Straightforward Anti-Money Laundering compliance

Know Your Customer (KYC) checks are the process of verifying a customer’s identity, using documents like photographic ID, proof of date of birth and proof of address. These are necessary checks to ensure that your organisation is doing business with legitimate customers who are who they say they are. These checks can be used to aid in compliance with money laundering regulations.

AML compliance are more than just KYC checks. AML checks are an umbrella term for a range of regulatory processes which financial institutions and regulated organisations must have in place to prevent and combat financial crimes, especially money laundering and terrorism financing.

The level of checks that you choose to make will depend on the risk profile of your organisation but when undertaking KYC, you must identify the customer and verify their identity using reliable and independent sources. You must also run PEP and Sanction checks and, if a customer’s name matches, run Enhanced Due Diligence to assess the risk they pose.

PEP stands for Politically Exposed Person, which typically relates to an individual who holds a prominent public position or function. Sanction checks are specialised searches that identify individuals who are prohibited from certain activities or industries.

Screening PEPs and Sanctions lists for your potential customers is an important part of AML compliance and your company’s risk-based approach to customer onboarding.

Every regulated business should carry out regular KYC and AML checks to build a strong and robust fraud-prevention and anti-money laundering system, including:

• When establishing a new business relationship with a customer
• When you suspect money laundering or terrorist financing
• When you work with existing customers whose circumstances have changed
• As a high-value dealer, when you:
  • make a payment to a supplier worth €10,000 or more
  • carry out an ‘occasional transaction’ worth €10,000 or more

Thorough KYC and AML checks help regulated businesses protect against crime including money laundering, corruption and fraud. Failing to carry out the required checks can lead to penalties by the FCA, including fines or, in more serious cases, criminal prosecution., along with the risk of damage to your reputation.

At TrustID, we offer a straightforward, easy to use online AML check service. The first step is a robust check using our online AML  ID verification service which helps to quickly and reliably assess whether your customers’ documents are genuine and belong to the holder. You can then add PEPs and Sanction and address verification checks as well as face matching and liveness testing. Our online KYC/AML service is accessible from anywhere, 7-days a week and offers a unique combination of human expertise and AI to protect your regulated business from fraud and money laundering.

The lines between eKYC and KYC checks are blurred as we move to an increasingly online world. However, the major distinction is the use of physical proof when checking identity. With KYC checks, the first step is often verifying a government-issued document either face-to-face or remotely. Only once you have confirmed your customer’s identity do you then use that verified identity to further checks, such as PEP & Sanctions and address verification. Conversely, eKYC services rely simply on entering the name, address and date of birth given by a customer, with this information then used as the basis of additional checks against address lists or digital counter fraud sources.