In the European Union Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive which has been dubbed “the most sweeping AML legislation in Europe in several years” the EU has increased its emphasis on Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedures.
Well, of course this makes sense as the body is trying to tighten the noose around financial crimes in its many forms and of course terrorist financing. Money has to come from a source and be received by a second party. Every form of financial crime tries to shroud the source or recipient in some level of mystery.
Financial experts understand that once you know where a particular fund is coming from both its source and what business generated it, you will block money laundering. They also understand that once you can identify the recipient of any funds, you will also be able to block terrorist financing.
Given the above, knowing your customer is not something that the EU is taking lightly and neither should any business. Just in case some businesses do not see the need to improve their KYC and CDD, the European Union Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive spells out a few guidelines that businesses MUST adhere to with regards to KYC and CDD.
Some of the key changes made with regards to KYC include the expansion of the PEP (politically exposed persons) list and mandatory disclosure of beneficial ownership of companies and other such organizations. These form a database that customers have to be checked against to consistently ensure their standing.
It is now the duty of every business to screen new customers against the EU sanctions lists and to also carry out on-going screening of existing customers against the list. In addition to this, affected organizations will be required to constantly monitor its clients’ list to know if any is a PEP or qualifies as an RCA (Relatives and Close Associates) of a PEP.
How to Stay Updated
Trapets AB, a European company currently a leading force in the area of market surveillance and monitoring offers a service that makes KYC and CDD processes efficient and easy. The service is called the InstantWatch KYC.
This is a service that it provides at an affordable cost, making it perfectly suited for small businesses that are eager to stay compliant and also large businesses that do not want to take on the added task of setting up an internal screening system.
With the Trapets AB’s InstantWatch KYC service, you can screen your customers against the EU’s sanctions list and also track your customers to know if they are PEPs or RCAs. That’s not all, since the new directive requires the disclosure of beneficial ownership to include Anglo-American organizations, the service also offers screening against the U.S. Ofac/SDN list.
Now, talk about a complete KYC solution that gets you compliant on many fronts. There are other parts to the InstantWatch platform. The InstantWatch Market platform will help you with automated monitoring and surveillance of transactions to watch out for market abuse and manipulations while InstantWatch AML helps your business screen against money laundering and terrorist financing among other things.
Take advantage of the ease of use and efficiency offered by the InstantWatch KYC for your KYC screening and CDD and enjoy the rest of mind that comes from knowing you are fully compliant.
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