eCREDO Accounts, “What documents do I need to upload and why”
What is KYC and KYB
KYC is an abbreviation for Know Your Customer and is the aspect of due diligence that deals with the precise identification of customers.
KYC is a standard verification process and requires customers to prove their Identity and Address.
The Know Your Business (KYB) process is not much different from the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. The difference is that KYB initially focuses on companies, then processes that focus down to the company’s stakeholders (including shareholders). The company must provide a number of documents that will be requested from the Customer Support Officer. The main purpose of KYB process is the complete elimination of any uncertainties in the global financial infrastructure of the business that can be exploited by criminal entities.
Why is KYC and KYB important?
Businesses and individuals are evolving in a digital era, and the use of internet for financial transactions is becoming the new status quo. At the same time and inevitably online crime is also trying to find ways to infiltrate businesses and personal data.
The way to control such actions and to minimize the risks of financial fraud, Anti-Money Laundering and online criminal activity, all financial institutions and fintech solutions must comply with regulatory laws set by regulatory authorities globally and specifically within Europe such as FATF, FinCEN, and FINTRAC.
Compliance departments of every online financial institution must remotely, securely and thoroughly process and review the identification documents of individuals and businesses and verify their authenticity. This is done through the KYC and KYB process.
The ultimate aim of KYC/KYB is to confirm, with a high level of assurance, that customers are who they say they are and that there is no risk of illegal activity, thus protecting both; the provider of the online financial services and its clients.
The presence of thorough and unbiased KYC and KYB procedures indicates that the business is an authorized and trustworthy entity which highly values the protection of its customers.
What happens to the Identification documents of an individual or a business after the completion of the KYC/KYB process?
The General Data Protection Regulation gives you the right to ask a company that holds personal data to delete it, if there is no longer use for your personal data. This is called the “right to be forgotten”.
The time that it takes for data to be deleted varies, depending on the type of the institution.
eCREDO as an authorised distributor to an FCA-regulated financial company, is obliged to keep your data for a minimum of 6 years even after our agreement/services are not provided. These retention requirements supersede any deletion requests under applicable data protection laws (such as GDPR).
Proof of deletion after the passage of the 6 years period can be requested and will be provided.
Customer’s data are of utmost importance and are held securely and safely under eCREDO supervision. This means that all our data transmissions between the web, the mobile app and our servers are protected by SSL SHA-256 encryption.
Our servers are securely placed in data centres in various geographic locations ensuring quality of service and continuation of all activities even if one of our servers is down.
- Document requirements for Personal/ family accounts
There are only two KYC documents required for Personal / Family accounts which are one for proof of identity and one for proof of address.
Any of the below documents are accepted as proof of identity:
- Passport
- National identity card
- Driving licence
- Residence card
Any of the below documents are accepted as proof of address:
- Utility bill (electricity, water, internet no older than 3 months)
- Car or home Insurance
- Government issued document
- Bank or credit card statements
The documents are to be submitted safely on the eCREDO platform during registration process.
- Document requirements for Business accounts
For the completion of the KYB process more documents are required such as:
To upload through eCREDO dashboard:
- Official certificate of incorporation
- Memorandum & Articles of association
- Confirmation of Company’s Directors
- Latest annual return confirmation
To download, complete and upload through eCREDO dashboard:
- Onboarding application form
- Fitness and probity Questionnaire
To download, complete and send by email once the onboarding officer makes contact:
- Document check list
Additional documents will be required by the compliance department for evaluation and in such case the onboarding officer will be in direct contact with the customer.
