SWIFT has announced that more than 1,125 financial institutions (FIs) have signed up for its Know Your Customer (KYC) Registry, since the financial messaging services provider launched the repository in December 2014.
The KYC Registry is centralised repository that maintains a standardised set of information about FIs required for KYC compliance, which it provides for correspondent banks as well as fund distributors and custodians. The Registry is operated by SWIFT and was developed in collaboration with major global banks worldwide.
Banks contribute an agreed ‘baseline’ set of data and documentation for validation by SWIFT, which the contributors can then share with their counterparties. Each bank retains ownership of its own information, as well as control over which other institutions can view it.
Banks are not charged for data contribution, or for using the Registry to share their KYC information with other banks. To maximise the Registry’s benefits, data consumption is free in 2015 for banks that contribute their own KYC information to the Registry and promote it to their correspondents.
SWIFT added that KYC Registry adoption had shown “strong momentum”, with banks in 152 countries now on board. The Registry is well-represented worldwide, with more than 575 institutions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; over 180 in the Americas; and nearly 375 in the Asia Pacific region.
“The KYC Registry is helping the industry to increase efficiency and mitigate cost and risk associated with KYC compliance,” said Luc Meurant, head of compliance services, SWIFT.
“The rapid adoption by the financial community is a clear indication of the industry’s collaborative support for a standardised approach to address KYC compliance challenges worldwide. We look forward to working with our community to further expand the Registry and the benefits for its users.”
Further information about The KYC Registry is available at https://www.betterkyc.com/