As the world’s most populous country with 1.4 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly $8.4 trillion USD in 2012, China is often regarded as the emerging market with the greatest potential. China’s middle class population is already larger than the entire population of the United States, and it is expected to continue growing at an explosive rate. This makes China extremely appealing to foreign companies seeking opportunities to grow and expand their business.
As with other countries, China has due diligence regulations that must be followed, including Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. After passing an AML law in 2006, financial regulations have become much stricter, and mandatory identity verification (IDV) for new bank accounts opened since 2007 have generally reduced fraud and corruption. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) serves as the main enforcement body with various commissions and administrations focused on different industries.
As a foreign business, carrying out IDV for compliance purposes is not as straightforward as in many other jurisdictions. The Chinese government has extremely strict privacy laws that resulted in the 2014 imprisonment of a British corporate investigator and his American wife as a result of being convicted of illegally buying and selling the personal information of Chinese citizens. While China banned the trade of personal information in 2009, it has not clearly defined what is considered personal information.
How can foreign companies ensure that they comply with both AML/KYC regulations and privacy laws when dealing with Chinese customers?
GlobalGateway, Trulioo’s electronic identity verification (eIDV) service, uses legitimate data sources to help businesses verify the identities of Chinese citizens. Businesses can easily integrate GlobalGateway into their existing systems and perform native language IDV using information provided from the Chinese Resident Identity Card. Trulioo is the only company to offer instant eIDV for China.
