Bank encourages financial institutions in countries where it invests to follow suit
In a move to facilitate transparent global and local financial flows, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has joined Swift’s Know Your Customer (KYC) Registry and is encouraging partner banks in the countries where it invests to follow suit.
By signing up to use The KYC Registry, the EBRD joins 3,700 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories that already use the utility service. The move also encourages EBRD partner banks in over 30 countries of operations to join the platform.
Swift operates the Registry to provide banks with a cost-effective, secure and easy-to-use way to exchange know your customer information with correspondents. It enables banks, funds distributors and custodians to maintain and expand their network of correspondents and business partners.
Nick Tesseyman, EBRD Managing Director, Financial Institutions, said: “The KYC Registry enables banks to exchange information faster, more efficiently and more cost-effectively. In addition, this will help give large global correspondent banks easier access to information about banks that might otherwise be considered remote. This is a way to demonstrate transparency while saving time and money on certain aspects of due diligence. It is vital to embrace the challenge of making anti-money-laundering operations effective. We must take every opportunity to help others in the banking community to enhance their confidence in current and potential correspondent banking relationships.”
It is vital to embrace the challenge of making anti-money-laundering operations effective. We must take every opportunity to help others in the banking community to enhance their confidence in current and potential correspondent banking relationships.
Luc Meurant, Head of Financial Crime Compliance Services at Swift, said: “With heightened expectations for compliance with measures to fight financial crime, banks in all markets need to demonstrate a steadfast commitment to increasing transparency levels. Swift is delighted to see the EBRD join The KYC Registry and to help the EBRD and its partner banks address these evolving challenges.”
Axel Nikolaus Bommersheim, Director for Program Corporate Clients Compliance at Commerzbank, said: “The EBRD has been Commerzbank’s highly valued partner for many years. Commerzbank is a member of the Swift KYC Registry User Group, and we consider EBRD’s joining as a very important step which paves the way for other institutions to follow. This is an important signal also to other institutions to use this efficient and effective repository.”
The EBRD is a multilateral bank committed to the development of market-oriented economies and the promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative in more than 30 countries from Morocco to Mongolia and from Estonia to Egypt. The Bank is owned by 65 countries, the EU and the EIB.
The EBRD aims to foster competitive and sustainable financial systems in the countries where it invests through the use of innovative products and by supporting sector reform and local regulatory and legislative initiatives.
