{"head":{"title":"What Is KYB (Know Your Business)? Definition | OceanLab","description":"KYB is verifying a business customer: that it exists, who owns and controls it, and its risk. Beneficial owner rules, an example and the usual mistakes.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/glossary/kyb"},"crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"Glossary","path":"/glossary"},{"name":"KYB","path":"/glossary/kyb"}],"slug":"kyb","term":"KYB (know your business)","aka":["know your business","business verification"],"category":"Payments and fintech","short":"Checking a business customer: that it legally exists, who owns and controls it, and how risky it is.","body":[["KYB is ",{"href":"/glossary/kyc","text":"KYC"}," for companies. It confirms the company is registered, checks its details, and identifies the people behind it. In the US, FinCEN's rule in 31 CFR 1010.230 requires covered financial institutions to identify and verify the beneficial owners of legal entity customers: each person who owns 25% or more of the equity, and one person with significant control, such as a chief executive or chief financial officer."],["Each of those people then goes through KYC, ",{"href":"/glossary/sanctions-screening","text":"sanctions screening"}," and ",{"href":"/glossary/pep","text":"PEP"}," checks."]],"why":["Shell companies are a common way to hide who is really behind money. For B2B fintech products, such as business accounts, payment acceptance and payouts, KYB is what onboarding looks like, and it is often slower and more manual than consumer KYC."],"example":["A payment platform onboards an online store. It checks the company registry, collects the ownership structure, finds two owners with 40% each and a CEO, runs KYC on all three and screens the company and the people against sanctions lists before enabling payouts."],"inBuild":["A KYB flow needs screens for ownership structures, document upload, registry lookups and a reviewer view, which is usually more complex than consumer KYC."],"mistakes":[["Stopping at the company name and never identifying the people behind it."],["Missing indirect owners who hold their stake through another company."],["Never re-checking when ownership changes."]],"related":[{"href":"/glossary/kyc","label":"KYC (know your customer)","detail":"The checks a regulated business runs to confirm a customer is who they say they are and to judge the risk they pose."},{"href":"/glossary/aml","label":"AML (anti-money laundering)","detail":"The laws, checks and controls that stop criminals from moving or hiding illegal money through financial services."},{"href":"/glossary/sanctions-screening","label":"Sanctions screening","detail":"Checking customers, counterparties and payments against government sanctions lists before letting money move."},{"href":"/glossary/pep","label":"PEP (politically exposed person)","detail":"Someone who holds or held a prominent public role, or a family member or close associate of one, treated as higher risk for corruption."}],"tools":[{"href":"/tools/kyc-cost-per-check","label":"KYC cost per check","detail":"Free tool"},{"href":"/tools/fintech-app-cost","label":"Fintech app cost","detail":"Free tool"}],"links":[{"href":"/build/kyc-onboarding","label":"Building KYC onboarding","detail":"Identity checks, business checks and review queues."},{"href":"/software/payments","label":"Software for payments","detail":"Payment systems and the compliance work they bring."},{"href":"/software/banking","label":"Software for banking","detail":"Banking systems, controls and regulation."}],"sources":[{"title":"31 CFR 1010.230, Beneficial ownership requirements (eCFR)","url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-31/subtitle-B/chapter-X/part-1010/subpart-B/section-1010.230","checkedAt":"2026-10-25"}],"legal":true,"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"}