SWIFT has been awarded the Best KYC Utility in the inaugural Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2018 at a ceremony in Singapore on 13 November 2018.
Launched in December 2014, SWIFT’s KYC Registry addresses the complexity and variance of bank-to-bank data exchange for KYC purposes, which slow down trade, adding significant costs and making it prohibitive for banks to maintain correspondent relationships in markets that tend rely on access to global banking infrastructure the most.
The KYC Registry lists over 5,000 financial institutions in 220 countries as participating entities, providing a global standard for correspondent bank data and documentation, validated independently and housed securely. Among the repository of 700 data points and 40 documents are proofs of regulation, ownership structure, Wolfsberg questionnaires and alternative AML policies and procedures – information banks require to establish and maintain correspondent banking relationships.
Complete with an audit trail for complete transparency and an ability to ‘push’ preferred golden source data to respondent bank networks to ensure consistency, the KYC Registry greatly reduces the time and cost needed to maintain cross-border correspondent banking relationships.
The KYC Registry is considered critically important for smaller banks in emerging markets, which are often offboarded by institutions due to uncertainty around the policies of foreign jurisdictions and how their banking institutions operate. SWIFT’s structured approach enables institutions to apply a risk-based assessment to correspondent banking relationships, removing this uncertainty.
Guy Sheppard, Head of APAC Financial Crime, Intelligence and Initiatives at SWIFT said: “It is an honour to accept this award on behalf of SWIFT. This recognition means a lot to us as we continue to play an active role in addressing challenges in an ever-changing global KYC regulatory landscape. Conducting due diligence on customers has become a significant cost and time challenge for the financial services industry. The registry adds value by offering a single source of high-quality, comprehensive and multi-jurisdictional data that lets banks of all sizes align themselves with global best practices. This results in efficiency gains and cost savings, while at the same time fostering financial inclusion in the community.”
About the Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2018
The inaugural Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence recognises technology companies, legal and consulting firms, and exchanges that have shaped the regulatory landscape in Asia Pacific, as well as outstanding technology projects both in mature and emerging markets by large tech firms and innovative startups that help meet the requirements of a specific regulatory change infrastructure.
For a full list of award winners, visit www.regulationasia.com/awards.
About Regulation Asia
Regulation Asia is the leading source for actionable regulatory intelligence for Asia Pacific markets. Since 2013, our audience and subscription base have grown to include regulatory bodies, exchanges, banks, asset managers and service providers, allowing us to play a key role in the regulatory agenda.
Visit www.regulationasia.com or connect via LinkedIn or Twitter.
For more information, please contact:
Charmaine Athaide
Director, Programme Coordinator
Regulation Asia
+65 9023 4274
[email protected]
