Thomson Reuters have launched a new solution to support financial institutions and their clients to increase efficiency and reduce costs in complying with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. Accelus Org ID was developed in partnership with leading financial institutions, corporations, asset managers and hedge funds and following discussions with nine regulators from key financial markets around the world. Providing a complete managed service covering the on-boarding of clients, risk categorization and risk screening, Accelus Org ID allows financial institutions to more effectively respond to new and ongoing regulatory requirements around the world.

Neutral central clearing house

Accelus Org ID acts as a neutral ‘central clearing house’ by creating accurate identity documentation, which works as a globally-recognized KYC ‘passport’, and provides the ability to screen for high money laundering risk characteristics, negative news flow or sanctions issues. The clients of financial institutions submit a single set of identity documents to Accelus Org ID and can make them available to all of their authorized financial institutions.

Accelus Org ID has been introduced with the participation of a working group of financial services professionals that have been assisting in defining and validating the requirements for the management and on-going distribution of identity data and documents collected as part of the Thomson Reuters service. Tradeweb Markets, an affiliate of Thomson Reuters and a leading global provider of electronic fixed income and derivatives marketplaces, has engaged with Thomson Reuters regarding the KYC service and Thomson Reuters Transaction Services Ltd, an FCA-regulated global provider of electronic FX brokerage services, participated in a beta trial of the service and is now live on Accelus Org ID.

Centrally updated as new regulations come into effect

Accelus Org ID supports financial institutions in efficiently identifying and completing the required on-going maintenance of client identity data, including periodic and event driven reviews. The service is centrally updated as new regulations come into effect and covers rules and regulations surrounding the AML, FATCA, Dodd-Frank, EMIR and MIFID, supporting KYC compliance in the US, Europe, Asia and the emerging markets. The solution is fully secure and easily integrates with financial institutions’ existing internal systems. Utilizing Thomson Reuters extensive proprietary risk and compliance assets which already support leading financial institutions and corporations around the world, the service is available globally in 63 languages.

Which KYC utility to use

There are now four KYC utility platforms. The other three are:

• SWIFT announced last month that it had recruited a group of major banks to help develop its centralised KYC utility for the collection and distribution of standard information required by banks as part of their due diligence processes.
• Switzerland-based KYC Exchange launched in January a Web-based communication platform in January for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) data sharing for the international banking community
• IdenTrust’s KYC Exchange launched in 2012.

The issue for corporates is that none of these KYC utilities are going to have a complete monopoly and you won’t be able to choose which one your bank or financial institution uses. So your documents are going to be stored in at least four utilities, but that is still better than the current position because all of these KYC platforms will have much more control of who has access, and they will be compliant with the latest regulations.