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KYC (Know Your Customer)

Regulation

A mandatory process of identifying and verifying the identity of the client when opening an account and periodically over time.

KYC (Know Your Customer) policies are an essential part of the financial services industry. They help financial institutions verify their customers’ identities and ensure they are not involved in illegal activities.

Elements of KYC:

  • Customer Identification Program (CIP): Collecting and verifying basic info (Name, DOB, Address).
  • Customer Due Diligence (CDD): Assessing the risk of a customer.
  • Ongoing Monitoring: Checking for suspicious activity over time.

Bank statements are one of the most common documents used in the KYC process to verify an individual’s address and financial standing.

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This definition of KYC (Know Your Customer) is part of our comprehensive financial and accounting processing glossary. Understanding banking terms is crucial for accurate bookkeeping, auditing, and automated data entry workflows. If you regularly work with PDF bank statements or financial documents, consider using SmartBankStatement's professional converter to securely extract, validate, and reconcile your transaction data into Excel or CSV format effortlessly.