Verify Every Business. Every Owner. Every Layer.
Automated KYB and Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) verification for corporate clients — including multi-layer, cross-jurisdictional, and complex ownership structures. Built to meet FATF, MAS, FCA, FinCEN, and EU AMLD beneficial ownership rules.
Know Your Business, Explained
Know Your Business (KYB) is the regulatory process of verifying the identity and legitimacy of a corporate client before — and throughout — a business relationship. Where KYC verifies an individual person, KYB verifies an entity: confirming that the company legally exists, that it is in good standing with its registry, that its directors and authorised signatories are who they claim to be, and — critically — that the Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) behind the entity can be identified, verified, and screened for sanctions and PEP exposure.
KYB is far more than a tick-box exercise. Corporate structures are where most financial crime hides. Shell companies, nominee directors, multi-layered holding arrangements, and cross-jurisdictional vehicles are routinely used to obscure true ownership and control. Regulators globally — through FATF Recommendations 24 and 25, the EU AMLD, MAS Notice 626, the UK MLR 2017, and the FinCEN CDD Rule — have responded by explicitly requiring firms to look through corporate structures to the natural persons who ultimately own or control them.
One Constellation's KYB platform automates every part of that process. Company registration verification, beneficial ownership resolution across unlimited ownership layers, director and authorised signatory KYC, sanctions and PEP screening of every relevant party, and adverse media monitoring — all inside a single workflow with a full audit trail.
See Through Every Layer of Corporate Ownership
A company can be owned by another company, which may be owned by a trust, which may be controlled by an individual sitting several layers removed. Our KYB engine resolves the full chain automatically — and identifies every natural person who, through direct or indirect ownership or control, is an Ultimate Beneficial Owner.
The Difference Between Verifying a Person and a Business
KYC and KYB share the same purpose — reducing financial crime risk through identity verification — but the data, regulatory requirements, and verification techniques are fundamentally different. Applying one process where the other is needed is one of the most common compliance gaps regulators identify during supervisory visits.
| Dimension | KYC (Individuals) | KYB (Businesses) |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | A natural person | A legal entity (company, trust, partnership, fund) |
| Primary Evidence | Government ID, biometrics, address | Registration, directors, shareholders, UBOs |
| Data Source | National ID registries, credit bureaus | Corporate registries, filings, UBO registers |
| Key Steps | Document authentication, face match, liveness | Entity verification, UBO resolution, director KYC |
| Regulatory Basis | FATF Rec. 10 · MAS · FCA · FinCEN | FATF Rec. 24 & 25 · EU AMLD · FinCEN CDD Rule |
| Typical Time | Under a minute (automated) | Minutes to hours (automated), weeks (manual) |
| Hidden Risk | Identity theft, impersonation | Shell companies, nominee structures, opaque UBOs |
Three Stages From Entity to Verified Customer
Regulatory expectations for corporate due diligence break down into three clear stages. Our platform automates each of them, inside a single workflow, with full audit evidence retained throughout.
Entity Verification
Confirm the corporate entity legally exists, is properly registered, and is in good standing with its jurisdiction's corporate registry.
- Company registration number check
- Registry status & filings review
- Trading name verification
- Registered address confirmation
- Regulatory licence verification
Ownership & Control
Map the full ownership structure, identify UBOs through indirect holdings, and document control relationships including nominee arrangements.
- Direct shareholder verification
- UBO chain resolution
- 25%+ ownership threshold checks
- Control-based UBO identification
- Interactive org-chart builder
Screening & Decision
Screen the entity, every director, authorised signatory, and UBO against global sanctions, PEP, and adverse media sources — then risk-score the relationship.
- Entity-level sanctions screening
- Individual KYC for directors / UBOs
- PEP & adverse media checks
- Risk scoring & CDD tiering
- Approval workflow with audit trail
The Structural Problems With Manual KYB — Solved
Manual KYB is slow, inconsistent, and prone to the exact errors regulators penalise. Here's what's broken in the manual process and how our platform replaces each failure mode.
Opaque Ownership
Manual UBO reconstruction across multiple registries is error-prone and often incomplete. Our platform traces ownership chains automatically and flags gaps explicitly.
Cross-Border Complexity
Registries vary in format, language, and reliability across jurisdictions. Our data layer integrates with global registries and normalises output into a single verified record.
Weeks of Processing
Corporate onboarding can take two or three weeks manually. Straightforward corporate KYB on our platform completes in minutes to a few hours.
Inconsistent Evidence
Evidence scattered across emails, shared drives, and spreadsheets makes audits painful. Every check, document, and decision lives in one immutable case file.
Missed Sanctions Hits
Manual screening misses indirect exposure through UBOs and associated parties. Our platform screens every natural person in the ownership chain.
Stale KYB Records
Corporate ownership changes — directors leave, shareholders restructure. We monitor for changes and automatically re-verify when anything material updates.
Automated KYB That Actually Scales
We built KYB for the reality of modern regulated financial institutions — rising complexity, shrinking budgets, and zero tolerance for compliance gaps.
Minutes Instead of Weeks
Automated registry lookups, UBO resolution, and screening cut corporate onboarding time by 90%.
Global Registry Coverage
Integrated with corporate registries across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East.
Deep UBO Resolution
Unlimited ownership layers resolved automatically — including trusts, nominees, and cross-border structures.
Regulator-Aligned
Workflows satisfy FATF Rec. 24 / 25, EU AMLD, MAS, FCA MLR 2017, and FinCEN CDD Rule out of the box.
Continuous Monitoring
Ownership, director, and sanctions changes trigger automatic re-verification — your records never drift out of date.
API-First Integration
Plug KYB directly into your core systems via REST API, webhooks, and pre-built connectors.
KYB in Production, Globally
KYB That Meets Every Beneficial Ownership Rule
Our KYB workflows are pre-configured for the major beneficial ownership frameworks — and built to adapt as transparency standards tighten globally.
Common Questions About KYB
See KYB Resolve a Real Corporate Structure
Book a demo and watch UBO chain resolution, registry verification, and sanctions screening work on a real multi-layer corporate entity.