LONDON: JPMorgan, Citigroup and four more major banks have signed up with an industry group to develop a central register of information on other banks they deal with to help to meet increasing compliance demands and costs.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Commerzbank, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered have signed the agreement.
Swift, a Brussels-based group used by thousands of banks to exchange financial messages, said yesterday that six banks had agreed to develop and use the register, which will collect and share standard information required by banks as part of their due diligence processes.
Senior bankers have for some time said there is potential for banks to share information on customers to help to meet increasing “know your customer” (KYC) requirements and save money by reducing duplication of information.
Regulators require banks to have rigid KYC policies and are tightening compliance to bolster protection against money laundering and fraud.
Swift’s KYC Registry will at first focus on correspondent relationships, which are the other banks they deal with in handling transactions. It was not clear whether data sharing will later extend to corporate customers or individuals.Reuters
