Swift's KYC Registry continues to gain momentum among correspondent banks.
Singapore, 15 October 2015 - Swift announces today that Banco Santander has joined the Swift Know Your Customer (KYC) Registry, a centralised repository that maintains a standardised set of information about correspondent banks required for KYC compliance.
Stéphanie Rodríguez Aniorté, Head Global Product IFI - GTB at Santander says, "This Swift initiative will help Santander Group to comply with the KYC requirements in a more trustworthy, efficient and effective way. The standardization of processes and the creation of a ‘unique repository' will allow the FI teams to focus on business growth that is compliant."
With The KYC Registry, banks contribute an agreed ‘baseline' set of data and documentation for validation by Swift, which the contributors can then share with their counterparties. Each bank retains ownership of its own information, as well as control over which other institutions can view it. Banks are not charged for data contribution or for using the Registry to share their KYC information with other banks. To maximise the Registry's benefits, data consumption is free in 2015 for banks that contribute their own KYC information to the Registry and promote it to their correspondents.
Luc Meurant, Head of Compliance Services at Swift, says: "The KYC Registry is a key initiative behind Swift's commitment to help its community comply with financial crime compliance regulations. We are very pleased with the level of participation in the Registry, both from large global and regional banks as well as financial communities. Adding Banco Santander to our growing list of participants demonstrates the value the KYC Registry is bringing to the correspondent banking community."
Launched in December 2014, the KYC Registry includes 1,470 financial institutions in 176 countries, facilitating compliance with a growing number of correspondent relationships worldwide. The KYC Registry is operated by Swift and was developed in collaboration with major global banks around the world.
For more information about The KYC Registry, visit KYC on swift.com.
About Swift's financial crime compliance services portfolio
Swift's Compliance Services unit manages a growing portfolio of financial crime compliance services in the areas of sanctions, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML). The portfolio includes Sanctions Screening and Sanctions Testing services, Compliance Analytics and The KYC Registry. For more information, visit the Compliance Services on swift.com.
About Swift
Swift is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,800 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in over 200 countries and territories. Swift enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. Swift also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.
For more information, visit http://www.swift.com/ or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: Swift
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