It is safe to say the Regtech market loves an acronym, so it’s over to me to enlighten you on their meanings. Know Your Customer, otherwise known as KYC, is a tool that more and more businesses are adopting to ensure the ease of their customer onboarding, and the accuracy of who the people are that are being onboarded. Within sectors such as financial services, gaming and cryptocurrency, there is an increasing need for Know Your Customer.
A Know Your Customer (KYC) check is an essential element of onboarding new customers for regulated businesses in a large variety of industries.
What Is Know Your Customer Used For?
Know Your Customer (KYC) within the onboarding journey, it is a lot more important than just a ‘nice to have’. Customer Due Diligence is a legal requirement and means taking steps to identify your customers and confirm they are who they say they are, usually by matching their details with 2 independent data sources often referred to as 2+2. In the modern, global world that we live in, performing KYC checks and ‘Knowing Your Customer’ is now a vital requirement for Fraud Prevention and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).
Know Your Customer Documents
Although it differs by jurisdiction, know your customer documents are used as supporting evidence during a KYC check to further strengthen the compliance process. KYC documents tend to be government-issued ID as proof of identity. Many businesses now require two form of photographic ID, including: passport, driving license, social security cars, birth certificate. In addition to the identification, a KYC check will also include address verification to ensure that the identification matches with the provided address, and that the address is real. To perform an address lookup check, individuals may have to present a document such as a utility bill for additional proof.
Through a simple to use portal, W2 enable clients to perform comprehensive checks on individuals in real-time, meaning that as soon as the check is requested, the data is automatically sourced and presented to the business through our award-winning single, streamlined API. W2 provides actionable data before you choose to welcome new customers aboard, resulting in your business being fully confident in satisfying regulatory requirements and obtaining a full knowledge on who your business decides to onboard.
If you, or your business would like to know more about Know Your Customer (KYC) or any W2 services, contact us..
