Standard Chartered Bank last week its intent to join Thomson Reuters Org ID regional managed service solution for Know Your Customer (KYC) due diligence in South Africa which Thomson Reuters launched in July 2016 with design partner banks Barclays Africa, Rand Merchant Bank (a division of FirstRand Bank) and Standard Bank of South Africa. 

All four banks are committed to using the Org ID service to perform KYC and wider due diligence on their populations of corporate and institutional banking clients. 

Standard Chartered Bank

Earlier this year, Standard Chartered Bank completed an initial review and proof of concept with Thomson Reuters Org ID to review their customer on-boarding approach in South Africa. 

Standard Chartered Bank is expected to go live towards the end of this quarter.

“For a global bank like ours with a growing regional presence, remaining competitive and making it easy for our clients to do business with us requires a simplified and innovative approach to client on-boarding and data management. Industry collaboration through managed service solution is an opportunity for banks to address operational challenges and improve client experience,” said Stephen Priestley, regional head of Global Banking – Africa, Middle East and Pakistan, Standard Chartered Bank. “Our local and global teams conducted rigorous operational and compliance due diligence of the African KYC managed service, and the Proof-of-Concept satisfied our requirements. We are pleased to be joining the service with three other well-known financial institutions in Africa.”

South Africa focus

As part of its commitment to their service in Africa, Thomson Reuters is working closely with the design partner banks, adapting the service to incorporate specific regulatory requirements in South Africa. Thomson Reuters has built out operational hubs in Johannesburg and Cape Town, augmenting existing centres in Poland, Malaysia and the UK, intelligently co-locating with an existing World-Check operational centre in Cape Town, which houses over 150 staff.

Sneha Shah, managing director, Africa, Thomson Reuters, said: “We are very pleased that Standard Chartered Bank is coming on board, leveraging our African KYC managed service for its regional clients. When we and the original three design partner banks launched the managed service for Africa last summer, we anticipated significant traction from both local and international banks operating in South Africa. That adoption is coming to pass, and we expect this trend to continue into 2018.” 

Global service

Since its 2014 launch, Thomson Reuters Org ID KYC solution now serves 26 major financial institutions and asset management firms, manages over 350,000 KYC records and publishes more than 1.25 million continuously refreshed legal entity profiles in over 140 countries, helping customers accelerate their client on-boarding, comply with regulation, reduce costs and improve client experience.

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CTMfile take: The low key announcement by Thomson Reuters about SCB joining their Org ID service in Africa on May 16th hides a revolution in KYC: third party operators in the KYC space are racing ahead of many inhouse KYC departments in banks and corporates who just cannot keep up with the changing regulations and the ever increasing demands for improved anti-money laundering and cybersecurity safeguards.