Know your business checks are usually listed as a menu of lookups, which hides the only question worth asking about each one: what does this check actually prove, and how long does it stay true. This page goes through the checks a business customer file typically carries, what each is good for, and how to record them so that the file answers questions later rather than raising them.
Existence, control, ownership
Three questions, in that order. Does the entity exist, which a registry usually answers. Who can act for it, which the customer answers and the registry sometimes corroborates. And who owns it, which is the hard one, because it has to end at named individuals. A file that has run the first two and stopped is common and is not finished. Each answer should be recorded with its source and its date, because a registry extract is a snapshot and everybody involved will forget when it was taken.
A check proves something on a date, and only on that date
This is the sentence that changes how the file is kept. A verification result is true as of the moment it was run, and the further you get from that moment the less it is worth. That is why the useful record is not a folder of PDFs but a set of items each carrying what was checked, against what source, on what date and by whom. It is also why the review interval is part of the check rather than an administrative afterthought.
What we do and do not do here
Clientvo does not run these checks. It does not screen customers against sanctions or watchlist data, it does not capture or verify identity documents, and it does not search registries for you. Those are separate products and you will buy them separately or do the work by hand. What this site is about is the file that records which checks were run, what they returned, when, and what you decided as a result, alongside the rating and the review date.
Questions people ask about know your business checks
What is the minimum set of KYB checks?
There is no universal minimum, because it depends on your firm and your customers. The shape that recurs is: confirm the entity, confirm who controls it, identify the beneficial owners as individuals, and record all three with their sources and dates.
Is a KYB check the same as KYB verification?
They are used interchangeably. If you want to be precise inside your own policy, treat the check as the act and the verification as the conclusion you drew from it, and make sure the file records both rather than only the second.
Do KYB checks expire?
Nothing formally expires, but the value of a check decays because companies change. That is what the review interval is for: a rating that says how long you are willing to let a picture of this customer stand before you take another one.