Efficient Know Your Customer (KYC) processes are fundamental to meeting Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) requirements.

Identity verification backed by local expertise and data precision helps organizations meet those compliance requirements for different risk levels while controlling onboarding costs. Companies also can avoid excessive onboarding friction by accelerating secure verification.

CySEC KYC Regulations

CySEC regulates a broad range of industries, including investment services and transactions in transferable securities.

Those regulations include Anti-Money Laundering (AML) directives. Cyprus, a European Union member, has amended its AML law to mirror provisions in the EU’s sixth AML directive (6AMLD).

CySEC’s unofficial English translation of the “Directive for the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing” provides guidance across a broad range of due diligence requirements. Those include:

Risk-Based Approach

CySEC recommends a risk-based approach to achieving compliance. That approach enables organizations to assess different onboarding risks and adjust due diligence to match the circumstance.

Identity Verification

Entities that operate with a CySEC license need to perform identity verification before a business relationship is established. When the verification is remote, the organization must ensure the methods, procedures and controls are secure and reliable.

They must also regularly check customer data and reverify if it’s found to be inaccurate or if there’s been a substantial change in the information or nature of the account.

Business Verification

Organizations onboarding businesses need to collect enough information to understand the nature of the company’s activities and the expected pattern and amount of transactions.

They also need to verify the company’s beneficial owners and assess the ownership and control structure.

“However, it is noted that no single form of identification can be fully guaranteed as genuine or representing correct identity,” according to the English translation, “and, consequently, the identification process will generally need to be cumulative.”

CySEC Identity Verification Standards

Under CySEC requirements, Cyprus residents must provide name, address, phone number, email, data and place of birth, and job details for verification. Nonresidents should have a passport or national ID card.

An official document, such as a utility bill, can provide proof of address. Verification relies on two matches from two independent data sources. The first provides a match for name and address. The second provides a match for name and address or birthdate.

Many organizations use CySEC licensing for compliance across the EU. They can fine-tune their compliance programs and expand their verification ability by using documentary and nondocumentary techniques paired with local and global data sources.

CySEC requires a broad range of data for business verification.

·       Registered number

·       Registered corporate name and trading name

·       Addresses of the registered office and head offices

·       Telephone and fax numbers as well as email addresses

·       Board of directors members

·       People who are authorized to operate the account and act on behalf of the business

·       Beneficial owners

·       Registered shareholders who act as nominees of the beneficial owners

·       Economic profile

Verification might also require an assessment of the business’s corporate status.

Streamlined Verification for CySEC Compliance

CySEC compliance can pose complex verification challenges for organizations. Trulioo can help by combining an extensive network of data sources across Europe with local expertise that can help organizations calibrate their onboarding risk-based approach.

When organizations blend that data source coverage with services such as watchlist screening and adverse media checks, they create a holistic onboarding strategy that can lead to industry-leading verification rates.

The compliance challenges multiply when organizations verify businesses. But access to a vast data source network and cutting-edge technology can accelerate due diligence – from verifying sole proprietorships to unraveling complex ultimate beneficial ownership structures – on any company.

With full transparency on vetted sources and granular, easy-to-understand match rules, compliance teams can confidently meet CySEC requirements.

A full suite of in-house verification capabilities can give organizations that report to CySEC the flexibility to quickly and securely onboard any person or entity in the EU.

Person Match Buyer's Guide

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As a European Union member, Belgium has strict regulations around Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), data privacy, identity verification and digital services.

Sophisticated partners with expertise in the market and state-of-the-art technology can help organizations accelerate customer verification while ensuring compliance and strong match rate performance.

Examples of AML and KYC Compliance in Belgium

The Law of 18 September 2017 covers AML and KYC requirements. The act requires that obliged organizations implement customer due diligence, including identity verification, to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. 

Belgium regulations outline a risk-based approach to AML and KYC, but there is no exemption from the identification and identity verification obligations.

The KYC regulations include requirements for collecting information from people and verifying that data against supporting documents or reliable sources that enable it to be confirmed through electronic means. 

The regulations allow for remote onboarding and the use of electronic identification. But they flag remote onboarding as an indicator of potential higher risk and a prompt for extra due diligence.

A Snapshot of Identity Verification in Belgium

Identity verification in Belgium can be complex. Name and address searches can be challenging because of language variety. That often creates the need for multiple data sources.

Still, the standard identity verification data attributes are name, address, birthdate and phone number. Passports, driver’s licenses and national identity cards are eligible for identity document verification.

The country also allows digital ID verification with information from the National Register of Belgium. An estimated 80% of Belgians between 16 and 74 have an itsme account. People use digital IDs for verification when logging on to websites and apps, confirming digital transactions and signing documents.

Brief Overview of Business Verification in Belgium

Belgium’s legal business structures include sole proprietors, limited and unlimited liability companies, partnerships, cooperatives and foreign entities. All organizations must register with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises and value-added tax (VAT) authorities.

The bank then issues a 10-digit company registration number (CRN). The tax authorities issue a 10-digit VAT number preceded by the country code.

Companies also must provide their ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) information to the Federal Public Service Finance.

When organizations verify businesses in Belgium, CRN and VAT numbers, as well as the registered entity name, can deliver optimal results. Identity verification can be an efficient way to verify sole proprietorships.

Streamlined Verification in Belgium

Organizations face a complex regulatory and verification landscape for people and businesses in Belgium. Trulioo can help accelerate the process with a broad mix of global and local data sources and market expertise. 

Trulioo applies that expertise at every verification step and continually calibrates data match precision to deliver superior onboarding performance. That commitment to optimization helped one of the world’s largest marketplaces increase its verification match rates by 4% in Belgium.

When organizations blend that data source coverage and expertise with services such as watchlist screening, adverse media checks and electronic identification for people with digital IDs, they create a holistic onboarding strategy that can lead to industry-leading verification rates in Belgium.

The challenges multiply when organizations verify businesses in the country. But when they access a vast data source network and cutting-edge technology, they can accelerate due diligence – from verifying sole proprietorships to unraveling complex UBO structures – on any company operating in the region.

A full suite of in-house verification capabilities, paired with data science and market expertise, can give organizations the insight and flexibility they need to overcome any onboarding challenge in Belgium.

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Identity Verified: Your Roadmap to Match Rate Excellence

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As a European Union member, Spain has strict regulations around Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), privacy, identity verification and digital services.

Sophisticated partners with expertise in the market and state-of-the-art technology can help organizations accelerate customer verification while ensuring compliance and strong match rate performance.

Examples of KYC and AML Compliance in Spain

The Spanish Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act covers AML and KYC requirements. The act requires that obliged entities implement customer due diligence procedures, including identity verification, to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

Sepblac, Spain’s financial intelligence unit, requires that regulated entities identify and verify, through reliable documents, the identities of people establishing business relationships or transactions that are equal to or greater than 1,000 euros, according to the unofficially translated guidance.

Reliable documents include a national identity card. Sepblac also has approved remote procedures for identity verification.

A Snapshot of Identity Verification in Spain

The Spanish government issues a national ID, also called a Documento Nacional de Identidad, to all Spanish citizens. 

Optimal verification in Spain often relies on organizations collecting first and second names as well as national ID numbers.

Identity document verification is acceptable in Spain. Those documents include driver’s licenses, passports, national IDs and residence permits.

The Spanish government also has implemented the Cl@ve digital ID solution, which allows users to authenticate themselves and access government services. Cl@ve aligns with EU eIDAS requirements

Business Verification Insights in Spain

In Spain, companies must register with the corporate registry and Spanish tax office.

Spain’s tax authorities issue a nine-digit VAT number to identify registered companies. It includes information such as nationality, province and provincial registration.

Many companies in Spain also must annually provide ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) information to an official register. UBOs are defined as people who directly or indirectly own or control more than 25% of a company’s shares or voting rights or who control the entity through other means.

Optimal business verification in Spain often requires VAT numbers and registered company names. Identity verification can provide a more efficient path for verifying sole proprietorships.

Trulioo in Spain

Organizations face a complex regulatory and verification landscape for people and businesses in Spain. Trulioo can help organizations accelerate the process because it connects to multiple data sources in Spain and has local expertise and state-of-the-art capabilities to optimize verification performance.

When organizations blend that data source coverage with services such as watchlist screening and adverse media checks, they create a holistic onboarding strategy that can lead to industry-leading verification rates.

The challenges multiply when organizations verify businesses in the country. But when they access a vast data source network, market expertise and cutting-edge technology, they can accelerate due diligence – from verifying sole proprietorships to unraveling complex UBO structures – on any company operating in the region.

A full suite of in-house verification capabilities, paired with the precision of data science, can give organizations the insight and flexibility they need to overcome any onboarding challenge in Spain.

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