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Compliance · KYC

Know Your Customer

The regulatory requirement on financial institutions and licensed agents to verify the identity of clients before establishing a business relationship.

Also known as:KYCKYCCustomer due diligence

Definition

The regulatory requirement on financial institutions and licensed agents to verify the identity of clients before establishing a business relationship.

Know Your Customer (KYC) is the bedrock anti-money-laundering process that every licensed financial institution, professional firm, and CBI/RBI agent must complete before transacting with a client. Core KYC components are: government-issued ID verification, proof of address (typically a utility bill or bank statement under three months old), and confirmation of beneficial ownership for any corporate vehicle in the transaction chain.

KYC sits below due diligence in scope — it confirms who you are, not how you got your money or whether your background is clean. Enhanced KYC (EDD) extends the basic check to source-of-funds, source-of-wealth, and adverse-media screening.

FAFT Recommendation 10 and EU AMLD-6 set the international standards for KYC; CBI states have all aligned domestic legislation with these.

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