Business Onboarding

UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner) verification is the process of identifying and confirming the individuals who ultimately own or control a business entity, regardless of the complexity or number of corporate layers between them and the company. Financial institutions must perform UBO verification to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and prevent criminals from using shell companies to conceal their activities.

UBO verification typically covers:

• Direct and indirect ownership, including parent companies 
• Control through voting rights or other means

Verification involves:

• Collecting key personal details: name, date of birth, address, and government-issued ID number
• Verify information against official documents and records
• Screening individuals against OFAC and global watchlists
• Checking PEP (Politically Exposed Person) status

Failure to verify UBOs can result in regulatory penalties and criminal liability for facilitating money laundering.

Socure automates UBO verification by sourcing ownership data from business registries and instantly running identity checks on all identified UBOs. The process is as follows:

• Identify Owners: Socure’s data partners pull information from corporate filings, director and shareholder lists, as well as LLC and partnership records. The system automatically flags individuals who meet ownership thresholds.
• Verify Each Owner: Every identified UBO undergoes thorough identity verification:

• • Details checked against consumer databases and Socure’s proprietary network
  • Sanctions and watchlist screening
  • Document verification, if required

This automation reduces manual work, prevents onboarding bottlenecks, and improves accuracy. 

Socure partners with multiple business verification providers to check company registrations, ownership structures, and financial records. Each provider specializes in different data types and geographic regions, all of which are delivered through Socure’s unified API.

Verification Partners:

Middesk: Provides business identity reports, real-time monitoring, and document retrieval, including:

• Secretary of State filings and status updates
• Bankruptcy and sanctions checks
• UCC liens and litigation data
• Underwriting data for credit decisions

Baselayer: Delivers fraud signals and risk assessments through:

• Real-time identity verification
• Bankruptcy and litigation searches
• Lien identification and filing services
• Pattern-based fraud detection

Kyckr: Enables global business verification with:

• International company registration data
• Director and UBO identification
• Coverage in 200+ countries
• Detailed profiles with ownership structures

Markaaz: Specializes in hard-to-verify businesses through:

• Alternative data for thin-file businesses
• Firmographic and diversity data
• Company hierarchy mapping
• Credit and business health scores

• Banks and credit unions: Meet KYC and AML requirements and prevent accounts from being misused for financial crime
• Fintech lenders: Evaluate business owners’ credit and identity before approving loans
• Payment processors: Verify who controls merchant accounts to stop money laundering 
• Marketplaces: Verify drivers, restaurants, and sellers before giving them platform access 
• Government agencies: Verify businesses before disbursing grants, contracts, or funds to reduce the risk of fraud
• Commercial lenders: Assess business owners’ bankruptcy history and credit before issuing loans

Socure’s real-time risk scoring instantly analyzes submitted business and owner data. Applications below a specified risk threshold are automatically approved, while high-risk submissions are declined. This streamlined decisioning:

• Reduces onboarding abandonment due to slow processes
• Allows more customers to be onboarded efficiently
• Keeps operational costs low while screening effectively for fraud and compliance risks

• Multi-source data: Aggregates intelligence from Middesk, Baselayer, Kyckr, Markaaz, and FIS, ensuring broader coverage than competitors who typically use only one provider
• Fully automated workflow: Verifies businesses, then automatically performs KYC and watchlist screening for each owner– no manual handoffs required
• Customizable approval rules: Businesses can set criteria for automated or manual decisioning, rather than relying on inflexible standard rules
• Primary government data access: Uses official records and OFAC lists instead of relying on possibly outdated third-party aggregators