Some information about KYC
What does KYC mean?
When you are opening a new account at a bank or a payment institution, you might learn about something called KYB.
KYB stands for Know Your Business. It is a regulatory and legal requirement for banks and other related institutions to identify and verify the identity of their clients.
The term can then also be used by customers to denote their own similar processes Know Your Customer (KYC). Banks undertake such processes to comply with various regulations such as the anti-money laundering (AML) regulation or the regulation on countering the financing of terrorism (CFT).
At Spendesk, we use the term KYC as the “C” stands for “customer” no matter if it is a legal or a natural person.
Why is it necessary?
KYC is a way to prevent banks from becoming involved with criminal or terrorist activity and thus helps them remain compliant with mandatory international rules.
In Europe, KYC is a regulatory obligation for Payment Institutions, as set in the May 20, 2015's European Directive 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on the prevention of the use of the financial system for money laundering or terrorist financing purposes.
How does it work?
Banks accomplish their KYC requirements by verifying various information and by obtaining certain documents from reliable sources.
These documents include, but are not restricted to, the company business registration and ID of the ultimate beneficial owners (UBO's), meaning shareholders owning 25% or more of shares in the company.
Does the process end once my company has been properly identified?
The process does not end with the identification of the company, it goes beyond this. Indeed, the bank or institution is entitled to continuously observe the activities of the correspondant entity to ensure that they meet a certain risk profile and a certain set of expectations.
How does it help companies?
👉🏻 The ultimate goal is to identify and investigate any suspicious activity.
In addition to protecting the banks or institutions from being exploited or inadvertently used for criminal or terrorist activities, the KYC process also protects the clients as it helps to avoid undesirable incidents such as identity theft and fraud on their accounts.
For more information and to prepare your KYC review, go to :