Difference Between KYC and AML
Both national and international bodies around the world regulate Anti-Money Laundering (AML) guidelines for the finance industry. These impose serious screening and monitoring processes on all financial institutions. The steps to implement a successful anti-money laundering (AML) program include a key process: ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC). Oftentimes, the terms AML and KYC are used interchangeably, which means they are seen as the same thing. However, this is far from the truth, as both KYC and AML differ greatly in their meaning, especially in a regulatory context.
In order to successfully comply with anti-money laundering regulations, firms must understand both AML and KYC, what they are, how they are different, and how they both relate to each other within the regulatory process. Financial institutions often use this understanding to implement in their compliance program through anti-money laundering software.
What is Know Your Customer (KYC)?
Know Your Customer or KYC is a fundamental process in any financial institution’s anti-money laundering program. It is defined as the process through which these institutions gather information on their client and verify their identity. This greatly helps them to adequately assess the risk associated with each client. For example, all investors must be verified before they can participate in any ICO or fundraising activities. Fintech companies are mandated to gather ample, verifiable information on their client and their identity in order to determine their legitimacy before beginning any business activities.
What is AML?
Anti-money Laundering (AML) refers to the overall, broader measures and processes that financial institutions and governments use in order to prevent and combat financial crimes (specifically money laundering and terrorist financing). AML regulations are dictated by global bodies, such as the UNODC and FATF, regional bodies, like FINRA, as well as local governments and bodies.
The AML policy forms part of the broader, complete AML compliance program of a financial institution.
What is the Difference Between AML and KYC?
The difference between AML and KYC is that, on the one hand, AML (anti-money laundering) refers to an umbrella term for the full range of regulatory processes that firms must implement in order to carry out legitimate business, while, on the other hand, KYC (Know Your Customer) is a smaller component of AML that consists of firms verifying their customers’ identity. It is a mere step in the larger process.
A lot of financial institutions often get confused between KYC and AML, blur the lines between the two processes, and are subject to disciplinary action by regulatory bodies as a result. They can be fined or even sentenced to prison time based on the severity of the offence.
It is true that AML/KYC are not the same and cannot be used interchangeably. That being said, KYC and AML are deeply interconnected processes.
KYC is the first step in the implementation of an AML program or policy. It is the process through which the client’s identity is verified. The objective is to understand the client and their financial dealings on a deeper level, in order to effectively manage risks. KYC is the process that starts off the AML compliance process.
As mentioned before, AML, on the other hand, is a much larger, broader concept that consists of the following:
- KYC
Customer Due Diligence (CDD), the basic process of verifying customer identity, and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), which is a more advanced KYC procedure that is used primarily for high-risk customers. These customers are generally more prone to being involved in financial crimes, including money laundering and terrorist financing, hence the need for more thorough verification.
- Risk-based AML policies
- Ongoing Risk Assessment and Ongoing Monitoring,
- AML compliance training programs for staff
- Internal Controls and Internal Audits
Key Differences Between KYC and AML
Why Do Companies Confuse AML and KYC?
KYC is a compliance process that forms the first step of the broader AML framework. But it is not unusual to see financial institutions and companies confuse the two. Most companies use KYC software as a tool to detect fraud in addition to customer verification. This just isn’t accurate, since AML compliance is a much more complex and detailed process.
The prevention and implementation of anti-money laundering require an in-depth knowledge of a lot of factors. From the inner workings of the finance industry to an understanding of local, regional, national and international anti-money laundering regulations and rules, a successful AML professional must have a skill-set beyond that of KYC. In addition, they must also be up-to-date with the latest technology and AML software on the market.
It is not hard to imagine why companies often confuse the two processes of KYC and AML. After all, they both play an integral role in a financial context. And to top it off, they are both risk-based approaches as well. They also share some common features such as client identification and risk management. But it is important to always bear in mind that these processes are not the same and serve varied functions. This will help you to find the right professionals and team to take up each task — AML or KYC — and do it justice.
We hope that you are now aware of the definition of KYC and AML. These two processes, although different, are complementary, interconnected, and work together to combat financial crime. AML and KYC compliance is a must for all financial institutions who want to carry out legitimate dealings and avoid breaking the law.
Want to know more about AML? Here are 5 common myths about AML.
Leave a Comment
Money Laundering via Cryptocurrencies: All You Need to Know
Technological advancements have given criminals faster and safer options to wash their ill-gotten money. There is no doubt that cryptocurrencies are very useful technology innovation that helps individuals and institutions access financial products a...
CNA 938 radio interviews Tookitaki Co-founder Jeeta Badopadhyay
Tookitaki Co-founder and COO Jeeta Bandopadhyay was named among the Singapore 100 Women in Tech (SG100WIT) List in September 2020. A collaboration between the Singapore Computer Society (SCS), IMDA, SG Women in Tech and Mediacorp, the inaugural SG100...
Need for New Customer Risk Rating Models: Not All Customers Are Created Equal
Being estimated at between US$800 billion to US$2 trillion every year, money laundering is a serious problem for the global economy. While regulators and financial institutions are working hard to prevent and reduce the crime, launderers are becoming...
Is AML Compliance Heading for a New Normal in the Age of Digital Payments?
Increased digitization has influenced various businesses and brought in a paradigm shift in the way they create business models and approach growth opportunities. Moving away from conventional transaction modes such as cash and checks, banks and FIs ...
Excel to AI: How Reconciliation Tools Evolve for Better
In the world of finance, reconciliation is the process of comparing two related sets of records or two accounts at the end of a specific accounting period to find out if account balances are matching in both records. Periodic reconciliation of accoun...
Lessons Not Well Learned: 2020 AML Fines Cross 2019 Total
If research is to be believed, institutions across the globe have not done enough in the anti-money laundering (AML) compliance area. Data from consultancy Duff & Phelps revealed that AML fines in the first six months of 2020 reached US$706 milli...
Exploring AML Risks in COVID-Era and the Ways to Address Them
The world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis it brought in is unprecedented in the history of humankind. While there are a number of pandemic-related factors contributing to the expected crisis with financial services, financial...
AML Amid COVID-19: Watch out for These FBI-listed Fraud Schemes
There has been a rise in the number of cybercrimes and fraud schemes across the globe ever since the proliferation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Criminals, in general, are taking advantage of people’s scare, helplessness, and the need for immediate fin...
OCC Spring Risk Perspective: 5 Takeaways on Compliance Risk
Despite its general strength, the US federal banking system is apparently susceptible to the ongoing economic weakness caused by the rampant spread of coronavirus. Earlier this month, The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published i...
How Criminals Used COVID-19 Sales Pitch to Defraud, Launder Money
As the world is working hard to contain the spread of the COVID-19, criminals continue to take advantage of the pandemic. They are devising sophisticated methods to defraud people and launder the criminal proceeds using the financial system. The late...
5 Top Myths and Facts about AI Implementation in AML Programs
We are more confirmed about the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform lives and businesses now. There are countless possible applications of AI and machine learning at present, and we see and hear exciting ways how these modern technolog...
Typology Repository Management: Solving AML Problems Via Collective Intelligence and Continuous Learning
Despite its general strength, the US federal banking system is apparently susceptible to the ongoing economic weakness caused by the rampant spread of coronavirus. Earlier this month, The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published i...
Money Laundering Amid COVID-19: What Regulators Across Globe Say
As the world continues to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, there are reports that criminals are taking advantage of the difficult situation. They are seizing the moment to proliferate their criminal activities, earn undue profits and transfer of ...
How will Art Cease to Be a Preferred Money Laundering Vehicle?
Money laundering via high-end art and antiquities is not new yet it is difficult to detect. Art-related money laundering amounts to about US$3 billion per year, according to this blog, quoting the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Criminals o...
Beware! Money Mules in Demand amid COVID-19. Here’s an Effective Cure
If reports are to be believed, cybercrooks are taking advantage of the COVID-19 situation. They are targeting people who were laid off or working from home due to the pandemic to work for them as money mules. For those who are new to the term, money ...
Roundtable Rewind: Embracing Next-gen Tech & Collaboration Key to Sustainability
As a regtech player with a vision to enable sustainable compliance programs in financial institutions, Tookitaki organized a first-of-its-kind industry roundtable in Charlotte, NC, USA to discuss opportunities to innovate current AML programs and mee...
Tookitaki Appoints Industry Veteran Joe Friscia as Advisor
Tookitaki Holding Pte. Ltd. appointed industry veteran Joe Friscia, former President of NICE Actimize and BAE Systems as Advisor to the Company’s Advisory Board. Joe brings over 25 years’ extensive experience in the financial crime and enterpris...
Tookitaki Raises Another US$11.7 million in Series A; Closes Round at US$19.2 million
– by Abhishek Chatterjee, Founder & CEO The Tookitaki team and I are excited to announce that we have raised an additional US$11.7 million in Series A funding, taking the total investment in the round to US$19.2 million. The current round w...
30 Years of FATF: Notable Facts About Global AML Watchdog
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the intergovernmental body formed in 1989 to combating money laundering, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Since its inception, the global agency played a key role in identifying and preventing the...
Tookitaki Joins Aite Financial Crime Forum as Sponsor
Technological advances have fundamentally changed the operational landscape of financial institutions. However, there are also new risks emerging in forms of sophisticated financial frauds and complex money laundering patterns. These risks can signif...
Will Machine Learning Replace Compliance Professionals?
The impact of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning on job security has been a widely discussed topic today. Of course, AI has advanced very quickly in the last few years and evolved to outperform humans in a n...
6 Most Prevalent Cyber-Laundering Methods in APAC
Despite being a medium to exchange information in real-time and with scale, the Internet is being misused in several ways. Among the slew of financial crimes facilitated by the Internet, money laundering draws importance due to its gigantic size and ...
ABA Regulatory Compliance Conference: 10 Sessions You Can’t Miss
The 2019 edition of the American Bankers Association (ABA) Regulatory Compliance Conference is a few more days away. Organized by the Washington, D.C.-based trade association, the conference is touted as the “one-stop shop to discuss today’s—an...
Tookitaki AMLS Wins SBR Technology Excellence Award 2019
Tookitaki’s Anti-Money Laundering Suite (AMLS), an end-to-end machine learning-powered transaction monitoring and names screening solution, has bagged the inaugural Singapore Business Review Technology Excellence Award 2019 in the category R...
Watchdogs Grow Optimistic about AI Prospects at Banks
Proper regulation of banking operations is important as any failure in the banking system would affect the wider economy. Therefore, banking is one of the most regulated industries across the globe. Financial regulators ensure that services to the cu...
Pitfall of Black Box AI at Banks: Explaining Your Models to Regulators
The use cases of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in front-office, middle-office and back-office activities at banks are growing slowly but steadily. The major areas of AI play include customer service (virtual assistants, chatbots, ...
AI for Regulatory Compliance at Banks: 4 Assessments Before You Okay the Solution Proposal
Banking is one of the industries where artificial intelligence and machine learning find their applications at a rapid pace. Regulatory compliance within banking is an area which has become a costly and inefficient affair due to complex and never-sta...
We Believe in Innovation, the Key to Survival and Growth
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” -Steve Jobs What comes on the top of your screen when you google the meaning of the word innovation is – the introduction of something new and relevant such as a new idea, method o...
Compliance Functions in Need of a Technological Overhaul. Can Machine Learning be the Game-Changer?
McKinsey in its latest compliance benchmarking survey found that compliance function at financial institutions has reached “an inflection point” and current compliance standards are in an “inchoate state”. The firm has suggested five critical...
Tookitaki Raises US$7.5 mn Series A from Global VCs to Transform Regulatory Compliance
Tookitaki, a regulatory technology company that aims to enable financial institutions to develop sustainable compliance programs, has raised US$7.5 million in Series A round. The round was co-led by London-based Illuminate Financial, an early-stage e...
From Wachovia to Danske Bank: Biggest Money Laundering Cases in Recent Times
Money laundering – the criminal activity of processing criminal proceeds to disguise their origin – is one of the gravest problems faced by the global economy, and its size is growing rapidly. It is estimated that 2- 5% of the global GDP, or US$8...
A Modern Approach to Address the Reconciliation Challenges of Financial Services
Reconciliation of transactions is deemed critical for the smooth running of every financial institution. The speed and accuracy of data reconciliation can distinguish a successful institution from its counterparts. The process is primarily used to id...
Busting a Myth: Compliance Officer’s Job is All About Risk
Regulatory compliance has become a dreadful task for banks after regulators across the globe set stricter norms in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis in an effort to prevent financial crimes such as money laundering. Rules have been changed t...
SocGen Goes Next-Gen with Tookitaki Reconciliation Suite
Société Générale leveraged Tookitaki’s Reconciliation Suite to automate the bank’s existing break reconciliation system. Key Challenges Addressed The bank’s finance department was unable to handle new breaks unless code is updated. Current ...
Attending ACAMS Conference in Singapore? Tookitaki Awaits You with Its Disruptive AML Solution
“In today’s era of volatility, there is no other way but to re-invent. The only sustainable advantage you can have over others is agility, that’s it.”- Jeff Bezos Singapore is hosting ACAMS’ 11th Annual AML & Financial Crime Conference ...
MAS’ Stress on Transaction Monitoring for Effective AML/CFT Compliance and Machine Learning is the Answer
Singapore is known for its top-notch AML/CFT regime created through up-to-date legislation, stringent policy and uncompromising supervision to safeguard against the abuse of the city state’s financial system for criminal activities. The country’s...
Mifid II and the Pressing Need for a New Reconciliation Approach
The financial services industry in the EU has been confused with the introduction of a revamped version of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II). The ambitious regulatory reforms that took almost seven years to be materialized wer...
Is Automated Reconciliation Next to Impossible in Today’s Complex Financial World?
The 2008 global financial crisis and fairly new regulatory requirements like Basel III asked financial institutions (FIs) to cut operating costs and adopt a lean operations structure, pushing FIs to rethink on current reconciliation measures. Most of...
Modern Tech to Reshape US AML Compliance with Regulators’ Recent Handshake
George Bernard Shaw once said: “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” The past week has seen a significant change of mind from financial regulators in the US in their ardent attempt to combat and prevent financial crimes, e...
Skills Development: We Have Talents and We Strive to Multiply Them
“Mastery lies on an infinite continuum, and as a result, we will never reach the end. We can, however, see to it that we are as far along that continuum as our circumstance allows.” ― Chris Matakas Having continuous learning as one of its core...
It’s Our Fourth Founding Day; Taking a Pause to Cherish Our Simple but Awesome Journey
Today, as we step into our 4th year of foundation, I feel proud and honored to be leading Tookitaki that has been successful in creating added value to all its stakeholders. I was never a CEO and Tookitaki is my first company. I had the passion and d...
Tookitaki Expands into the US with New Office in Charlotte
SINGAPORE, Sept. 24, 2018: Tookitaki Holding Pte Ltd, a leading regulatory technology company, is pleased to announce the official opening of its North American office in Charlotte, NC, in the United States. This new location will serve as the comp...
5 Methods That Modern Money Launderers Use To Beat Detection
Society prepares the crime, the criminal commits it. DID YOU KNOW? Every year, an estimated amount in the range of US$800 billion-US$2 trillion (2-5% of global GDP) is being laundered globally Regulators across the globe imposed US$1.7 billion in fin...
Risk Management Conference: Positive Vibes from All Corners
The Risk Management Association’s (RMA) premier annual event, the Risk Management Conference, came to an end on 6 November, and Tookitaki had the privilege to attend the event which we believe was a success in a number of ways. As a modern-era tec...
Singapore Fintech Festival: Tookitaki to showcase advanced machine learning solutions in financial services
Singapore is assured of the Fintech world’s unwavering attention next week, as the city state, is hosting this year’s Fintech Festival during 12-16 November. Touted as the world’s largest platform for the global FinTech community, the event att...
The RMA Clarion Call to Address Risks and the Tookitaki Way
Risk officers, doing your best today is good while preparing hard for tomorrow is extraordinary. Risk management at banks has become difficult due to operational and regulatory changes. The Risk Management Association’s (RMA) premier annual event, ...
Typology Repository Management: Solving AML Problems Via Collective Intelligence and Continuous Learning
Despite its general strength, the US federal banking system is apparently susceptible to the ongoing economic weakness caused by the rampant spread of coronavirus. Earlier this month, The US Office of...
MAS’ Stress on Transaction Monitoring for Effective AML/CFT Compliance and Machine Learning is the Answer
Singapore is known for its top-notch AML/CFT regime created through up-to-date legislation, stringent policy and uncompromising supervision to safeguard against the abuse of the city state’s financi...
Singapore Fintech Festival: Tookitaki to showcase advanced machine learning solutions in financial services
Singapore is assured of the Fintech world’s unwavering attention next week, as the city state, is hosting this year’s Fintech Festival during 12-16 November. Touted as the world’s largest platfo...
