The Importance of Choosing the Right KYC Vendor: Safeguarding Your Business in the Digital Age
Are you set up for success when it comes to KYC compliance and anti-AML practices? As of Q2 of 2023, an estimated 5.18 billion users have adopted online practices (source). With this rapid rise in digital adaptation comes an increased focus on identifying and rectifying the potential risks associated with illicit activities like fraud, money laundering, terrorist funding, and more. As regulatory boards pivot to avoid the costs and human suffering associated with scams and other fraudulent activity, one message becomes increasingly more clear year after year: Know Your Customer (KYC) safeguards are essential to crime prevention moving forward. Choosing the right software to back your procedures is crucial for compliance and reduces your exposure to risks that could leave you facing heavy fines and legal repercussions.
Below, we’ll take a closer look at of the importance of having streamlined KYC, CDD and AML protocols implemented, as well as the benefits of using a proven software platform like iComplyKYC. Read on to earn more!
What Are the Core Objectives of KYC Protocols
The core, KYC protocols are designed to eliminate ambiguity and risk associated with doing business with unknown persons and entities. KYC processes and software must work to establish a secure and trustworthy environment for businesses and institutions to engage with, and must focus on the following:
– Verifying the identity of customers and/or prospective partners
- Evaluating and assessing the risk associated with known activities and associations of a prospective partner, as well as any ties to illicit activities (money laundering, fraud, terrorist funding, etc.).
- Creating accurate risk profiles based on the above information in a manner that is thoroughly documented, and able to be accessed as needed.
- Enabling routine re-assessment and maintenance of profiles in response to new information and/or for periodic safekeeping in accordance with compliance legislation.
Software that allows businesses to identify and evaluate crucial information about unknown entities accurately helps to mitigate overall risk exposure and empowers your team to establish strong relationships with the right parties. This approach not only helps you avoid headaches but also ensures regulatory compliance and lays a solid foundation for all parties involved to thrive.
What to Ask Prospective Software Providers
In order to choose the right software provider for your KYC needs, businesses should consider the following:
How Comprehensive is the ID verification process?
ID verification is the backbone that allows more advanced measures of due diligence (and enhanced due diligence) to take place when necessary. Your software platform should be able to pull from multiple, highly vetted data sources and utilize multiple approaches to provide accurate results. iComplyKYC, for example, uses highly reliable, ethically sourced data sources that are among the most trusted in the world and implements real-time verification methods, including natural language processing, to ensure highly accurate results you can trust.
What Compliance Measures are in Place?
Your chosen software must keep your operations compliant with all regional and global mandates and should be able to adapt to evolving legislation without disrupting processes (where possible). iComplyKYC is compatible with KYC mandates across 250 global jurisdictions and is designed to seamlessly integrate with your existing protocols to minimize headaches and maximize efficiency.
Are Your Solutions Scalable?
As with above, your software needs to be able to pivot in alignment with evolving mandates, but it also needs to be able to scale with your business as you grow and face different client demands. KYC ideology is meant to be a short and long-term preventive measure, and thus companies need to plan around their future goals as much as they incorporate future projections and known risks as they are uncovered by regulatory boards and enforcing agencies.
Meet iComplyKYC
iComplyKYC understands the unique needs and challenges of identity verification, as well as the difficulties faced by businesses trying to stay compliant. We believe in creating trust in every transaction and have developed a modular suite of KYC software that allows you to focus on the core operations of your business while reducing the cost of ID verification and KYC protocols by up to 80%.
As one of the most versatile, efficient, and dependable solutions available, iComply is the leading choice for KYC software and electronic identity verification in the US, Canada, and the UK.
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Matthias Kucharska-Huelsmann, Systems Architect
Matthias is an entrepreneurial business strategist with over 10 years of consulting and project management experience and joins iComply as Systems Architect. He has worked with blue chip companies around the world and has a proven track record of successful project...
Matt Masiar, CTO
Matt is a seasoned technical leader that is passionate about building dynamic teams and innovative products. He previously served as Web Team Lead at Plenty of Fish Media, where he was responsible for a number of large-scale technical initiatives. Matt led a team of...
Matthew Unger, CEO
Matthew found early success in his career, becoming one of the youngest executive financial advisors in Investors Group Financial Services’ history at the age of 22. Featured in Canada’s leading financial industry publication Investment Executive, Matthew experienced...