Know Your Customer (KYC)
Know Your Customer (KYC) is the process of verifying an individual’s identity before providing financial services: collecting name, date of birth, address, and an identifying number, verifying them against reliable sources, and screening against sanctions and watchlists. In US banking it has three components — the Customer Identification Program (CIP), customer due diligence, and ongoing monitoring — and it is the foundation of a Bank Secrecy Act AML program.
By Krisan Nichani, Chief Compliance OfficerLast updated July 2026
KYC covers individuals; its business-entity counterpart is KYB — and the two meet at beneficial ownership, where the individuals behind an entity are identified and verified as people. KYC is also not one-and-done: programs refresh customer information and monitor activity against the profile it establishes.
KYC is one control inside a broader anti-money-laundering (AML) program. KYC establishes who the customer is; the rest of the program — transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, suspicious-activity reporting — builds on the profile it creates.
On Infinite, CIP/KYC runs at onboarding with screening on every payment and monitoring behind them — every decision made by a human. Hosted Flows provides the whitelabel onboarding front end, so platforms get compliant intake without building it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between KYC and KYB?
KYC verifies individuals; KYB verifies business entities — legal existence, good standing, and the beneficial owners behind them, who are themselves verified and screened as individuals. Know Your Business (KYB)
What is the difference between KYC and AML?
AML is the umbrella: the full program of controls — due diligence, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, and reporting — required under laws like the Bank Secrecy Act. KYC is one component of it: verifying who the customer is at onboarding and keeping that profile current. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)
Is KYC a one-time check?
No. Programs refresh customer information on a risk-based schedule and monitor transactions against the customer’s profile. On Infinite, screening also repeats at every payment, not just at onboarding. Global compliance
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