Know Your Customer Procedure (KYC)

What is KYC?

KYC is an acronym for "Know your Customer", a term used for customer identification process. For instance, if you plan to open a bank account in Cyprus, the bank will request documents in order to determine the true identity and beneficial ownership of accounts, source of funds, the nature of customer's business, reasonableness of operations in the account in relation to the customer's business, etc, which in turn helps the banks to manage their risks prudently. The objective of the KYC guidelines is to prevent banks being used, intentionally or unintentionally by criminal elements for money laundering.

Which information is required?

KYC has two components - Identity and Address. Each person, wishing to open a bank account, has to submit documents confirming his/her identity and his/her residential address.