Role of Business Verification in International Payment Gateways

13 September, 2023

5 minutes read
Role of Business Verification in International Payment Gateways

Transmitting money between places is a daunting task. There are numerous financial regulatory authorities, and failure to comply with legislation can result in severe fines, penalties, punishments, imprisonment, and permanent exclusion from the business community. However, financial crime is a perennial menace. It continues to increase with the widespread availability of digital financial products and services. Penalties for financial crimes such as money laundering, corruption, and sanctions increased to USD 4.67 billion in 2020, up from USD 3.75 billion in 2019. 

One of the most important aspects of preventing financial crime, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, bribery, and so on, is to conduct business verification and confirm the identity and source of money. They are essential for every business that wants to build a secure payment environment for the finance and payments industry. Instilling the KYB process is critical for financial institutions since it ensures they are free of illicit activity. However, because anti-money laundering legislation differs in stringency, businesses may find it difficult to transact with other countries. Given these facts, understanding the KYB business verification services is essential since it will boost your understanding of what to expect when registering with a payment service provider or payment gateway.

What is Business Verification? 

Businesses that provide services to other companies rather than consumers must be more attentive in their onboarding processes. Business verification assists companies in verifying the firm with which they desire to work. It entails validating the company’s existence, location, personnel involved with the company, financial health, and so on. 

KYB, or business verification, is the due diligence evaluation of organizations for money laundering, terrorist funding, and other financial crimes. It assists firms in developing policies, assessing suspicious activity, and taking preventive steps. It verifies that the company businesses are dealing with is authentic and not a sham. 

Business Verification in Payment Gateway

A payment gateway facilitates online payments by validating and securely transmitting information about cardholders among the parties involved in the transaction flow. Since B2B transactions are frequently conducted online, the payer and payee may be in separate countries, and illicit activity and scams may be hard to detect. The money transmitted may have come from unlawful sources and pose a risk to both businesses, which is why financial regulators have made it mandatory to authenticate the source of income, verify the business, and follow payment regulations. 

Why is Identity Verification Automation in Payments Important?

Automated payment sector ID verification aims at balancing threats and revenues, i.e., adhering to AML-KYC standards without negatively impacting the bottom line. Payment automation has revitalized the mass-merchant onboarding process, and automation techniques are rapidly expanding to provide improved customer service to onboarding retailers per diem.

To avoid financial penalties and reputational damage, businesses should use automated identity verification in payments, which is critical for preventing fraudulent activities with merchants with wicked motives. 

In accordance with FATF and similar regulations, every financial and government sector, including payments, must conduct KYB and UBO checks before conducting B2B transactions under anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism regulations.

Businesses execute billion-dollar operations every day, both within and outside of the country. A payment gateway solution speeds up and simplifies transactions, but it also introduces new risks, such as financial terrorism, digital fraud, and money laundering. 

Nonetheless, KYB assists payment platforms in developing closer ties with its clients. Platforms may ensure that their consumers are legitimate and trustworthy by checking the businesses that utilize their services. In turn, this can assist in limiting the occurrence of fraud and refunds, which can be expensive for both the platform and the companies who utilize it.

Payment Gateway Identity Verification Checks  

Recent advancements in payment sector identification verification automation with initial screening and compliance solutions have improved the accuracy and security of the retailer screening and onboarding process. Aside from checking business history and transaction quantities, certain preliminary screening checks, such as validating operational nations, marketing channels, and product sections, are key pre-screening checks that machine learning algorithms can easily accomplish. To ensure the firm is what it claims to be, merchant identities are checked against a validated government or private KYB database for sanction lists, PEPs, and adverse media listings.

Role of Business Verification Documents in Payment Gateway

The KYB process, which is required for e-payment compliance, requires the usage of a variety of business verification documents. These documents assist payment platforms in verifying and authenticating the businesses that use their platforms. It includes their nature, transaction purpose, source of revenue, and financial history.

Automation of Risk in Payment Processing

The KYB onboarding and retailer screening processes can never be completely automated. Payment processing always includes some amount of human AML verification procedures. However, risk managers can rely on a set of automation technologies to achieve the highest level of accuracy when establishing retail risk profiles.

Fortunately, payment industry ID verification automation has been enormously successful in retailer identity verification and KYB retailer onboarding operations. The key AML-KYC measures that can be implemented with high automation are KYB, PEP screening, sanctions list, adverse media screening, and UBO checks.

Future of Payment Gateway with KYB

The use of digital payment networks has risen in recent years, making it the dominant way of money transactions worldwide. As a result, businesses must guarantee that their payment gateways remain safe, compliant, and reliable. One such technique is implementing KYB, a critical part of payment industry regulations.

With this in mind, it is unambiguous that each payment service provider must have a strong, dependable, and fast KYB procedure in place. Nonetheless, it is a complicated and time-consuming task.

At The KYB, we offer outstanding KYB services to payment service providers. We understand the complexities and challenges of KYB in payment platforms and are here to help you navigate the process. You are not alone in navigating the KYB maze.

KYB for Global Operations: How to Create Cross-Border Business Verification?

23 August, 2023

5 minutes read
KYB for Global Operations: How to Create Cross-Border Business Verification?

Businesses must verify their businesses as part of AML measures. Know Your Business, commonly called KYB, is used for this purpose. Businesses can use KYB techniques to create robust onboarding policies for customers, partners, investors, and suppliers.

Policies such as these assist in preventing suspicious transactions and account activity. The issue of compliance is not only pertinent to corporations. Still, it is becoming increasingly problematic for SMBs and fast-growing startups that may need a dedicated compliance department. Consequently, organizations and companies of all types need to determine if they are working with a legitimate company or if it is merely a facade.

The KYB checks provide compliance with regulatory requirements by verifying what a company is, how it is legitimate, what it has done, and where it stands. The objective is to help them create a more trustworthy environment free from money laundering.

What is the Purpose of Business Verification?

Due diligence in the B2B arena is crucial to the transaction’s success. Businesses should confirm the legitimacy of companies and their personnel before doing business with them.

When you do business with an illegitimate or bogus company, the consequences can be dire, and you may even find yourself in legal trouble. Moreover, you need to think more carefully about a sketchy business deal to save time, money, and, most importantly, your reputation.

The KYB process thoroughly investigates a company’s leadership and operations. Does the business, for example, face a lawsuit? Does it appear on any financial or regulatory watchlists? Has the company complied with all applicable laws?

According to Experian, It is estimated that B2B fraud contributes to more than $50 million in losses for American businesses per year. When working with a bad actor, your business may suffer from invoice fraud or data compromise.

Your reputation may suffer due to the problem, even if you come out financially sound. In the business world, reputation plays a significant role in developing relationships.

The ease with which businesses can appear legitimate surprises those who believe a quick search on Google or a visit to their Facebook page can provide that information. KYB verifies information that is not only publicly accessible but also extends beyond basic information about a company.

Implementing a Business Verification Process

Local anti-money laundering regulations should assess an organization’s anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. While there are differences between countries, the general rule of thumb is that it is better to validate more than less.

A KYB process involves verifying that a business exists, that it operates legally, that all people and entities involved in the transaction are clear regarding sanctions and watchlists, and that all due diligence has been completed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the organization.

The process is designed to determine whether there are any skeletons in the company’s or its shareholders’ closet. Additionally, you should verify who you are directly dealing with, such as a customer liaison. This applies to all, whether you are a small business or a contractor.

Expert assistance is essential during this crucial process. The KYB makes verifying a business incredibly easy. Businesses can be verified immediately. Typically, The KYB business verification solution helps identify the following:

Challenges of Cross-Border Business Verification

Businesses operating in several countries, or working with companies in several countries, face certain challenges not encountered by businesses operating in one country. Some of these challenges are as follows:

Variations in KYB Regulations and Laws 

The law governing KYB varies according to country and region, as do the laws governing AML and KYC requirements.

A business may be required to carry out certain types of verifications or collect certain types of information by certain countries but not others. It becomes even more complex if you operate in more than one jurisdiction. Due to these country-by-country differences, you may feel tempted to apply the most stringent KYB requirements to all users simply; however, this may introduce unnecessary friction and decrease conversion rates.

The first step towards expanding into a new market is to understand the KYB requirements of that market. You can then incorporate these requirements into your KYB and onboarding processes. It takes time, effort, resources, and financial resources to deal with this additional complexity. As a result, regulatory action is also more likely to be taken if you make an error.

Data Availability Variations

KYB involves verifying the identities of each of the company’s ultimate beneficial owners and verifying the names of the beneficial owners. There are several ways in which companies can perform this verification. There is a common practice of verifying customer information by querying an authoritative or issuing database.

Nevertheless, this method has a significant caveat: It is only effective if the database or registry exists and can be queried. An authoritative database in one country does not necessarily mean it will be similarly authoritative in another. Despite this, not all countries have a UBO registry. Moreover, a UBO registry only guarantees that some of the information you require will be contained therein.

Integrating and querying an appropriate data source is only sometimes straightforward, even when one does exist. For example, a company operating in 10 different countries might find itself in a challenging position of integrating with 10 other UBO registries – an additional administrative challenge and cost.

Read more: Current State of Business Verification in Canada

For further information, get in touch with The KYB team.

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