Why is this information required?
Centime offers payment services across AP and AR in partnership with regulated financial institutions. As a result, we must collect information in compliance with US Financial KYC/KYB and AML Regulations.
- First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) is our Bank partner (and strategic investor in Centime), offering our Clients ACH services.
- Adyen is one of the largest payment processors in the US and offers our Clients a Merchant Account.
KYC and KYB
FNBO and Adyen are regulated financial institutions. As a result, they must have the details of the company and individuals procuring payment services to complete their compliance checks before they can turn on payment services. KYC (Know Your Customer) and KYB (Know Your Business) are regulatory processes used in the US to prevent financial crimes like money laundering and fraud.
- KYC:
- Customer Identification: Financial institutions must verify and understand their customers’ identities and assess their risk levels.
- Documentation: This involves collecting documents such as ID proofs, SSNs, personal addresses, address verification, and other information to validate a customer’s identity.
- Risk Assessment: Evaluate the risk associated with a customer’s financial activities to ensure they align with their profile and expected behavior.
- Ongoing Monitoring: Continuous monitoring of customer transactions is required to detect and report suspicious or unusual activities.
- KYB:
- Business Verification: Similar to KYC but specifically tailored for businesses, it involves verifying the identity and legitimacy of a business entity.
- Ownership Structure: Involves understanding the ownership structure, beneficial owners, and key business stakeholders.
- Business Operations: Evaluate the nature of business activities, the source of funds, and the purpose of transactions to ensure they are legitimate.
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensures that the business complies with all relevant regulations and laws, especially those concerning money laundering and terrorist financing.
- KYC and KYB are crucial in the financial sector to mitigate risks associated with money laundering, fraud, and other illicit activities by ensuring transparency, due diligence, and compliance with regulations.
- As part of KYC due diligence, there is a constant process of checking compliance as customers may be added to sanctions and other watchlists over time: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/aml.asp
Centime and our regulated Financial Institutions, with whom we offer payment services, require your CFO and Owner's SSN to perform our KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance process, as these are the key people who control the company.
Adding ownership information
After the integration with the General Ledger is complete, users can add their business's ownership information to Centime. This is a regulatory requirement to activate any Centime payment and credit solutions.
Navigation: Settings > Company profile > Ownership and Control
Click on the 'ADD INDIVIDUAL' button to start adding the desired roles. Users will have to add information such as their Legal first and last name, DOB, and SSN, as seen below.
To activate a payment product on Centime, users will have to provide information about all the beneficial owners, at least one Controlling Officer, and one Authorized Signatory.
Role definitions
- Beneficial owners: Individuals who own 25% or more of the business
- Controlling officers: Individuals who can make materially significant decisions on behalf of the business
- Authorized signatories: Individuals who are authorized to bind the business to contracts legally