contracts for its own account (including, but not limited to, merchants that utilize the OmniSoft platform) and also obtaining and maintaining merchant contracts obtained by third-party ISOs (for which we negotiate a shared fee arrangement) and utilizing our own software and technology to provide merchants and other ISOs differentiating products and software. In particular, we (i) own our own payments gateway, (ii) have proprietary omni-commerce software platform, (iii) have in-house underwriting and customer service, (iv) have in-house sub-ISO management system which offers sub-ISOs and agents tools for online boarding, account management, residual reports among other tools, (v) utilize a Payment Facilitator model and (vi) offer a suite of products in the financial markets (through CrowdPay). Leveraging our relationship with three of the top five merchant processors in the United States (representing a majority of the merchant processing market) and with the use of our proprietary software, our payment gateway (which we call “SecurePay”) enables merchants to reduce the cost of transacting with their customers by removing the need for a third-party payment gateway solution. eVance operates as both a wholesale ISO and a retail ISO depending on the risk profile of the merchant and the applicable merchant processor and acquiring bank. As a wholesale ISO, eVance underwrites the processing transactions for merchants, establishing a direct relationship with the merchant and generating individual merchant processing contracts in exchange for future residual payments. As a retail ISO, eVance primarily gathers the documents and information that our partners (acquiring banks and acquiring processors) need to underwrite merchants’ transactions and as a result receives only residual income as commission for merchants it places with our partners. For more information regarding the electronic payment industry, see “Business — Description of our eVance Business — Our Industry.” Substantially all of our revenue has been generated from our eVance business (see our financial statements and related notes included in this Annual Report and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for more information), but began generating revenue from our OmniSoft and CrowdPay business during the second half of 2019. We expect to build out our OmniSoft software business and to rely more on our PayFac model to transition away from our reliance on our eVance business but there is no guarantee that we will be able to do so. See the section entitled “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report. 3 SecurePay SecurePay is a payment gateway and virtual terminal with proprietary business management tools that is in compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI). SecurePay has been certified by Visa and MasterCard (certified Level II and Level III) and finalized implementation of “3D Secure” in 2019 (a feature that is unique to what we offer in order to provide for more secure environment for E-commerce and mobile payments in-store and online). 4 CrowdPay.us™ operates a white label capital raising platform that targets small and midsized businesses seeking to raise capital and registered broker-dealers seeking to host capital raising campaigns for such businesses by integrating the platform onto such company’s or broker-dealer’s website. Our CrowdPay platform is tailored for companies seeking to raise money through a crowdfunding offering of between $1 million and $50 million pursuant to Regulation CF under Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (the “JOBS Act”), offerings pursuant to Rule 506(b) and Rule 506(c) under Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and offerings pursuant to Regulation A+ of the Securities Act. Our platform, which can be used for multiple offerings at once, provides companies and broker-dealers with an easy-to-use, turnkey solution to support company offerings, allowing companies and broker-dealers to easily present online to potential investors relevant marketing and offering materials and by aiding in the accreditation and background check processes to ensure investors meets the applicable requirements under the rules and regulations of the Securities Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). CrowdPay charges a fee to each company and broker-dealer for the use of its platform under a fee structure that is agreed to between CrowdPay and the Company and/or broker-dealer prior to the initiation of the offering. CrowdPay also generates revenues by providing ancillary services to the companies and broker-dealers utilizing our platform, including running background checks and providing anti-money laundering and know-your-customer compliance. CrowdPay is not a registered funding portal or a registered broker-dealer. 5 Synergies between the subsidiaries The success of our business model is dependent on the synergies between the business segments operated by our subsidiaries. We have created and developed products which, we believe, form an ecosystem of e-commerce to provide a variety of clients, from online equity financing companies or merchants selling online or in brick and mortar stores, with multiple product offerings and ancillary services from underwriting with the banks and merchant billing from the cloud software. We expect that these synergies will create additional revenue by charging transaction fees on each service provided to clients by our partnerships with Merchant Acquiring Banks and PCI Compliance. We believe that our wholly-owned subsidiaries combine to create an ecosystem where each subsidiary benefits the other. Starting with the services provided by eVance, we enable each of our products and platforms to communicate with each other and create an ecosystem among our products and, potentially, third-party products. The product environment created with a new registered merchant or issuer enables all merchant information to be stored in a single, centralized location but utilized by all subsidiaries. For example, merchant services utilizing eVance provide electronic payment processing services that can be utilized for payments on the Crowdfunding platform. The platform is used by merchant services to allow mobile and online processing to merchants. The Omni commerce platform will be offered to all of the merchant services clients. The offered Merchant Services products we provide will enable all processing needs for the Omni-commerce system. The gateway will allow merchants that are using the platform to accept online E-commerce transactions. 6 Competitive Advantages We believe that our platform of services will provide the following key advantages. ● Time to Market — we can create a customized website for retailers within days and have it fully operational in less than 2 weeks. ● Cost — we believe that we are the only content service provider that does not charge a setup fee. ● Flexibility — our platform has the flexibility to provide customized solutions for partners. ● Pricing — we provide partners with a price comparison feature which they can utilize if they wish to set prices for products or run promotions. ● Payment processing — we can provide financial service companies with the ability to have their customers’ accounts directly debited for payment. ● We can assist existing “brick & mortar” businesses that have inventory and fulfilment capability but do not wish to create and maintain an e-commerce website and infrastructure to sell their products. ● We can provide a platform for early-stage companies looking for an effective and less costly way to raise capital. Risks Associated with our Business Our business and ability to execute our business strategy are subject to a number of risks of which you should be aware before you decide to buy our securities. In particular, you should consider the following risks, which are discussed more fully in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report: ● Our acquisition of eVance and share exchange with OmniSoft and CrowdPay has collectively formed a new business platform which we are continuing to integrate into our overall operations, and which may create certain risks and may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations; ● Our failure to pay our outstanding indebtedness will result in a substantial loss of our assets; ● We operate in a regulatory environment that is evolving and uncertain and any changes to regulations could have a material impact on our business and financial condition; ● We rely on a combination of confidentiality clauses, assignment agreements and license agreements with employees and third parties, trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks to protect our intellectual property and competitive advantage, all of which offer only limited protection meaning that we may be unable to maintain and protect our intellectual property rights and proprietary information or prevent third-parties from making unauthorized use of our technology; ● Our growth may not be sustainable and depends on our ability to attract new merchants, retain existing merchants and increase sales to both new and existing merchants; and ● While we believe that we have sufficient capital to continue operations for a period of at least twelve months from the date of this Annual Report, if there are unanticipated expenses, insufficient cash from operations or the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic results in a larger than anticipated decline in transactions, we may require additional capital to continue our operations which may not be available, or if available, may not be available on reasonable terms. 7 Impact of COVID-19 On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” and on March 11, 2020, declared it to be a pandemic. The virus and actions taken to mitigate its spread have had and are expected to continue to have a broad adverse impact on the economies and financial markets of many countries, including the geographical areas in which the Company operates. In response to the pandemic, the Company is working with merchants to address potential changes to the purchase patterns of consumers. In addition, the Company is focusing on servicing merchants that sell products with an extended delivery time frame, that have products that are paid for in advance, and that work in the catering, ticketing, limo and travel related businesses which have been directly impacted by the social distancing requirement of the pandemic. Further, for those of the Company’s employees that are able to perform their job remotely, the Company has implemented a “remote work” policy and provided employees with the technology necessary to do continue to do their jobs from home and for those employees that are unable to perform their job from a remote location, the Company has taken steps to ensure appropriate distancing and added sanitizing stations along with requiring frequent hand washing and work station cleaning. The Company has experienced disruptions to its business and has observed disruptions for the Company’s customers and merchants which has resulted in a decline in transaction volume. While the volume of processing transactions by merchants in March 2020 was relatively in-line with the Company’s expectations that the number of transactions during March would be below the prior year because states in the United States began to implement stay-at-home orders, the number of transactions and resulting revenue was approximately 15% lower in March than in February and 30% lower in April than in March. In May, the number of transactions increased whereby they were 5% higher than in April, and in June, when some states began to reopen businesses, transactions were 7% higher than May. The Company’s revenue during the period of time decreased and then increased in the amount of similar to the percentage of month-to-month transaction volume. The following is a summary of a comparison of the number of transactions and transaction revenue for the second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter of 2020. Second Quarter 2020 Third Quarter 2020 Change Change Revenue $ 2,000,035 $ 2,308,037 $ 308,002 15 % Net Loss $ (510,409 ) $ (657,358 ) $ (146,949 ) -29 % Transaction Vol 171,589,645 200,759,845 29,170,200 17 % Third Quarter 2020 Fourth Quarter 2020 Change Change Revenue $ 2,308,037 $ 2,219,556 $ (88,481 ) -4 % Net Loss $ (657,358 ) $ (66,755 ) $ 590,603 90 % Transaction Vol 200,759,845 196,744,648 (4,015,197 ) -2 % We do estimate that the number of transactions will continue to stay at a depressed level or further decline from the prior year, along with revenues, until the response to the COVID-19 pandemic relaxes and allows customers to make more point of purchase transactions for merchants and/or more merchants provide for additional contactless and online purchase options. The anticipated amount of anticipated decline from prior year is unknown, but it will be impacted by when consumers return to the level of purchasing that occurred in the prior year and before the pandemic. The Company does not anticipate that the pandemic will have a material impact on the Company’s business or liquidity. However, additional closings and reopenings of businesses in the future will likely result in a month over month volatility similar to what occurred in 2020. Regulations Various aspects of our service areas are subject to U.S. federal, state, and local regulation. Certain of our services also are subject to rules promulgated by various card networks and banking and other authorities as more fully described below. 8 The Dodd-Frank Act In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law in the United States. The Dodd-Frank Act has resulted in significant structural and other changes to the regulation of the financial services industry. Among other things, Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act established a new, independent regulatory agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”) to regulate consumer financial products and services (including some offered by our customers). The CFPB may also have authority over us as a provider of services to regulated financial institutions in connection with consumer financial products. Separately, under the Dodd-Frank Act, debit interchange transaction fees that a card issuer receives and are established by a payment card network for an electronic debit transaction are now regulated by the Federal Reserve and must be “reasonable and proportional” to the cost incurred by the card issuer in authorizing, clearing, and settling the transaction. Effective October 1, 2011, the Federal Reserve capped debit interchange rates for card issuers operating in the United States with assets of $10 billion or more at the sum of $0.21 per transaction and an ad valorem component of 5 basis points to reflect a portion of the issuer’s fraud losses plus, for qualifying issuers, an additional $0.01 per transaction in debit interchange for fraud prevention costs. In addition, the new regulations contain non-exclusivity provisions that ban debit card networks from prohibiting an issuer from contracting with any other card network that may process an electronic debit transaction involving an issuer’s debit cards and prohibit card issuers and card networks from inhibiting the ability of merchants to direct the routing of debit card transactions over any network that can process the transaction. Beginning April 1, 2012, all debit card issuers in the United States were required to participate in at least two unaffiliated debit card networks. On April 1, 2013, the ban on network exclusivity arrangements became effective for prepaid card and healthcare debit card issuers, with certain exceptions for prepaid cards issued before that date. Effective July 22, 2010, merchants were allowed to set minimum dollar amounts (not to exceed $10) for the acceptance of a credit card (while federal governmental entities and institutions of higher education may set maximum amounts for the acceptance of credit cards). They were also allowed to provide discounts or incentives to entice consumers to pay with an alternative payment method, such as cash, checks or debit cards. Association and network rules We are subject to the rules of credit card associations and other credit and debit networks. In order to provide processing services, a number of our subsidiaries are registered with Visa or Mastercard as service providers for member institutions. Various subsidiaries of ours are also processor level members of numerous debit and electronic benefits transaction networks or are otherwise subject to various network rules in connection with processing services and other services we provide. As such, we are subject to applicable network rules. Card networks and their member financial institutions regularly update and generally expand security expectations and requirements related to the security of cardholder data and environments. We are also subject to network operating rules promulgated by the National Automated Clearing House Association relating to payment transactions processed by us using the Automated Clearing House Network and to various state federal and foreign laws regarding such operations, including laws pertaining to electronic benefits transactions. Privacy and information security regulations We provide services that may be subject to various state, federal, and foreign privacy laws and regulations, including, among others, the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 (the “Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act”). These laws and their implementing regulations restrict certain collection, processing, storage, use, and disclosure of personal information, require notice to individuals of privacy practices, and provide individuals with certain rights to prevent use and disclosure of protected information. These laws also impose requirements for the safeguarding and proper destruction of personal information through the issuance of data security standards or guidelines. Certain federal, state and foreign laws and regulations impose similar privacy obligations and, in certain circumstances, obligations to notify affected individuals, state officers or other governmental authorities, the media, and consumer reporting agencies, as well as businesses and governmental agencies, of security breaches affecting personal information. In addition, there are state and foreign laws restricting the ability to collect and utilize certain types of information such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers. 9 Unfair trade practice regulations We and our clients are subject to various federal and state laws prohibiting unfair or deceptive trade practices, such as Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Various regulatory agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state attorneys general, have authority to take action against parties that engage in unfair or deceptive trade practices or violate other laws, rules, and regulations, and to the extent we are processing payments for a client that may be in violation of laws, rules, and regulations, we may be subject to enforcement actions and incur losses and liabilities that may impact our business. Anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, sanctions, and counter-terrorist regulations We are subject to anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including certain sections of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. We are also subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”) and other laws, that prohibit the making or offering of improper payments to foreign government officials and political figures and includes anti-bribery provisions enforced by the Department of Justice and accounting provisions enforced by the SEC. The FCPA has a broad reach and requires maintenance of appropriate records and adequate internal controls to prevent and detect possible FCPA violations. Many other jurisdictions where we conduct business also have similar anticorruption laws and regulations. We have policies, procedures, systems, and controls designed to identify and address potentially impermissible transactions under such laws and regulations. We are also subject to certain economic and trade sanctions programs that are administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) which prohibit or restrict transactions to or from or dealings with specified countries, their governments, and in certain circumstances, their nationals, and with individuals and entities that are specially-designated nationals of those countries, narcotics traffickers, and terrorists or terrorist organizations. Other group entities may be subject to additional local sanctions requirements in other relevant jurisdictions. Securities Act Since the JOBS Act was passed, Crowdfunding, Regulation D offerings and Regulation A and A+ offerings rapidly became a familiar concept among investment firms, venture capitalists, real estate developers and small to medium sized businesses as a way to facilitate and democratize financing. We believe it has created, and continues to create, a profound shift in the world of investments. Below is a brief overview of the rules that permit the offer and sale of securities through such platforms. This overview is in no way intended to be a comprehensive review of all the rules and regulations associated with the above mentioned offerings and should not be relied upon by anyone. Regulation D under the Securities Act is the most common regulatory exemption used small businesses to raise capital through equity financing. It exempts private placement offerings under Rule 506(b) and 506(c) when sold to accredited investors, as defined under Rule 501 of Regulation D. Companies relying on the Rule 506 exemptions can raise an unlimited amount of money, so long as they comply with the rule’s requirements. Regulation A and Regulation A+ are more similar to a public offerings, and require filing Form 1-A with the SEC. Regulation A and Regulation A+ offer two tiers of offerings; the first tier is for offerings of up to $20 million within any 12 month period and the second tier is for offerings of up to $50 million, within any 12 month period. Regulation CF allows a company to raise up to $1.07 million from non-accredited investors. Intellectual property Our products and services utilize a combination of proprietary software and hardware that we own and license from third parties. Over the last few years, we have developed a payment gateway, merchant boarding system, E-commerce platform, recurring billings and a crowdfunding platform. We generally control access to and use of our proprietary software and other confidential information through the use of internal and external controls, including entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with both our employees and third parties. As of the date of this report, we have a patent pending on transferable QR codes on Omni Commerce devices. 10 Employees As of December 31, 2020, we had six key employees as part of our overall staff of 24 full-time employees. Our risk, compliance, underwriting and analyst’s accounting and customer service functions are located in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, we have operations in India where we retain 15 to 35 developers at any given time depending on our requirements and scope of projects. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We consider our relationship with our employees to be good. Corporate Information We were incorporated in the State of Delaware on November 18, 2004 for the purpose of merging with OLB.com, Inc., a New York corporation incorporated in 1993 (“OLB.com”). The merger was done for the purpose of changing our state of incorporation from New York to Delaware. In April 2018, we completed an acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Excel Corporation and its subsidiaries Payprotec Oregon, LLC, Excel Business Solutions, Inc. and eVance Processing, Inc. (such assets are the foundation of our eVance business). In connection with the Asset Acquisition, in May 2018, we entered into share exchange agreements with CrowdPay and OmniSoft, affiliate companies owned by Mr. Yakov and John Herzog, an affiliate of our company, pursuant to which each of CrowdPay and OmniSoft became wholly owned subsidiaries of our company. Our Company’s headquarters is located at 200 Park Avenue, Suite 1700, New York, NY 10166. Our telephone number is (212) 278-0900. Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company We qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined under the Securities Act. As a result, we are permitted to, and intend to, rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are otherwise applicable to public companies. These provisions include, but are not limited to: ● not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act); ● reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports, proxy statements and registration statements; and ● exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This provision allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of some accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this extended transition period. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: (i) our reporting $1.07 billion or more in annual gross revenues; (ii) the end of fiscal year 2024; (iii) our issuance, in a three year period, of more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt; and (iv) the end of the fiscal year in which the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeded $700 million on the last business day of our second fiscal quarter. 11