Reliable and airtight KYC compliance service


KYC verification (Know Your Customer or Know Your Client) and compliance is an essential part of many business processes across a wide range of industries. What it boils down to, is that to safely and effectively do your job, you have to know your customers. But knowing how to set up an effective process can be challenging. Is your process staying up to date on changing industry standards? Is your process ready to grow with you? KYC verification enables you to verify that a client is who they claim to be upon their initial onboarding and also periodically over time.

After working with hundreds of enterprise companies to conduct KYC and AML product research, we discovered that most organizations had seriously flawed compliance screening programs. This was largely due to inadequate screening controls, misinterpretations of regulations, an inappropriate risk appetite, and an overall lack of proactive fraud protection. Not to mention, their use of manual systems allowed for human error, which further magnified the need to replace outdated compliance screening processes.

To address this critical need, we created our compliance solutions with the intent of guiding our customers through confusing regulations and empowering them with the tools they need to protect their organizations.

Regulations have a major impact on how your business functions and its profitability. They also have serious implications for your clients. If you do not have a process or a poor one, your organization is vulnerable to many risks. On the other hand, having a flexible and streamlined KYC verification process puts the power back in your corner. It allows you to efficiently verify identities, improve the onboarding process, assess the risk factors of doing business with a client, limit fraud, and ultimately protect your business’s reputation.

clients id status

Best practices

There are three best practices organizations can adopt to protect themselves and prevent fraud.

  • Identify the people you work with. Know your customer and ensure they are who they say they are. Use this as a first step to ensure by verifying their date of birth, address, and government-issued ID number. 
  • Perform your due diligence. After your customer’s identity is verified, ensure that you want to do business with them. Screen the users against the global watchlist before you commit to doing business with them.
  • Maintain regular ongoing monitoring.  Customers change over time. Ensure you want to continue to do business with your customer by regularly monitoring, stay up-to-date on changes, and react quickly and properly when a client is flagged as a risk.

Manually completing these best practices can be time-consuming and expensive, especially for high-growth businesses. That said, an automated compliance solution has the power to streamline and strengthen your procedures for enhanced security, reduced costs, and ease of access for new onboarding clients.

Customer due diligence compliance solution

For organizations in the financial services industry and many others, compliance strongly influences the way clients open personal accounts and complete financial transactions on a device. Not surprisingly, most customers want the ease and accessibility of online services, but this comes with a heavy burden for many companies. In addition to providing a flexible and frictionless user experience, they must also comply with AML and KYC regulations to prevent fraud, financial crimes, terrorism financing, and other schemes. 

In recent years, regulations have become much more strict, especially for financial institutions. However, whether your organization is subject to regulations or not, implementing streamlined processes is key to protecting your company and your customers. Today, companies of all sizes in many industries are embracing KYC procedures, such as:

  • Financial services
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Gaming
  • E-cigarette and vaping

By offering your customers a seamless identity verification solution that provides convenience for them and protection for you, you’ll reap the benefits of meeting your KYC obligations and boosting your onboarding conversions.

Our seamless process

Generally, the verification process includes:

  • Gathering client data and compiling customer profiles.
  • Flagging risks and further investigating customer profiles.
  • Making decisions on potentially high-risk customers.

Traditionally, this has all been done manually with humans, but completing the process during initial onboarding and periodically is very time-consuming and expensive. Over time, it can even cut into your profits or hinder your growth by increasing the cost of gaining new clients.

As your business grows, a seamless, technology-led approach to processes can provide the flexibility you need to adhere to the rapidly-changing regulations. Instead of accruing more costly onboarding expenses and more risk, an automated solution can offer a more user-friendly onboarding process that easily adapts to your current flow. Ultimately, it will enhance the safety and security of your onboarding process while also increasing the number of customers your business can take on.

Flexible API integration

Integrating Cognito’s API is quick and easy because it was designed by developers, for developers. To solve common API frustrations and make Cognito as developer-friendly as possible, we set out to provide extensive documentation and clear abstractions of identity concepts, a flexible API that’s compatible with several programming languages, and a quick sign-up process.

With Cognito’s in-depth documentation and client SDKs, integrations are more likely to be done correctly the first time, preventing breakdowns in the future when edge cases come up. This results in reduced friction for Cognito customers and their end-users, as they don’t require constant fixes or support on the basics.

Our hands-on support team creates dedicated Slack rooms for each client and we are available to assist as necessary throughout the lifetime of the customer relationship, not just during the launch period. Developers can also start experimenting with the Cognito API right away by signing up for API keys—no contract-signing or sales calls necessary.

Reliable know your customer checks and screening with Cognito

Regardless of the industry you’re in or the way your organization does business, striking a balance between implementing powerful compliance solutions and ensuring an easy, user-friendly onboarding experience can be challenging. However, that balance is key to your business’s success. 

Cognito is designed with high-growth businesses in mind, helping you securely manage an increased influx of new customers and keep fraud schemes at bay. We provide these invaluable benefits with dependable, accurate data, and a reliable framework.

If you’re ready to replace your manual and slow processes, improve your business’s fraud protection, and increase your onboarding conversions, you’ve come to the right place. 

Whether you’re looking to integrate automated Cognito KYC solutions within your app or your website, a Cognito expert can show you just how easy it is to get started. We’ve helped many other organizations complete the same process in a way that works best for their industry, their signup flow, and their budget. Speak with someone on our team today to get expert advice.


Relevant Insights

3 Reasons Why It’s Time To Upgrade Your IDV Solution

5 Tips to Optimizing Match Rates

6 Best Practices for ID Verification

Ready to get started?