TL;DR
- A regulated firm runs Know Your Business (KYB) checks before a business customer can open an account or move money, to confirm the company is real and to see who owns it.
- Verifiers run four steps: verify the business, identify its ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs), assess risk, and keep monitoring.
- Requirements differ by country. The US, UAE, Hong Kong and Brazil all use 25% ownership as the benchmark for beneficial owners, but each asks for different business information.
- Providers commonly ask for a certificate of incorporation, a company profile or registry extract, a shareholding chart and ID documents for each UBO. The exact list depends on the provider and the country.
What is KYB?
KYB stands for Know Your Business. Banks, lenders, payment companies and fintechs run KYB to confirm that a business they onboard is legally registered, legitimate, and owned and run by the people it declares. They do it before the business can open an account or move money, to manage fraud and financial crime risk and to meet their regulatory obligations. [REVIEW NEEDED: AML/KYC regulatory obligation]
Compliance teams also call KYB corporate KYC or business KYC, because it applies Know Your Customer checks to a company and to the people behind it.
KYB compliance is the legal duty behind those checks. Each market's anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) laws set what a regulated firm must check, record and keep reviewing about its business customers. [REVIEW NEEDED: AML/KYC regulatory obligation]
Why do firms need KYB compliance?
A firm that onboards a fraudulent company carries the fines and the losses itself, and regulators expect proof that it tried not to. [REVIEW NEEDED: AML/KYC regulatory obligation]
- Stop financial crime at onboarding. Criminals use shell companies and front companies to launder money. Verifying a business before it can move funds makes that harder.
- Catch document fraud. Fraudsters submit forged certificates of incorporation, altered registry extracts and fake addresses. Verifiers compare each document against official company registries.
- Meet KYB regulations. Regulators expect a written KYB policy, records of every check, and evidence that the firm applied its checks consistently. [REVIEW NEEDED: regulatory obligation]
- Protect the firm. A firm that onboards a fraudulent company risks financial losses, fines and reputational damage.
Know Your Business (KYB) requirements and documents
KYB requirements change by country, by provider and by how risky the business is. Regulators set the minimum, and each provider decides the exact documents it asks for.
KYB requirements by country: US, UAE, Hong Kong and Brazil
This table is based on the rules we found at the time of writing and is for general guidance only. Rules can change. Before you rely on them, check the current requirements with the relevant regulator or a legal adviser and do your own due diligence.
These are the minimums for banks and other regulated financial institutions in each market. Other licensed firms can face different rules, and a provider can ask for more than the minimum.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- United States. Companies created in the US no longer report beneficial ownership information to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act. In a final rule issued on 11 August 2026, FinCEN made the exemption permanent. This covers government reporting only. Banks still collect beneficial ownership information when a business opens an account.
- United States. Since 13 February 2026, covered banks no longer have to identify and verify a business's beneficial owners each time it opens a new account.
- UAE. Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 replaced the 2018 anti-money laundering law. Its executive regulations, Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025, came into force on 14 December 2025.
- Brazil. Since 1 January 2026, companies report their beneficial owners to the Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) through a digital form called the e-BEF.
What providers commonly ask for
Business information
- Legal name and legal form, for example a private limited company or a partnership
- Company registration number
- Registered address and operating address
- Line of business: what the company does and where
- Directors and officers
- Ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs)
Documents
- Certificate of incorporation
- Company profile or business registry extract
- Shareholding chart that shows the ownership structure
- Register of directors
- Identity documents for each beneficial owner
- Source of funds or source of wealth evidence, for higher-risk businesses
Reap's own KYB requirements follow this pattern. When a platform submits a business it has already verified, Reap asks for a certificate of incorporation, a company profile and a shareholding chart, plus at least one beneficial owner and that person's identity documents. For further details on Reap's KYB process you can contact us or check out our API docs.
Some countries add their own requirements. Reap's Mexico programmes, for example, may collect an extra ownership declaration and more company details.
The KYB process flow, step by step
Most KYB programmes follow these four steps:
1. Verify the business
The first KYB check confirms that the company exists and matches what it declared. The business submits its registration details and documents. The verifier checks them against official registries and looks for signs of forged or altered paperwork.
2. Identify the ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs)
Next, the verifier identifies the people who own or control the business, against an ownership threshold each regulator sets for itself.
- United States, UAE, Hong Kong and Brazil. See the thresholds in the table above. The US and UAE count anyone with 25% or more. Hong Kong counts anyone with more than 25%. Brazil caps the threshold at 25%, so firms there can set a lower one.
- United Kingdom. Companies House defines a person with significant control as, usually, anyone who holds more than 25% of the shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of directors, or can otherwise control the company.
Each UBO then completes an individual identity check (KYC). Regulators focus on UBOs because hidden ownership is how criminals disguise who really controls a company.
3. Assess risk and run due diligence
With the business and its owners verified, the verifier assesses risk. KYB due diligence looks at the business's ownership structure and industry, and at the countries where it operates. The verifier also screens the business and its owners against sanctions lists and politically exposed person (PEP) lists. Firms apply enhanced due diligence to higher-risk businesses, which can mean source of funds evidence or deeper ownership checks. [REVIEW NEEDED: AML/KYC regulatory obligation]
4. Monitor the business over time
KYB continues after onboarding. US banks, for example, must run ongoing monitoring to identify and report suspicious transactions and, on a risk basis, keep customer information up to date, including beneficial ownership. Many firms use KYB monitoring systems that recheck registries and watchlists automatically and flag changes in ownership, directors or sanctions status for review.
Who needs KYB?
Regulated financial institutions run most KYB checks, because AML rules require them to verify business customers. [REVIEW NEEDED: AML/KYC regulatory obligation]
- Banks run KYB before they open business accounts. KYB in banking tends to be detailed, because banks hold and move client funds.
- Lenders verify a borrowing business and its owners before they extend credit.
- Payment companies and payment processors verify merchants and platforms before they process payments for them.
- Fintechs and card issuers verify business clients before they give them accounts or corporate cards.
Companies outside regulated finance often run KYB voluntarily, for example to vet suppliers or partners before they sign a contract.
KYB vs KYC: what is the difference?
KYC (Know Your Customer) verifies an individual person. KYB verifies a business, and then runs KYC on each person who owns or controls it. Reap runs both through one compliance module: see how KYC works on Reap.
How KYB works on Reap
Platforms that issue corporate cards on Reap verify their business customers through Reap's KYB as a service. A platform picks either Managed KYB or Universal KYB, once, for the whole project.
- Managed KYB. Reap hosts the verification session. The platform sends its client a link, and the client's representative submits registration details, ownership structure and corporate documents through Reap's hosted form. Each officer and beneficial owner completes their own KYC, and Reap reviews the company and sends the result by webhook.
- Universal KYB. A platform that has already verified its clients submits the verified business pack and supporting documents through the API, and Reap reviews them. The client's existing verification carries over.
Businesses that open a Reap Business Account directly go through KYB too. The documents Reap asks for depend on the country where the business is incorporated and its entity type. The Reap Help Center lists them by country in KYB document requirements by country.
FAQs
What does KYB stand for?
Know Your Business.
What is a KYB check?
A KYB check verifies a business's identity and ownership. The verifier confirms the company's registration details against official registries, identifies its ultimate beneficial owners and verifies their identities. It then screens the business and its owners against sanctions lists.
What documents are required for KYB?
The core set proves who the company is and who stands behind it: incorporation and registry paperwork, the shareholding structure, and identity documents for every ultimate beneficial owner. A verifier may ask a higher-risk business for a register of directors and for source of funds or source of wealth evidence.
What does KYB mean in AML?
Generally, in anti-money laundering (AML), KYB is customer due diligence for business customers. Financial institutions use it to find out who really owns and controls a company, so criminals cannot hide behind it to move money.
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