Know Your Business (KYB) is a process used to verify the ownership of a company and the legitimacy of its business activities before entering into a business relationship. It supports Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance and prevents fraud by verifying partner, supplier and vendor identities before engaging in transactions.
How to automate and accelerate KYB checks
Know your business (KYB) is evolving fast but many companies still rely on a fragmented patchwork of point solutions, or in-house system development, to build a KYB process and complete KYB checks. The result is often a slower, more expensive process, more demands placed on compliance teams and missed opportunities.
In this blog, we outline the six essential steps to any know your business process, examine the pitfalls of point solutions and in-house systems and explore why an all-in-one KYB platform is the best solution.
What are the six essential steps to know your business?
For all regulated industries, the aim of KYB is the same: to verify a business, assess any risks and make informed business onboarding decisions. However, the way companies approach the KYB process varies significantly.
Some businesses view KYB checks as one-and-done compliance, gathering basic information and ticking a box. Others take a more rigorous approach, incorporating deep verification, screening, and ongoing monitoring.
In our view, there are six essential steps to the know your business process.
An end-to-end KYB process
1. Information gathering
Initial information gathering includes the company name, registration number and country where the business is registered to begin the discovery process.
2. Business verification
Preliminary business verification checks to validate the company’s business registration, operational status and financial health.
3. UBO and director discovery
The company’s managing directors must be identified as well as the ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) who hold controlling interest in the company.
4. Identity verification and screening
These identities are verified and the business and individuals are screened for sanctions, adverse media references and any Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
5. Risk assessment
The results of the checks and screening are run through a risk assessment, further checks carried out if required and the business application approved or rejected.
6. Ongoing monitoring
After successful business onboarding, the company is continuously tracked for any changes in business ownership, status, or regulatory risks.
Can we combine point solutions into a KYB process?
Some businesses layer discrete KYB point solutions to complete each step of the KYB process, using the best-in-class solution provider at each step.
While combined point solutions can each play a part in a complete KYB process, this patchwork approach can create problems and inefficiencies.
Hidden integration costs
Each point solution requires integration and maintenance and can lead to a cycle of manual fixes and workarounds. With every new solution added businesses face
- multiple SLAs and support teams
- mismatched product roadmaps
- system compatibility troubleshooting
- higher operational overheads
- increased development costs
Fractured user experience
Business onboarding journeys that move between multiple systems create friction for customers and compliance teams. Customers must navigate different portals and formats and compliance teams are forced to work across multiple platforms.
KYB data silos and inconsistent reporting
With disconnected systems, data gets trapped in different tools making it difficult for compliance teams to establish a single source of truth and leads to
- gaps in business profiles and risk assessments
- relying on spreadsheets and email threads
- increased manual work
- slower business onboarding times
KYB processes combining point solutions can lead to inefficiencies, compliance gaps, failing to detect high-risk businesses and missing customer opportunities.
Is your KYB process a business blocker or accelerator?
GBG Detected delivers end-to-end business onboarding, bringing together data and teams and automating discovery, screening, risk assessment and monitoring. Watch how GBG Detected co-pilots everyone through an accelerated know your business process to land a new customer in days, not weeks.
Should we build a KYB platform in-house?
Many businesses seeking a KYB solution will have the ‘build vs buy’ debate. Before going down the DIY route however, it’s essential to consider the challenges, costs and complexities compared to adopting an off-the-shelf KYB platform.
Ongoing development costs
Building a KYB solution isn’t a one-time investment. KYB compliance requirements are constantly shifting around the world. This means your company’s KYB platform must keep up, committing you to ongoing development resources and costs.
Reliance on data providers
If you create a proprietary KYB solution, it will likely rely on third-party data providers, whereas off-the-shelf platforms will have this data integrated. Going it alone can leave your business locked into data vendor relationships, manually linking to data sources and creating even more complexity.
Delayed time to market
An in-house KYB platform can take years to develop, during which time risks and compliance requirements continue to evolve.
For the vast majority of businesses, buying a platform which can be deployed faster and more efficiently is the smarter choice enabling teams to focus on growth.
What are the benefits of an integrated KYB platform?
While KYB point solutions or in-house platform development may appear cheaper, the long-term costs of integration, vendor management and inefficiencies can quickly add up. An all-in-one platform eliminates these hidden costs.
Single source of truth
An integrated KYB platform brings together every aspect of business verification – data, workflow and risk assessment – into a single, connected system, eliminating silos and ensuring a clear audit trail.
Faster business onboarding
By orchestrating data, workflow and decisions, integrated platforms speed up the KYB process, onboarding customers faster while maintaining full compliance.
Automated compliance
Rather than coordinating multiple point solutions, an all-in-one platform automates your business response to regulatory changes and adapts to new risk factors.
Global scalability
Your business can easily move into new markets and comply with local regulations without constantly switching solutions or re-engineering your KYB platform.
By bringing together data and teams and automating discovery, screening and monitoring in an end-to-end KYB process, GBG Detected reduces business onboarding time by up to 60%.
GBG Detected automates KYB checks
For businesses looking to move beyond KYB blockers, fragmented point solutions and manual processes, GBG Detected provides an integrated KYB platform designed to automate compliance at business onboarding and reduce risk exposure.
By bringing together data and teams and automating discovery, screening and monitoring in an end-to-end KYB process, GBG Detected reduces business onboarding time by up to 60%.
GBG Detected accelerates those six essential steps to know your business:
1. Business sign-up
Sign-up on the GBG Detected customer portal is branded as your own business customer onboarding experience. Journeys are configured to help your team manage risk and complete KYB compliance in the markets where you operate.
2. Business verification
Business entities are automatically validated with instant access to 600m+ company records and ownership registries worldwide, delivering constantly updated intelligence on company registration, financial health, and operational status.
3. UBO and director discovery
GBG Detected then identifies the business’ UBOs and directors with access to 200 beneficial ownership registries, prompting the business to disclose UBO details in locations where government data is not available.
4. Identity verification and screening
Screening of businesses, UBOs and directors against 2500 trusted global datasets for PEPs, sanctions and adverse media is automated. GBG Detected secures ID authentication and biometric verification in 195 countries to complete due diligence.
5. Case management
GBG Detected’s compliance platform workflow helps teams collaborate, reviewing businesses or individuals without switching between systems. It assigns a risk score and delivers an audit-ready report to help you make informed approval decisions.
6. Ongoing monitoring
After business onboarding, KYB compliance continues as in-life business relationships are continuously tracked for changes in risk status with real-time risk updates via GBG Detected’s compliance platform or your business’ CRM system.
Get a GBG Detected demo
Instead of managing a patchwork of KYB point solutions or third-party data providers, accelerate KYB checks with an integrated KYB platform. GBG Detected brings integration to fragmentation and replaces manual effort with automation, so you can onboard customers faster, meet global regulations and scale with confidence.
What is Know Your Business?
What are KYB checks?
KYB checks are the steps required to complete a KYB business verification process. KYB checks involve collecting and verifying information about a business, its structure and ownership. Checks should include screening for sanctions and adverse media as well as verifying the identity of key personnel and extended due diligence on any politically exposed persons (PEPs).
