KYB
KYB verification, explained
Before a business relationship starts, KYB verification answers three things: is this business real, is it properly registered, and who controls it.
Definition
KYB verification - Confirming a business entity's legal existence, registration status, and controlling parties, using official register data - the point-in-time check that typically happens before or at the start of a commercial relationship.
What it checks
- Existence and registration - is this a real, currently registered legal entity, not a name someone typed into a form?
- Legal status - active, dissolved, in liquidation - as recorded by the register.
- Who's authorised to act for it - officers and legal representatives.
- Who controls it - resolving ownership back toward the natural persons behind it. See UBO verification.
KYB verification vs. UBO verification
KYB verification is the broader check - the business as a whole. UBO verification is the specific, harder part of it: resolving ownership past the first named shareholder to an actual person. A KYB check that stops at "registered, active, shareholder listed" without resolving that shareholder further hasn't completed the ownership piece of KYB - it's stopped one layer early.
A point-in-time answer
KYB verification answers the question as of today. It doesn't answer whether that stays true - that's what KYB monitoring and, run continuously, perpetual KYB are for.
Related
See it work on a real company.