Banking
Published  13 MIN READ

Step Away from the Edge: Facing the KYC Cliff

With the average global treasury team reportedly spending more than one day each week dealing with know your customer (KYC) requirements, compliance remains a significant pain point for treasurers worldwide. What progress is being made to help treasurers – and their banks to overcome this headache? Are regional approaches worthwhile or should we be holding out for a global solution? Can fintechs save the day? Industry experts answer these questions and more.

Werner Fontanive

Werner Fontanive

Member of the Executive Team of SWISS POST and Head of New Business Regulatory Data Services, Co-founder, cinfoni

Although the extraordinary coronavirus pandemic is occupying treasurers’ minds at present, everyday challenges have by no means vanished. One of the top day-to-day pain points treasury teams face is dealing with the KYC requirements of banks across the globe. In fact, recent research supported by SWIFT shows that 93% of treasurers believe KYC requests are more challenging today than they were five years ago. In addition, more than 50% of treasury professionals have reduced the number of banks they work with to avoid lengthy KYC processes.

Marc Delbaere, Global Head of Corporates and Trade, SWIFT, neatly outlines the issues behind these eye-opening statistics: “Treasurers who work with multiple banking partners in different regulatory jurisdictions across the globe have to provide KYC data in multiple formats, often through bilateral exchanges, in order to meet the regulatory requirements of each partner, which is costly, time-consuming and inefficient.”