More NewsSix More Banks Join SWIFT KYC Registry

Six More Banks Join SWIFT KYC Registry

SWIFT said that six more global banks have signed up to jointly develop its Know Your Customer (KYC) Registry, a centralised repository that maintains a standardised set of information about banks required for due diligence processes.

Barclays joined in April
and has been followed by Deutsche Bank, Erste Group Bank AG, HSBC, ING and Raiffeisen Bank International as the latest banks to sign up to the SWIFT-led KYC initiative, bringing the total number of participants to 12. These institutions join Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Commerzbank, JPMorgan, Société Générale and Standard Chartered, whose participation in the KYC initiative was announced last March.

“Collaboration is playing a major role in the development of this industry-driven initiative,” said Luc Meurant, head of banking markets and compliance services at SWIFT. “Banks want to collectively address the challenges around KYC compliance and SWIFT is well placed to help.

“We are receiving tremendous support from the banking community and are making great progress delivering a tool the industry needs to better support KYC compliance for correspondent banking.”

The 12 banks have participated in a SWIFT-led working group to agree the Registry’s processes as well as the documentation and data that will fulfil most of the basic KYC requirements across multiple jurisdictions. A number of working group banks are already populating the Registry with their own relevant KYC information, and user testing of the Registry’s secure, web-based platform is ongoing.

SWIFT said that in September, an additional group of major banks will begin contributing their company data, helping to ensure a rich set of information is available when the KYC Registry goes live at the end of the year after the current pilot.

The KYC Registry is an initiative developed by SWIFT in collaboration with the financial industry and will help banks manage their compliance challenges and reduce the high costs associated with implementing KYC-related regulations.

The principle behind the Registry is that each user will have a standardised access point to obtain details on their counterparties, while remaining in control of their own information and which institutions can view it.

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