Skip to main content
KYB

Know Your Business

Investigate. Onboard. Monitor.

Learn More

What you need to know about Know Your Business (KYB) compliance.

What is the meaning of Know Your Business (KYB)?

The meaning of Know Your Business (KYB) refers to the due diligence process that businesses undertake to verify and understand the identities and backgrounds of their corporate customers. KYB focuses on gathering information about a company’s legal structure, ownership, beneficial owners, and other relevant details to assess the associated risks and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. KYB checks are always required upon onboarding new corporate customers and then at intervals based on companies’ specific anti-money laundering and risk policies.

How does Know Your Business (KYB) differ from Know Your Customer (KYC)?

The Know Your Business (KYB) process differs from Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures in that KYC primarily focuses on verifying the identity of individual customers, while KYB concentrates on investigating the business entities which a regulated company conducts transactions with. While KYC usually involves the collection and verification of official ID documents, proofs of address and other personal data, KYB involves assessing the business’s structure, ownership, and other factors to evaluate potential risks and comply with AML regulations specific to business entities.

What information is typically required for KYB verification?

Typical information required for KYB verification includes details about a company’s legal structure, such as its registration documents, articles of incorporation, ownership and shareholding structure, and beneficial owners. Additionally, financial information, business licenses, and operational history may be requested. The exact information needed may vary depending on regulatory requirements and the nature of the business relationship.

What are the sources of information used for KYB checks?

KYB checks rely on multiple sources of information, the primary one being official government registers in the country the business is registered in. Compliance teams might integrate their KYB checks with additional sources such as business directories, commercial databases, and public records. Financial statements, annual reports, and other relevant documents, whose digital copies are often available in the relevant company registry, may also be reviewed.

What regulations or laws mandate KYB checks?

Various regulations and laws mandate KYB checks to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, and other financial crimes. These regulations may include Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regulations, as well as sector-specific compliance requirements. Examples of such regulations include the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Directives (AMLD4, 5 and 6), the Corruption, Drug Trafficking, and Other Serious Crimes Act 1992 (CDSA) in Singapore, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO) in Hong Kong and the USA PATRIOT Act in the United States. Most of these regulations stem from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Forty Recommendations, first released in 1990 and then updated over time to set a global standard for combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

Which industries or sectors require KYB compliance?

KYB compliance is typically required across a range of industries and sectors, especially those with higher inherent risks of money laundering or financial crime. This includes financial institutions such as banks, payment processors, and insurance companies. Additionally, sectors such as real estate, legal and accounting services, gaming, and virtual currency exchanges often have obligations to perform KYB checks. The specific requirements may vary based on local regulations and the perceived risks associated with the industry.

The benefits of digital KYB verification

By leveraging RegTech automation and implementing Digital KYB verification, companies of all sizes can streamline customer onboarding, strengthen compliance controls and improve the overall user experience of their business customers.

Our new centralised onboarding platform provides a streamlined KYB experience to our range of domestic and international clients, while simplifying backend processes for our internal stakeholders and compliance team members.

Jan SojkaHead of Digital Excellence Center at Hamburg Commercial Bank

How to digitise KYB verification with Know Your Customer

1

Create a business client profile

Kickstart your KYB journey by instantly creating a client profile on our system, either manually or triggered by an API call.
2

Connect to official company registries in real-time

Leverage the widest coverage of real-time connections to official company registries in the industry via one easy-to-use interface or a single API.
3

Review key company details from official sources

Official company documents and AI-extracted company and shareholder details are made available within the platform in a matter of seconds.
4

Automate UBO mapping across borders

Review the unravelling of complex company structures and Ultimate Beneficial Owners across borders, safe in the knowledge that this process is based exclusively on official registry data.
5

Perform name screening

Conduct thorough name screening against global watchlists and PEPs and sanctions databases to identify potential risks associated with the company or its beneficial owners.
6

Access automatically generated KYB reports

Generate comprehensive and standardised KYB reports automatically consolidating all verified information, ownership structures, and compliance checks.
7

Perform on-going monitoring and remediation

Continuously monitor corporate customers for any changes or updates to their company information, beneficial ownership, or potential risks, allowing timely remediation.
Spotlight on Features

Delight Users, Strengthen Compliance.

By acquiring official incorporation documents directly from the company registry, our solution reduces the time needed for corporate client onboarding by up to 86%, minimising customer friction and accelerating access to revenue

Our technology utilises information extracted from official filing documents to identify corporate entities’ Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) and build complex company structure charts in a matter of seconds.

As our system identifies a new corporate entity or an individual as part of a KYB case, it automatically screens them for any AML activity, continuously monitoring their status and instantly flagging any changes in their situation.

By centralising all customer onboarding activities for both individual and corporate clients, Know Your Customer is able to automatically identify relevant links between existing cases and instantly detect potential duplicates to prevent unnecessary repetitions or data pollution.

Our solution runs on an API-based infrastructure for fast implementation and seamless integration. We also provide an easy-to-use batch upload portal which empowers compliance teams to instantly and securely import long back logs into the Know Your Customer’s platform.

Our Immutable Audit Trail contains all the details and steps of any KYB & KYC case, from inception to close. Actions and events are stored in a concise, immutable record which can be easily consulted by team members and retains documentary evidence for auditors.

Get in touch

We would love to show you what Know Your Customer can do for your business.
Please contact us to get a live demo of our best-in-class Digital KYB solutions.

Request a demo