Solutions | CIP/KYC

Meeting the KYC/ CIP Challenge

Implementing a Know Your Customer/ Customer Identification program (KYC/ CIP) is among the most basic tenets of Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act, and is required as part of your overall strategy for AML compliance.

However, a comprehensive KYC/CIP program involves much more than just identifying customers; it requires the development of customer profiles and a true understanding of the expected scope of your customer relationships.

Keys to an effective KYC/CIP program:

• Understanding your customer begins at the time of account opening during initial Customer Due Diligence. CDD risk scoring and risk rating enables the institution to understand the level of risk an applicant brings.
• There are several verification methodologies that may be used to assess an applicant’s viability as a customer
  • Logical verification – identity verification
  • Positive verification – identity authentication
  • Negative verification – OFAC list comparison, PEP scrubs, screening for anti-crime and terrorism watch lists
• Once you’ve developed an initial customer risk rating, ongoing CIP validation and account behavior profile assessments can be used to update the initial risk score and provide an ongoing risk assessment.
• It’s critical to establish a baseline for normal or expected activity patterns on an existing account. Activities outside of expected patterns of behavior will then trigger warnings of suspicious activity.

As you can see, identity verification techniques and ongoing customer assessments are critical to meeting the KYC/ CIP challenge and should be at the heart of your institution’s solution.

More than just compliance.

It’s important to know that an effective KYC/CIP program delivers much more than regulatory compliance. With the appropriate effort and focus, your KYC/CIP program can and will result in tangible benefits for your financial institution and your customers.

To help you meet the regulatory requirements and truly realize the operational benefits of a robust KYC/CIP program, we offer Wiz Sentri: RiskID, our comprehensive CIP software solution, as well as Wiz Sentri: Transaction Monitor and Wiz Sentri: Anti-Fraud, for ongoing monitoring of accounts and customer activity.

To learn more about RiskID, Transaction Monitor or Anti-Fraud please click a link on the right.