SWIFT’s KYC Registry reaches 3,000 members milestone
The financial messaging services provider says that nearly two years on from the launch, members typically report a 45% reduction in time spent on due diligence.
The financial messaging services provider says that nearly two years on from the launch, members typically report a 45% reduction in time spent on due diligence.
SWIFT reports that more than 3,000 financial institutions have now signed up to use its Know Your Customer (KYC) Registry. Launched in December 2014, the centralised repository maintains a standardised set of information about financial institutions required for KYC compliance and “enables banks, fund distributors and custodians to maintain and grow their correspondent network.”
“We’ve reached the tipping point in terms of industry participation in The KYC Registry,” says Bart Claeys, head of KYC compliance services, SWIFT. “Collecting KYC documentation is a time-consuming and expensive process that uses considerable staff resources. The KYC Registry tackles this challenge head on by providing an information ‘baseline’ that addresses more than 80% of the KYC data and documentation required to support the on-going due diligence of correspondent banking partners or the on-boarding of new relationships.”
A recent survey conducted by SWIFT suggests that while The KYC Registry is still in the ramp-up phase, it is already fulfilling its industry obligations with survey respondents spending, on average, 45% less time performing due diligence on a counterparty when using the repository