What does KYC stand for and what are the KYC requirements in Australia?
‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) compliance involves meeting the standards set by regulators for customer verification and identity checking, depending on your type of business, service provided and industry.
Enforcing KYC checks allows regulators and authorities to mitigate criminal activity such as money laundering and the financing of terrorism. While KYC compliance can appear complex, tools such as SmartID and KYC/Ultimate Beneficiary Reports from CreditorWatch can assist your business in navigating these requirements.
Is KYC commonly used in Australia?
KYC compliance is mandatory under Australian law for various businesses providing services such as financial exchange. You must identify and verify individual and non-individual customers (including companies, associations and trusts). But which businesses must comply with KYC verification requirements?
‘Reporting entities’ in Australia must comply with Know Your Customer requirements under the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) overseen by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).
A ‘reporting entity’ provides ‘designated services’ listed under section 6 of the AML/CTF Act and includes businesses that provide financial, bullion, digital currency and gambling exchange services.
As such, KYC applies to the Commonwealth Bank, other lenders, and several businesses extending credit or providing financial services. KYC bank and business procedures are vital to creating a barrier against criminal activities such as tax evasion or money laundering.
What is the purpose of KYC verification?
Criminal enterprises often attempt to obscure their identities when conducting business to hide from authorities and avoid enforcement, especially within technologically complex industries such as cryptocurrency exchange. KYC crypto reports, KYC forms and anti-money laundering KYC regulations aim to reduce these organisations’ size, scope and influence.
Why does KYC/AML matter?
Regulators such as AUSTRAC and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have a duty of care to the public to reduce exposure to criminal activity, and the KYC rules help support this. It is an international effort, with all member states of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) required to implement KYC documentation and procedures into their domestic laws.
How does the simple KYC process work in Australia?
According to AUSTRAC, before you offer any designated services, you must be satisfied that:
- An individual customer is who they claim to be.
- A non-individual customer is an entity that genuinely exists, and you have identified any ultimate beneficial owners that stand to profit.
Your business must prove that you have taken steps to confirm these details, a process that you can streamline and maintain KYC status records with the support of SmartID and KYC/Beneficial Owner Reports from CreditorWatch. The minimum requirement for individuals includes their full name and residential address or date of birth. For non-individual customers, it may include information such as an Australian Company Number/Australian Business Number, full company name and registration details with ASIC.
KYC compliance in Australia - a step-by-step guide
- Sign up for a free trial with CreditorWatch
- With the power of our all-in-one reporting suite, you can quickly and efficiently conduct KYC checks and Beneficial Owner Reporting from one central location.
- Onboard new customers using SmartID
- Biometric verification provides fast, secure and accurate customer identity verification without any awkwardness or hassle. Our advanced technology quickly matches the identity of customers with trusted government sources, biometric identity and liveness checks so that you can commence trading.
- Access our suite of KYC/AML Reports
- CreditorWatch offers a range of KYC and Beneficial Owner reporting tools, so you’ll never have to worry about staying compliant. Our reports include Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) and sanctions checks, adverse media checks, UBO reports, Verification of Identity (VOI) checks and more. What’s more, with the integration of the award-winning search portal, InfoTrack, you can also access police checks, reports on land titles and property, and more.
- Keep KYC records of all activity
- If ASIC or AUSTRAC request more information regarding your KYC AML compliance, you need to be able to show the steps you’ve taken to identify clients. Thankfully, leveraging the KYC reporting tools from CreditorWatch ensures that you have everything on file and ready to access if requested by regulators.
Streamline your compliance with KYC Reports and SmartID from CreditorWatch.
At CreditorWatch, we understand that maintaining compliance with AML/CTF regulations and understanding KYC requirements can be complex for business owners. That’s why we’ve developed our SmartID technology and KYC and Beneficial Owner reporting tools to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks. You can conduct the identity verification ASIC and AUSTRAC require from one central portal to ensure you mitigate risk exposure and satisfy obligations.
With our sophisticated tools, your business will have all the bases covered. Speak to our expert team today.
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