More and more entrepreneurs are noticing that their bank or insurance company does not ask questions once, but returns regularly with questions about the owners, managers and activities of their company. This is called KYB, from Know Your Business, and the control behind it has become more extensive and frequent in recent years. The reason is not that your bank distrusts you, but that the rules that banks and insurance companies must comply with are becoming stricter and more detailed.
What exactly changes differs per institution and per country, and the exact interpretation is not up to supplia.eu but to the supervisor and the institution itself. What can be said is: the trend is clear. Controls that used to take place when opening an account or policy are now carried out periodically, and the questionnaires associated with them are becoming more specific about ownership, control and source of funds.
What KYB means, in short
KYB is the control that a bank, insurance company or other financial institution performs to know which company it does business with. This includes, among other things, the question of who the ultimate beneficial owners are, also known as UBOs, what the nature of the business activities is and whether there is reason to be extra vigilant about money laundering or terrorist financing. This control is not new, but the way institutions carry it out is changing.
Why these controls come back more often
Banks and insurance companies are required by law to know their customers and keep that picture up to date. Supervisors increasingly expect institutions not only to check at the start of a relationship, but also afterwards, especially when there is a change in the ownership structure, activities or risk profile of a customer. At European level, work is underway on further harmonisation of anti-money laundering rules, with a new central supervisor in this field. What this will concretely mean for the questionnaires you receive as an entrepreneur is not yet fixed in detail at the time of writing and also differs per Member State. For the exact current status, we refer to the official texts and to the supervisor responsible for your sector.
What this can mean for you as an entrepreneur
The practical consequence is that as an entrepreneur you receive a questionnaire from your bank or insurance company more often, even if nothing has changed as far as you are concerned. This may involve confirmation of your UBO data, an update of your Chamber of Commerce registration, or an explanation of a large transaction. Institutions do not ask for this because they suspect something, but because they must record this periodically to meet their own obligations. For you, this mainly means that the same basic data comes up more often, with different institutions, in different formats.
What doesn't change
The core of what an institution may ask remains broadly the same: data needed to assess the company, its owners and the risk. What varies is the frequency and level of detail. For example, a bank may ask more often for a recent extract or an up-to-date UBO declaration, while the underlying question - who is the ultimate beneficial owner - remains unchanged.
How to approach this practically
Because the same data comes back each time, it helps to keep it up to date in one place rather than gathering it again with each request. Think of a recent Chamber of Commerce extract, the UBO structure, a statement about the nature of activities and, where relevant, information about the source of funds for larger transactions. When these documents are in order and you know when they expire, filling out a new KYB questionnaire takes considerably less time. In the knowledge base with topics per situation you will find an overview of which documents belong to which question and where they come from.
It is up to you, or to a lawyer or compliance adviser, to assess whether a specific question from your bank or insurer is justified and how best to answer it. Supplia.eu does not substantively assess any questionnaire and does not submit anything on your behalf; we only help you find and reuse answers you have already given before.
If you want to know which recurring questionnaires are relevant for your business, you can check that in a few minutes via the recognition check with a first indication. For those who want to know how supplia.eu obtains the information that appears on the site, this is explained on the page explanation of where the information comes from. Frequently asked questions about KYB, UBO and the role of banks and insurers are bundled on the page with answers to questions that come up more often.
A KYB questionnaire that comes up frequently is usually not a sign that something is wrong, but a consequence of rules that apply to the entire sector. If you have your basic file in order, you do not need to spend time on it every time.