Category: KYC & KYB

Welcome to our meticulously curated KYC/KYB category, a comprehensive repository dedicated entirely to the multifaceted dimensions of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB). As we stride deeper into the digital era, the procedures around KYC/KYB have emerged as a fundamental pillar, ensuring secure and compliant operations within the financial landscape.

The articles housed in this category plunge into the complexities of KYC/KYB, discussing its inherent challenges, potential solutions, and its indispensable role in the realm of identity verification. Our articles traverse a wide array of topics, ranging from the application of artificial intelligence in customer due diligence processes to the impact of regulatory shifts on KYC methodologies. These writings cover a broad spectrum of subjects, offering relevance to businesses and professionals operating within the financial industry.

As a leading industry player in the domain of digital identity verification, Signzy stands at the helm of innovation in KYC/KYB. Our cutting-edge solutions are engineered to simplify KYC, making these procedures faster, more efficient, and notably secure.

Regardless of whether you’re a compliance officer diligently maintaining regulatory standards, a fintech entrepreneur navigating the challenging waters of the financial industry, or simply an individual interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the evolving world of KYC/KYB, our category offers a treasure trove of information and insights.

We invite you to join us on this journey of exploration as we dive into the future of KYC in the rapidly evolving digital age. Our articles aim to enlighten, inform, and provide a well-rounded perspective on the significant role that KYC processes play in today’s digital financial landscape. Welcome to a world where knowledge becomes power, and compliance becomes simplified.

Overcome Challenges and Implement Best Practices in Customer Onboarding

Posted on | by Signzian

Efficient and robust customer onboarding banking processes are a vital part of any bank’s compliance checks. Having an easy-to-use and seamless onboarding process allows financial institutions such as banks and NBFCs to keep up with the changing economic landscape. In addition, It leads to a solid ROI and creates a more enjoyable experience for the end customer. 

Customers like to see digital experiences across critical services, especially in the finance industry. In the banking and financial services industry, customers now expect digital experiences across critical services. This is especially significant for client onboarding banking, which is the complete process through which an individual begin theirer journey as a customer or client of a bank or financial institution.

Learn about customer onboarding in the banking sector 

Customer onboarding in banking refers to the steps taken by a bank to welcome a new business customer. To comply with KYC standards, this usually entails acquiring important information about the customer and conducting identity checks.

In banking and financial institutions, customer onboarding necessitates proactive communication and participation from several departments within the bank, including credit, operations, compliance, legal, front office, risk, and tax.

According to Forrester’s study, institutions with partial solutions with basic workflows require two to twelve weeks to enroll new clients. New technology has been introduced by many banks in the last few years to create greater efficiency and a better customer experience.

Key challenges in customer onboarding

An inefficient customer onboarding in the banking and financial services sector is resulting in hefty losses in terms of converting engaged customers. Between 2009 and mid-2016, banks were fined more than $200 billion for anti-money laundering violations, which had serious consequences for their onboarding operations. To combat this, banks have begun to tighten their Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and onboarding processes, resulting in a significant increase in onboarding costs. This has harmed the client acquisition process, generating unnecessary delays and long time-to-cash cycles, producing friction in a business customer’s day-to-day operations, and resulting in a significant loss of revenue.

In the rush to optimise their client onboarding banking journey to the point where it is an asset in the struggle to attract new customers and expand market share, banks and financial institutions are falling short. A recent report by HooYu found that:

  • 86% of fintech intend to focus on the effectiveness of customer onboarding while only 43% would like to focus on driving further traffic to the top of the customer onboarding funnel with PPC advertising
  • Modern fintech companies are placing an increased emphasis on integrating onboarding technology providers and A/B testing compared to traditional financial services firms.
  • The single biggest customer onboarding drop-out comes when customers are asked to produce ID documentation. 50% of fintech believe this to be the area of significant customer abandonment.

Here are some of the primary difficulties that banks and their commercial customers experience as a result of the old onboarding process’ inefficiencies:

Customer Challenges

  • Complicated and time-consuming application process without adequate guidance and/or assistance.
  • Restricted communication and lack of transparency in the application process resulting in trust issues.
  • Wastage of time due to abrupt requests for documentation and duplicate/incomplete data entry in the paper-based process.
  • Excessive turn-around-time in customer onboarding impacting business transactions and cash flow.
  • Lack of personalization and proper assessment of the customer’s needs while guiding them through the products and services prompting them to switch banks.

 Bank Challenges

  • Fast evolving regulatory requirements and stringent laws are resulting in complex customer onboarding in banking.
  • Inability to manage customer expectations across digital touchpoints during their various stages of the buying journey.
  • Longer onboarding time leads to lost cross-sell/up-sell opportunities with customers during their initial engagement period when their propensity to sign-up for additional services is high.
  • Missing single-view of the customer information impedes using existing customer data efficiently and any meaningful data analytics to give any conclusive customer insights.
  • Managing frustration due to delays, convoluted processes, and bureaucracy impacts the sales operations, which leads to up to 3/4th of customer onboarding requests not being able to reach fulfillment i.e. final stage of account opening.

Best practices for customer onboarding in banking

An Intuitive Mobile-First Solution

Customers are used to interacting with their phones and are disappointed when they don’t like the initial banking experiences. Almost half of the bank account applicants have abandoned the first few days of application for a bank account. The culprit is paperwork-laden processes that drive consumers to seek out digital-first alternatives.

Even though it is not as large a screen for a smartphone, the application experience should be enjoyable. Favorable mobile application experience limit the number of fields that are displayed on each page. Applications should be as easy to complete on mobile as on a desktop.

A customer can start and finish their banking experience with a simple text message on their mobile phone. Clicking on a link in the message will take the customer to a secured portal where they can do everything from interacting and completing steps to uploading supporting documents and identification.

When applying for a bank account, over half of clients claim they skipped the onboarding process. Cutting-edge banking technology allows customers to begin and finish their transactions with a simple text message from their mobile phone.

Eliminating Paperwork

Flexibility can be offered for how agreement details, legalese, and lengthy terms are presented and reviewed by consumers with the use of digital contract technologies. For example, It’s possible to present TILA disclosure tables in a variety of mobile-friendly formats, with the help of mobile-friendly document generation tools. If the only solution you can come up with is a static PDF that requires a microscope to read on mobile devices, then it should be done differently.

The new solutions enable banks to get legally binding customer consent from wherever they are. The customer can access and sign a secured document by clicking on the link in a text message. Banks can save money and time with the easy process because it eliminates cycle time and compliance exposure. The completion rates for customers are much higher when they use the smart eForms. It’s easy to complete eForms that are mobile-friendly, simplified in their presentation, and leverage autofill and CRM-prefill. Service reps can assist with the customer while also viewing the same form at the same time.

Without missing anything, the smart eForms ensure that the process is complete in a fast and accurate manner. Then eForms can be submitted from any device. In addition to this, terms and conditions can be presented in a format that is more user-friendly instead of having a service rep read them from a script.

Digital KYC

The benefits of digitising the ID collection process are several, the most important of which is that it lowers fraud. Financial associates aren’t always trained to recognise false or invalid identification cards. Financial organisations can confirm that IDs are authentic and relieve their workers of this strain by automating the ID validation process. Furthermore, digital ID collection eliminates the need to scan and file paper copies of identification. Instead, the information can be stored digitally in a more secure and accessible location. Digital ID collecting improves the experience for clients who sign up at a brick and mortar branch or in a remote scenario because it can be done without anyone leaving their seat.

A consumer can use a mobile phone to capture and send photos of their face and driver’s licence for approval with advanced ID verification and authentication systems that include completely automated KYC. Onboarding time is decreased, fraud risk is lowered, and even the most stringent ID and verification requirements are met promptly.

Automation and Real-Time Support

A digital customer onboarding banking process enables data to be pulled from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems like Salesforce or custom-built solutions to automatically populate contracts for additional services to expand the relationship. For customers, having contract fields already filled in is the ideal experience; it saves time and demonstrates the value of existing banking relationships. For banks, not only do completion rates improve, but re-keyed data errors are also reduced. This enables you to walk the customer through the process step by step, adapt to their needs and risk profiles, and skip questions based on past responses.

When the questioning is finished, the system can use the responses to build a signature-ready agreement for the customer. It’s a streamlined, mobile-friendly way for customers to navigate a difficult application procedure. For banks, it’s a method to boost completion rates, cut support expenses, and lower Not-In-Good-Order (NIGO) rates, all of which minimise the cost and time it takes for manual review and remediation.

Benefits of improving customer onboarding in banking

Consistency: Consistent design and a cohesive domain experience show customers that the application is being offered by someone that they know and can trust. While sharing personal and financial information during the customer onboarding banking process, they should feel secure and confident.

Ease of use: An intuitive application experience makes it easy for the customers to navigate or fill in their details. Seamless applications that allow customers to start and stop the process across platforms to further enhance the overall experience. (e.g. If they start filling out the application on a phone and finish it on a laptop, that’s how it will go.)

Clarity: The ability to connect with someone if the customer needs help is a hallmark of the best customer experiences. At the same time, the communication language used is clear and easy to understand, including error message explanations.

Efficiency: Customers can save time and avoid having to submit documents like account statements by connecting other accounts and pre-filling form blanks. These technologies improve efficiency and speed up the application process by removing needless manual labour.

Redefining customer experience & Future of customer onboarding

For the third year in a row, digital account opening (DAO) is the most popular banking technology. In 2020, almost 80% of all financial institutions will have introduced new DAO systems or modified current ones. – Forbes

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, banks and financial institutions have started realizing the potential of digitization in the customer onboarding banking process. Digital identity solutions enable customers to safely access banking services and help banks offer customer-driven, mobile, and secured services. To provide a hassle-free UX while avoiding identity fraud, FIs need to focus on the following critical areas in their digital services.:

  • Provision of strong identity verification technologies and mechanisms
  • Provision of robust biometric verification
  • Provision of additional verification services for scoring, reputation, and risk management
  • Provision of a frictionless digital user experience for apps and services
  • Ensure that state-of-the-art security checks are performed in accordance with regulations.

When it comes to providing banking services, the better the customer service, the more customers will be willing to start a relationship with the financial institution. Emerging technologies being tested for client onboarding banking have a lot of promise in terms of speeding up the process, reducing duplicate data entry, and improving risk and compliance scoring accuracy.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com.

Written By:

Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

Onboarding

Optimized Digital Onboarding- An Essential Tool For Sales Boost

Posted on | by Signzian

Customer Onboarding is a crucial aspect of business development. But what executives miss out on is the fact that it can help their salesforce as well. 89% of customers reported that they would pay more for companies with better customer onboarding processes, according to a recent study by Forrester Research. 

Highly engaged customers buy 86% more than unengaged customers. Onboarding is an effective way to attract user interest. Efficient customer onboarding paves ways to develop a loyal customer base. Innovative institutions find methods to improve their existing systems. This article takes a look at how Digital Onboarding affects customer engagement and how we can use it to drive sales.

Customer Onboarding and its effect on Sales

New customers need a stepwise process to guide them to set up and use your product or service. Customer onboarding resolves this need. It takes the customer from the initial sign-up to activation of the product and use. This helps in delivering value as early as possible to the customer. Good customer onboarding ensures setting the TAT(turn around time) to a minimum while covering all the important information useful for the customer.

As each enterprise has different modes of processing, there are different types of customer onboarding. They are the following:

  • On-Site Customer Onboarding is the traditional form of onboarding. The customer approaches a physical store,office, or branch with proof of identity and other documents. The process primarily involves physical entities with a high TAT. A study from HubSpot cites 63% of customers finding this type of onboarding very inconvenient.
  • Hybrid Customer Onboarding uses the digital documents companies offer to the customers. These forms are filled in online and then submitted physically to the concerned office or branch. Even though an improvement upon the traditional method of onboarding, it is still far from deeming a convenience for customers.
  • Digital Onboarding of the customers is a completely digitized process. Customers do not need to visit an office or branch. They can complete the process online from any place of their choice. This does not compromise the safety, guarantee, or credibility. The process is also called Online Onboarding or Remote Onboarding.

Sales are influenced by numerous factors, but the onboarding process profoundly affects sales. What most salesforces miss out on is that closing a sale does not necessarily guarantee a completed onboarding process. It certainly does not guarantee the retention of the customer. The processes and services like customer onboarding following a closed sale are equivalently relevant.

A convenient, swift, and reliable customer onboarding process provides the customer with a delightful experience. It increases the chances of further business and retention. If the customer onboarding ensures all important data points are covered for the customer, later processes can retrieve saved information making them faster and easier to navigate.

In essence, customer onboarding helps improve the quality of obtained customers. It builds trust and preference among the customers. With almost all institutions digitizing their onboarding processes, the competition to improve customer onboarding is cutthroat. Improving even the slightest details in the onboarding process brings forth beneficial outcomes.

Challenges of Digital Onboarding

With the advancements in technology, it is clear that digital onboarding trumps conventional modes of onboarding. It is faster and more secure than its predecessor processes. Yet even digital onboarding has challenges to address and resolve. Some of them include:

  • The transition from physical to digital platforms
  • Minimizing friction in the process
  • Changes in Regulations
  • Avoiding technological stagnation
  • Data Management

Newer customers from older generations find it difficult to understand and process digital onboarding. The transition from physical onboarding to remote and online onboarding is difficult for individuals unfamiliar with newer technology. This demands attention from the onboarding platform.

In the age of information, most people will not wait for delays in processes. If the customers face friction in the onboarding process, they might abandon the journey. Drop-off rates can be as high as 75% during onboarding. It might even end up in customers opting for services from other providers. A churn rate of 5% is expected usually. As much automated as the process may be, there is always a chance of a need for manual intervention. The platform must keep this intervention to a minimum. These hurdles need resolution in the digital onboarding process.

The advancing technology demands that the installed process be updated. We can not expect to install an onboarding process and let it be. It requires constant updates and additional plug-ins to improve. This coupled with the frequent changes in regulatory guidelines ensures that we must avoid technological stagnation.

Many institutions incorporate KYC and AML processes into the journey. This makes it easier for the customer as the whole process will cover multiple requirements. The data is obtained more readily. The obtained data should be stored with high-security measures. This is to avoid all forms of fraud and scams.

Optimized Digital Onboarding- The Boon to Boost Quality Sales

Having a digital onboarding solution is not enough in the prevalent competitive ecosystems. Institutions need to up their games by giving customers the most seamless and fast onboarding journey possible. This is not possible without taking into account the areas of improvement a generic digital onboarding solution has.

Onboarding is not a hurdle for the business, but rather a kit of tools to improve the number of quality sales. If optimized aptly, digital onboarding will increase customer retention and in the long run, overall sales. This is possible only if certain factors are addressed and utilized. They include:

  • TAT- Turn Around Time
  • Processing Friction
  • Regulation Compliance
  • Automation Quality
  • Technological Adaptability
  • Security and Risk Management

A reduced TAT and swift processing encourage customers to begin the onboarding journey. It decreases the activation energy for them. Indeed, what once used to take days or weeks to complete with manual intervention is now done in hours or minutes with digital onboarding. But, even this is further reduced with optimization. Schmick APIs and resources do not just look good but do this. TAT is reduced with better user experience initiatives and quality technology.

User experience and interface design have advanced to an immense degree. This makes the processing friction during the onboarding journey minimal. Unnecessary and cumbersome steps in the process are eliminated without compromising any compliance guidelines. All regulatory compliance measures are updated and integrated into the system. Frequent changes in guidelines are not a problem.

Quality automation and adaptable technology ensure no unprecedented roadblocks. Good technology is good when it goes uninterrupted. With newer machine learning(ML) methods and artificial intelligence(AI), decision-making and rule engines are advanced. They help prioritize necessities and eliminate unnecessary steps.

To prevent fraudulent activities, efficient safety measures are installed. Security becomes a prime concern when the risk is high. Thus, good onboarding resources implement proper risk analysis and management. As all this will be monitored by authorities, compliance is most certainly uncompromised.

These factors drive the customer to establish a healthy and dependable relationship with the enterprise. It helps in customer retention and even newer customer acquisition. Sales increase in numbers when the effort to be invested is minimal. 86% of customers prefer a good onboarding experience over a detailed education on services after they have bought it. 63% of customers demand quality support post-sale and during onboarding. It is the reason they would even consider making the decision. It is also interesting to note that it costs between 5 to 2 times more to acquire a new customer when compared to retaining one.

Hence, a good sale does depend on what comes after. The cretaceous strategies of sales are behind. Customers are aware and demand good products and services with efficient support. A good customer onboarding process not only makes the customer feel good but independent. 

Benefits of Optimized Digital Onboarding

Some of the major benefits of Optimized Digital Onboarding include:

  • Reduced TAT- Processing time is considerably reduced
  • Minimal Processing Friction- With an emphasis on details, processing friction is minimized by eliminating unnecessary steps and procedures.
  • Improved Regulation Compliance- frequently changing regulatory guidelines are no longer a concern. Technology-based compliance is also updated and effective.
  • Quality Automation – State-of-the-art AI with efficient digitization helps improve the overall process.
  • Adapting Technology- All backend features are updated regularly to not fall behind in progress.
  • Fortified Data Security- Customer data is highly secure with quality safety protocols and data management. Sufficient focus is given for fortification.
  • Risk Management- All customer-based risk is managed with priority categorization.

How Can Signzy Help?

It is only sensible to conclude that mere digital onboarding is insufficient to meet today’s customer demands. More optimized processing breeds better sales results and overall experience. But then the major question follows, how do we select the right service provider for Digital onboarding and other processing that can help your business?

We at Signzy, can certainly help you improve your business. Being one of the pioneers in financial and regulatory technologies, Signzy provides you with resources that make processes easier. Our Digital Onboarding solution stays ahead of the curve with prime technology while maintaining a focus on sales boosts too. With an impressive quiver of products and services, we provide you with extremely customizable solutions. These include our suite with 240+ APIs and AI-based resources.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Written By:

Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

Cryptocurrencies

How Can KYC Secure Cryptocurrencies Transactions?

Posted on | by Signzian

With an expected growth projection of nearly USD 24 billion for the blockchain market by 2023, the industry is all set to an exponential start this decade. The terms blockchain and cryptocurrency have had a symbiotic evolution. This has rendered them nearly interchangeable in usage. Nonetheless, we must understand what exactly cryptocurrencies are to understand it’s challenging.

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies with purchasing and selling value. They use an online ledger and cryptography for secure transactions. With over 10,000 types, they are proliferating in many exchanges and have an estimated total value of more than USD 1.7 trillion as of June 2021.

They use blockchain technology eponymously. This makes them the most modern embodiment of economic advancement. Considering the potential cryptocurrencies have in terraforming the global economy, understanding the associated challenges and improving upon them is essential.

Challenges In The World of Cryptocurrencies

There is an increasing preference for cryptocurrencies in global transactions. The primary reason is the minimal involvement of bureaucracy. A more decentralized approach to monetary interactions also helps. But this can be useful as well as risky. The major challenges are faced during onboarding and include:

  • Financial Fraud
  • Money Laundering
  • Terrorist Funding
  • Government Regulations

Fraud, Laundering, and Terrorist Funding

Cryptocurrencies are used worldwide. Their regulations are different and oftentimes vague than state-issued currencies. Fraudsters are keen on utilizing this as a loophole. It helps them conduct illegal and fraudulent transactions. Cryptocurrencies can be used for money laundering and in some severe cases even terrorist funding. This is a dangerous aspect and regulating such activities requires a careful approach. 

Fraudsters may use false identities, stolen identities, or even shell entities. They transfer money in the form of cryptocurrencies from one international government jurisdiction to another. If not regulated, the entire industry can become a plethora of financial fraud and danger.

Government Regulations

To prevent fraud, cryptocurrencies are traded with stringent guidelines from many governments and authorities. These strict restrictions can severely impede the ease and speed of onboarding customers. It will also increase the minimum activation requirement alienating potential customers and traders.

Cryptocurrency Exchanges require government-issued identification verification along with good financial credibility for their customers. This makes the initial onboarding process heavily cumbersome. If better methods are not explored, the result would be wasted potential clients for the Exchanges.

Verification and KYC

Novel methods are developed to combat financial fraud in cryptocurrency markets. These methods can reduce any money laundering activities and prevent fraudsters from misusing the resources. Brokers consider ways to reduce the risk involved in onboarding a new customer or trader. Methods to verify an individual while avoiding any financial fraud is given below:

  • KYC- Know Your Customer
  • AML- Anti Money Laundering Measures

KYC

KYC helps establish credibility for the customer. This is done by checking their valid identity proofs and other background data. With advancing technology, it is mostly digital. For an industry using blockchain technology, it is only sensible to have efficient digitization of this entire process. Quality digital KYC helps stop all fraudulent or fake individuals from transacting. Thus, the danger is averted and risk is reduced.

AML Measures

Government agencies place Anti-Money Laundering Measures to prevent any form of financial fraud. Many countries might not have specific guidelines for cryptocurrency regulation. But many a time they fall under stringent AML measures. AML is mandatory to prevent any form of massive money laundering. If not complied properly, today’s resources can be used even for terrorist financing. As a matter of fact, measures for CFT-combatting finance of terrorism is a priority criterion for many institutions.

How Signzy Can Help You with Cryptocurrencies Transactions?

The advent of technology is making cryptocurrencies create a revolution in the industry. This makes it all the more needed to identify and verify the participants in the industry. Procedures like KYC and AML will only be effective if the appropriate guidelines are followed. Along with which safety measures need to be imposed. Nations are heading forward with this in mind.

But the catch is that, how do you fulfill all the criteria of regulations and safety while maintaining an easy journey for each customer? This is what we excel at.

We at Signzy give you customizable APIs and other resources that help you conduct safe and compliant KYC, AML, and all other requirements you have. We will help you onboard customers and traders of cryptocurrencies onto your platforms with ease and safety. Our seamless UI will make the journey all the more engaging. With the numerous products, services, and resources in our arsenal, we can make your enterprise better.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Written By:

Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

Bankrupting terrorism with Best KYC and AML practices

Posted on | by Signzian

AML compliance has been at the forefront to fight the threat of global terrorism. No wonder Governments across the world take it seriously. In 2018, U.S. Bancorp agreed to pay $613 million in penalties for a faulty KYC AML check.

According to the American Banker, U.S. Bancorp had already provided for $600 million in its books, related to expected enforcement action by regulators. Not financial loss, such non-compliance erodes customer trust and confidence, too. Many times, the reasons for non-compliance go beyond intent. It is an operational issue.

For example, OakNorth Bank had disconnected screening systems. One team handled anti-money laundering checks and another handled customer screening checks. Its screening and continuous monitoring processes to determine if customers are a Politically Exposed Person (PEP) were in place for its savings activities. OakNorth Bank did not have an option. It had to integrate its current tech stack and condense data into a single view, for compliance.

Technology has created a world of extraordinary economic opportunity. It has connected businesses and customers over traditional boundaries of language and geography. On the flip side, it has also aided the growth of global terrorism and crime. This has increased the danger and complexity of doing business around the world. 

Businesses are under pressure to identify, assess, and comprehend exactly who they’re doing business with, to battle the international threat of terrorism and financial crime. Banks and financial institutions are facing this situation for KYC AML check.

KYC is a subset of AML

It is understandable that AML and KYC are often confused. It is partly because the two acronyms are used together in the context of compliance and financial fraud. AML is a broader discipline that encompasses KYC. Here is a quick capture.

AML

AML refers to the procedures taken by financial institutions and governments. It is to prevent and combat financial crimes, including money laundering and terrorism financing. In the fight against organized crime and terrorism, anti-money laundering (AML) procedures are an important part of any financial compliance program. According to the United Nations, between $800 billion and $2 trillion (2–5% of global GDP) is laundered each year around the world.

KYC

The process of authenticating a customer’s identification is KYC, or “Know Your Customer.” To use a company’s service, each client must supply credentials such as identification documents. KYC verification procedures assist with anti-money laundering. It gives a framework for financial institutions to meet ever-changing regulations. It applies to Fintech also. Because Fintech firms provide financial services, AML regulations need them to authenticate their customers’ identities before providing their services. This ensures they are dealing with legitimate businesses.

KYC AML check best practices

What is the need for KYC AML check best practices? How do you measure success?

The clear response is that you avoid a penalty for non-compliance with regulations. It also keeps laundered funds out of the financial system. Thus, protecting civil society from crimes.

Is the above enough? Should banks stop with the minimum compliance requirements? Are there methods to improve the business while complying with? There is value to leverage best practices that are dependable, efficient, and cost-effective.

Comply 100% to the Current AML Regime

AML compliance is the least minimum banks must achieve. Slip-ups invite hefty fines. Reputation also suffers. The cost of non-compliance far exceeds the cost of compliance. Banks can add value to this ‘cost’ function by getting more business insights out of compliance. Banks can make operational improvements with technology to comply better at a lesser cost. The current AML compliance regime in the United States covers the following.

  • KYC
  • Reporting – Financial institutions file currency reports and report suspicious transactions through Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR)
  • “Follow the money” thereby maintaining a paper trail by keeping appropriate records of financial transactions.
  • Internal controls in line with the Banking Secrecy Act (BSA)

A shared Know Your Customer/Customer Due Diligence (KYC/CDD)

The Signzy blog has written at length about KYC. The need for identity verification cannot be overemphasized. Rogue identities, false identities, and misrepresented identities, all can put paid to the proper functioning of the global financial system. KYC is the first and the most critical step, to prevent the entry of rogue elements.

Banks are expected to have a robust customer identification program. Banks should demand government-issued identification. They should also examine whether extra information is required. This information could include occupation, employer, and business affiliations. For low-risk customers, simplified due diligence is enough. But, in other high-risk cases, basic and sometimes enhanced due diligence (EDD) becomes necessary. This comes at an increased cost of business to banks.

Banks are pooling resources to tackle customer due diligence (CDD) requirements. Statutory bodies like The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) are also supporting these initiatives. It seems logical. If one Bank has made all the efforts to KYC, other banks can piggyback. Such a shared KYC improves risk management and financial inclusion. This shared KYC can be executed in the following ways:

  • Centralized agency approach that pools KYC across banks,
  • Multilateral information sharing across banks,
  • A combination of the above

Customer data sharing guidelines and internal compliance requirements especially for global banks might hinder such initiatives.

Reporting and Audit

Approximately, $85 trillion was the global GDP in 2020. The United States accounted for almost one-fourth of it. It is a staggering amount of money. Banks and financial institutions are instrumental to money flows that eventually contribute to the world economy.

Imagine, keeping a track of billions of transactions that make up the world economy. It is a tall task. This scale throws up the following challenges.

  • Automation – Because manual steps for this sheer scale are prone to errors of omission and commission
  • Documentation – To maintain paper-trail to help ‘follow the money.’
  • Monitoring – To ensure compliance and proactive identification of high-risk transactions

Automation

It is virtually impossible to use manual methods to meet the sheer volume of compliance reporting and audit requirements. Other than feasibility, other factors emerge too – mistakes and time. Banks use AML software to automate all their AML compliance activities. The software also prepares them to scale compliance with the change in rules and regulations. Such software is custom-built with preferred vendors. Banks also develop this internally with their technology teams. AML automation software boosts speed, efficiency, and prepares the organization to handle increasing volumes of data.

Documentation

AML compliance features are designed to enable law enforcement agencies to pursue investigations for civil and criminal penalties if warranted. The features are detailed enough to provide evidence useful in prosecuting money laundering and other financial crimes. This requires institutions to collect, store and analyze large amounts of KYC data as part of the customer onboarding process. Additionally, there is the need to store data related to transactions in line with the typologies that form part of the law/guidelines. The overall idea is that Banks should be competent to furnish necessary information via reporting, or when called for. AML Software ensures that no transaction howsoever trivial goes unnoticed and undocumented.

Monitoring

Monitoring is a nightmare. Because it isn’t just compliance that a bank has to deal with. Internal risk measures are also at play. From a regulatory perspective, the activities that Banks have to monitor are broad. It includes,

  • Illegal activities
  • Suspicious transactions
  • Transactions above financial thresholds
  • Unusual activity

AML software can address most of the hygiene ‘black and white’ monitoring requirements. It is the ambiguous ‘grey area’ activities that need more sophistication. Machine learning models (ML) can come to the rescue here. ML models can continuously learn from structured and unstructured data, thereby flagging suspicious and unusual transactions. This will ensure proactive compliance and aggressive redressal of risks.

Correct False Positives

A Dow Jones-sponsored ACAMS [CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist) is the global gold standard in AML certifications] survey done a few years ago reveals that false positives are one of the most challenging aspects of KYC AML checks for bank compliance teams. False positives are a drain on a bank’s resources in its pursuit to track down money-laundering criminals. It is not difficult to understand why false positives are a problem.

Historically, rule-based models in line with regulations, flag off customer activities. It is usually based on value and frequency. Money laundering criminals are far smarter than that. Soon, bank systems tend to lag in detecting suspicious behaviors by account holders.

Continuously evolving customer risk-rating models could be one way to solve this problem. Mckinsey proposed a framework on how banks can approach building their customer risk-rating models. The best practices proposed by Mckinsey include simple ideas like data quality and simple model architecture. The best practices also include advanced ones like network science tools. Mckinsey goes on to identify the maturity level of the institutions implementing such customer risk-rating models. The maturity levels – Horizon 1,2,3 – indicate the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementing institutions. Banks would do well to reflect on how they can move up the maturity curve in identifying false positives, thus boosting productivity.

Balance Customer Experience with Compliance

AML compliance is not a trade-off. It does interfere with customer experience. But, it isn’t something banks can de-prioritize. If a high-value customer’s transactions look unusual, that will need to be screened and reported. Even during the KYC process, it is important to manage customer expectations. Proper systems and trained personnel can help. Customer drop-outs are a fallout of such measures. Banks have to identify and invest in the right kind of digital onboarding software, to minimize dropouts. At the same time, banks should prepare to accept drop-outs as the intended outcomes of a larger compliance culture.

AML will evolve

Criminal interests will undoubtedly keep anti-money laundering professionals on their toes. A certificate program in anti-money laundering is a testimony to this. Over the last two decades, right from 9/11 to the credit crisis, AML has evolved for the better. New rules and regulations have gotten added to the AML playbook year after year. Banks in the US are exploring Blockchain technologies to stay ahead of the curve to balance the ever-increasing challenge of AML compliance and associated costs. 

AML proponents have claimed that AML related restrictions have been successful in enabling the fight against terrorism since 9/11. Critics however demand more evidence. Let the debate continue.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Written By:

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

Revving Ahead With Digitization- How To Revolutionize Verification In The Vehicular Industry

Posted on | by Signzian

Introduction

Being the 6th biggest manufacturer of motor vehicles, the Indian Vehicular Industry is a behemoth with a $118 billion value estimation. The fact that this is expected to skyrocket to $300 billion by 2025 makes it an unleashed beast.

The current process of customer onboarding and underwriting involves multiple physical parameters with the in-person involvement of the client and the assigned agent. But with novel technologies and cutthroat competition on the rise, it is time insurers decide to upgrade their game. This article focuses on the current market of automobile verification, its challenges and the solution.

The Current Market for Vehicles in India

By 2021 India is expected to become the 3rd largest passenger vehicle market in the world. 2019 saw a 2.7% increase in production in the industry as compared to the previous financial year.

The industry is in a state of growth and it is the right time to take the initiative and utilise it. The current modes of processing can be upgraded with technology. This will help flourish in a cutthroat market like India.

The Primary Players In The Indian Vehicular Industry

There are numerous automobile companies competing in the Indian market. The top ones are:

  • With revenue of near Rs.300,000 Crore, Tata Motors Ltd. takes the lion’s share of the market. Tata currently has a 6.3% and 45.1% market share in passenger and commercial vehicles sectors, respectively.
  • Maruti Suzuki India Ltd dominates the passenger vehicles market with over 50% in market share. The Rs.83,281 crore revenue and a market cap of nearly Rs.200,000 crore is an impressive aspect.
  • Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd also holds a big chunk of the market with revenue heading over Rs53,000 crore and a market cap reaching more than Rs. 70,000 crore.
  • The two-wheeler giant Hero MotoCorp Ltd comes on top of its specific niche with 36% of the market share. The Rs 32,871 crore revenue and the 57,180 crore market cap is impressive for a primary two-wheeler manufacturer.
  • Other honourable mentions include Bajaj Auto Ltd, Ashok Leyland Ltd, TVS Motor Company Ltd, etc

What Are The Challenges Of The Industry

As is with most industries, the challenges in the vehicular industry also play a lot in parallel with the adoption of technology. Gone are the old days of physical processing of documentation and verification. With the advancing technology, the terrain is entirely changing.

Insurers must ensure that they can survive the peer competition. Technological services are available for verification and other related processes. But the coding required coupled with the complexity and unavailability of resources from a single portal is frustrating.

Why Is Signzy The Solution?

The solution to technological hurdles is not simply newer technology. It is the right newer technology. Signzy can provide this. With a quiver of products and resources, we can provide you with the state of the art technology while properly understanding your requirements.

Beginning with customer verification using OVDs such as driving license to the verification of the vehicle registration, Signzy’s plethora of APIs will suit you. APIs like DL verification API and Vehicle Registration APIs use government and other databases to cross verify the user’s credibility while maintaining the process seamless.

Since the Signzy portal is extremely customizable you can choose from the arsenal of APIs and other resources. This will help you avoid unnecessary roadblocks. The No-Code AI rule engine that we deploy makes integration and access easy and efficient. Signzy can make your verification processes seamless while maintaining the best security you can obtain.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Written By:

Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 16