Interbank messaging network Swift has signed up another six major banks to its KYC Registry initiative as it gears up for a launch at the end of this year.
The centralised repository will maintain a standardised set of information about banks required for due diligence processes, helping them to manage their compliance challenges and reduce the high costs associated with implementing KYC-related regulations.
Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group Bank, HSBC, ING and Raiffeisen Bank International have now signed on to the initiative, joining six of their peers who committed earlier in the year.
The 12 banks have already been participating in a Swift-led working group to agree the registry's processes as well as the documentation and data that will fulfil most of the basic KYC requirements across multiple jurisdictions. Several of the banks are already populating the Registry with their own relevant KYC information, and user testing of the service's web-based platform is ongoing.
Swift's registry is just one of several new initiatives in the KYC space, with competing efforts promising to help financial services firms as they struggle to collect monitor and maintain the up-to-date, proprietary information necessary to meet the dynamic requirements of global mandates such as KYC, AML, Dodd-Frank, Emir, Fatca and Gatca.
Last month Swiss-based KYC Exchange signed service contracts with Commerzbank, Société Générale and Standard Chartered, while Thomson Reuters and Markit are also both making plays.
However, Swift it banking on its unique position in the financial services world's ecosystem. Says Luc Meurant, head of banking markets and compliance services: "Banks want to collectively address the challenges around KYC compliance and Swift is well placed to help. We are receiving tremendous support from the banking community and are making great progress delivering a tool the industry needs to better support KYC compliance for correspondent banking."