KYB in Australia: company checks versus personal KYC

Firms use the two labels as if they were the same product with a different logo. They are different questions. A personal KYC check asks whether this individual is the person named on the matter. A KYB check asks whether this company exists, who stands behind it, and whether those people are who they claim to be. This page is that split. It is general information, not legal advice. Who must be checked at all still depends on a designated service. The map is /tranche-2.

Personal KYC is one person

A personal check establishes identity for a natural person: the individual customer, or a person acting for a customer. Verification of identity can support that row. It does not name the owners of a company, and it does not finish a file whose customer is the company. Is AML just VOI? is that boundary. The director who emails the firm may be the right person to verify, and may still own nothing.

What a company extract adds

KYB starts from a registry record, not from a driver’s licence. A current company extract is a point-in-time snapshot: the company’s name, ACN, status, type, registered office, officeholders, and the share structure shown on that extract. It tells you the company is (or is not) registered, and who ASIC recorded as directors and members on that date.

• It does not update itself. A later share transfer needs a later extract.
• It does not prove the human at the end of a chain of companies. If a member is another company, this extract stops there.
• It does not screen anyone for sanctions or political exposure. That is a separate step on the people you identify.
• It is not a credit score, and it is not a substitute for the firm’s risk note.

The ownership chain

Follow the chain until you reach the individuals your program says must be identified. Company A owned by Company B owned by two people is two extracts and then those people, not one licence photo. You do not open a personal file for every one-percent shareholder. You identify the beneficial owners.

Who counts as a beneficial owner — the ownership threshold and the control test — is what is a beneficial owner?. The practical collection steps are beneficial ownership checks. This page does not restate that definition. It only says why a company file is bigger than a personal file: the extract, then the chain, then the people.

A trust in the chain changes the roles, not the idea. You still need the people the program names, which may include a trustee and, where the service is the creation of the trust, the settlor and beneficiaries AUSTRAC describes for that service. Do not paste the company-creation customer list onto every trust you have ever prepared a tax return for.

Why the entity check costs more

A personal KYC check is one person. A company KYB check is the entity plus the extract plus the ownership chain. That extra work is why the entity check costs more. On the public list, a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company KYB check is A$40. If the program then requires a separate personal verification for someone in the chain, that person is priced on their own. Do not invent a bundled “KYB plus three people” figure. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing before you put a number in an engagement letter.

Where FreeAML fits

The firm suite is A$0. When your program says the customer is a person, send a personal check. When the customer is a company, send the company check and then the people the program requires. FreeAML emails the link and verification is client-pays. The product returns evidence. It does not decide that the service is designated, and it does not apply the control test for you.

Frequently Asked Questions