How Does 3S Money Approach Compliance and KYC?

For businesses looking to open an international account through a bank or other financial institution, they’ll encounter Compliance and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

These are designed to prevent money laundering and other criminal activity - i.e. for banks and other institutions to understand who's using their services.

At 3S Money, we combine a human touch with a risk-based approach to service clients from 190+ countries.

Learn more about our compliance and KYC policies below. Ready to get started? Check you eligibility today.

Why transaction monitoring matters

Trillions of dollars of global payments are made between international accounts across the financial landscape every year.

The Bank of England has estimated that the value of cross-border payments will increase from almost $150 trillion in 2017 to over $250 trillion by 2027 – a rise of over $100 trillion in just a decade.

For banks and other financial institutions, it’s crucial to know where these streams of money have come from and where they’re going.

Why? It’s all a matter of accountability. Anti-money laundering (AML) initiatives have been established to prevent criminals from hiding their funds.

Banks are responsible for upholding that process and ensuring the money they look after is clean – which is precisely where compliance and Know Your Customer (KYC) come in.

What is compliance and KYC?

Compliance and Know Your Customer (KYC) are measures taken by banks and other financial institutions to ensure that clients comply with any laws or internal procedures.

When prospective clients apply to a bank to use its services, compliance and KYC are the first stage they’ll encounter.

Compliance is part of a due diligence process designed for banks to understand the company they’ll be working with – namely, by reviewing the documentation the client has submitted as part of their application.

For example, they can begin to assess the risk involved with the client based upon which country they come from or which industry they’re based in.

What is 3S Money’s approach to compliance and KYC?

We’re proud to work with businesses from what are often considered ‘high-risk’ countries, but never high-risk industries.

At 3S Money, we adopt a more human approach to service clients in 190+ countries worldwide.

This personal touch begins with our Sales team’s initial phone call during your onboarding and continues to when you need to open an international account or make an overseas payment.

Our approach to compliance at 3S Money consists of a 'three lines of defence' model, which is standard financial services practice. The three stages are as follows:

A conversation with our Sales team

Think of this as a pre-vetting process.

During this introductory conversation with one of our dedicated sales team, they’ll request more information about your business – which industry you’re a part of, where your company is based, and request documents detailing your business activities.

We do early in the process to ensure it doesn’t fall within our list of prohibited industries or countries.

This will also be your opportunity to ask any questions you have about 3S Money and how we can best support your business.

Compliance

The second line of defence, our compliance team, will then comprehensively review the information and documents you supply as part of your application.

KYC (Know Your Customer) is an integral part of this process, as we need to understand factors such as the structure of your company, where your directors are based, and evidence of funds.

It’s important as it allows us to verify our customers are who they say they are.

Based upon the outcome of the above, our compliance team may need to request additional information – more on that a little further down this page.

Anti-money laundering and transaction monitoring

A crucial part of our compliance approach, we’ll need evidence of who you’re receiving funds from, along with where you’re paying out to.

This tranche of the process allows us to determine the credible nature of your business, and that it isn’t involved in or related to criminal activity.

The documentation you provide during your onboarding process will help us better facilitate your international payments – and more quickly, too.

What documents will I need for my compliance and KYC checks?

While applying for a 3S Money International Business Account, it helps to have the following information ready about your company:

For all company directors, major shareholders and account operators

Passports: a scan of the document
Proof of address: a scan of a utility bill, bank statement or tax document with your details

For the company itself

Company Registry Extract (no older than 6 months)
Any other document confirming good standing of the company, management and shareholding structure.

However, the level of documentation we require can also be based upon the outcome of our compliance process.

With each business applicant assessed against a risk matrix, we’ll then apply a suitable level of due diligence.

Please speak to our Sales team if you'd like more information.

What industries does 3S Money not accept?

At 3S Money, we don’t work with the following industries:

Crypto
Adult
Gambling
Cannabis

How does 3S Money’s human approach to compliance and KYC benefit me?

With traditional banks continually making the transition towards automated systems or reliant upon outdated processes, 3S Money was founded with a different philosophy.

Around 25% of our business personnel is devoted to compliance, emphasising our commitment to onboarding efficiency and giving our corporate clients someone to speak to, whenever you need it.

We provide a personal touch

By giving you a human contact throughout your compliance process, we can keep you fully informed as you look to open an international account.

Whether that’s offering immediate advice on documentation you need or answering any queries you may have. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world.

If you’re a non-resident looking to open an International Business Account, one of our team will be available to answer any queries you have.

We’re more agile

Compare and contrast that against your experience with a larger bank. Chatbots as your key contact, slower turnarounds, unclear communications.

Most crucially, they don’t make the effort to understand your business – unless, of course, you’ve reached a point where your revenue makes them sit up and take notice.

When applying for a International Business Account, our human processes enable us to have corporate clients onboarded within days.

We genuinely care

In an industry of Know Your Customer, we genuinely get to know ours.

We make every effort to learn about our clients, which countries they pay out to or receive funds from, or where they might be expanding to next.

By only ever being a phone call or email away, our customers can feel completely supported during the compliance process.

Business relationships and timely responses are nothing without honest communication – which is why we’re sure our human approach will only become more in demand in an industry where automation has become the norm.

To learn more about us – whether it’s our onboarding process, opening an international account or making high-value global payments – send our helpful team a message today at [email protected] or +44 2038 079645.

There is another option: you can begin your application through our website straight away!

First published on 10/12/2021.

Last updated on 09/03/2022.

What is 3S Money’s compliance and KYC process?