KYB (Know Your Business)
The flow for verifying business entities is similar to verifying individuals but with a few more steps.
Like KYC is used for individual entities, KYB is used to verify business entities.
There are some KYB-specific parts of the verification process to be aware of:
- Business members
- Certification
Business Members and Roles
Business Member
Individual entities that are linked to business entities are known as "business members." They are linked using /link_business_member and are assigned a role (administrator, controlling officer, beneficial owner).
All business members must also go through their own individual KYC verification.
Business Roles
KYB requires that the ownership structure of a business be expressed in such a way that the identity of beneficial owners and controlling officers can be related back to the business. In order to clarify this relationship, this API defines several business roles.
Users can hold multiple roles.
| Role | Required |
|---|---|
| Administrator | All Business Types |
| Controlling Officer | All Business Types |
| Beneficial Owner | See table below |
Administrator will be used to link the other business members and certify beneficial owners and the business, if necessary.
Controlling Officers must be a principal of the company with the authority to bind the company specifically by delegation in the company’s organizational documents (or by action of the board, voting members, partners, etc.). In other words, Controlling Officers are individuals with leadership positions and have the ability to sign contracts for the business.
- Businesses also must have a controlling officer linked before requesting KYC. If there is only one controlling officer linked, that member cannot be unlinked until another controlling officer is linked.
- The Administrator must be used to certify the other business users, so you have to link them prior to the Controlling Officer.
Beneficial Owners are those with a 25%+ stake in the business.
All business types must have an Administrator and a Controlling Officer. The need for a Beneficial Owner varies by business type:
| Business Type | Beneficial Owner Required? |
|---|---|
| Sole proprietorship | Not required |
| Trust | Not required |
| Unincorporated Association | Not required |
| Public Corporation | Not required |
| Partnership | required for > 25% ownership |
| Non-Profit | required for > 25% ownership |
| LP | required for > 25% ownership |
| LLP | required for > 25% ownership |
| LLC | required for > 25% ownership |
| Corporation | required for > 25% ownership |
Certification
For most business types, the administrator will need to certify the beneficial owners and the business.
/certify_beneficial_owner - the administrator is certifying that all major beneficial owners (25% stake and higher) have been registered with the correct PII and ownership stakes, and linked to the business.
/certify_business - the administrator certifies that all beneficial members have been certified.
Certification and Transacting
Business entities will not be able to transact until certification has been completed.
KYB Endpoint Flow
Register both the business and business members. Registration is different for individual versus business entities, so take note of the business-specific fields for registration. Business members can be registered as you would any other regular individual entity.
Get valid business types from /get_business_types.
Get valid NAICS codes from /get_naics_categories.
This endpoint pulls the role names and UUIDs for those roles, both of which can be used to link the individual entity to the business during /link_business_member.
All business members should be linked before calling /request_kyc (Classic KYC) or /kyc (Advanced KYC)
Use the role names or role UUIDs from the previous call to link the business members to the business entity.
Unlink if necessary using /unlink_business_member.
Need to link a new business member?
After a business has passed KYB, you can register the new business member entity like normal and then skip calling /request_kyc or /kyc. Calling /link_business_member in this scenario will automatically kick off KYC for that new business member.
/request_kyc (Classic KYC) or /kyc (Advanced KYC)
Request KYC on the business entity. Linked individuals will automatically go through KYC.
/check_kyc (Classic KYC); or /get_verifications and /get_verifications/verification_uuid (Advanced KYC)
Use these endpoints (do NOT poll) or webhooks to get current verification statuses on the business and individual entities. Use /documents if necessary to upload documents for verification for any of the entities until all entities are passing.
Certification
At this point you may need to certify beneficial owners and the business entity. Use /certify_beneficial_owner and /certify_business to do so. Start with beneficial owner certification.
You can call /check_kyc if you are using Classic KYC or /get_verifications/verification_uuid if you are using Advanced KYC and note the certification status fields to know if you need to certify or not.
For each beneficial owner you need to certify, check /get_entity to get the certification token to pass into /certify_beneficial_owner. You will only receive one if the business member has passed KYC.
After all beneficial owners are certified, call /certify_business.
Next Steps
Once all entities have passed KYC and KYB, and any certification necessary has been completed, the business entity can begin transacting.
Updated 12 months ago
The following are secondary endpoint that are used in conjunction with the /request_kyc endpoint for ID Verification of a business entity.