Knowing Your Customer (KYC) is at the heart of the challenges faced by regulated companies and financial institutions. In fact, they are subject to the European legislation to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and are obliged to carry out KYC checks. This involves collecting and checking information and associated supporting documents from the beginning of the relationship (identity, domicile, activity, etc.). These KYC operations also occur throughout the commercial relationship in the form of periodic reviews.

In the event of a breach discovered during an audit by a regulator, such as the ACPR (the French Prudential Supervisory Authority), companies face serious consequences such as criminal sanctions. They also risk damaging their brand image in the event of indirect involvement with a case of money laundering or fraud. Some organizations are also required to launch extensive KYC remediation campaigns aimed at making a substantial stock of existing customer records compliant, often before an imminent deadline. In such cases customers are asked and invited to update their file as soon as possible. These operations require special attention in order to maximise the remediation rate of these customers, while managing the associated investments and customer satisfaction.

In order to optimise the performance of a KYC remediation campaign, Guillaume Bru, Project Director at Concentrix KYC Services, recommends paying particular attention to 4 key indicators:

1/ After taking an inventory of the customers targeted by the campaign, ensure a maximum deliverability rate of the invitations in order to reach the largest number of customers.

The essential point is identifying which contact channels to prioritise according to the type of customer (email, post, SMS, telephone, etc.) and confirming having the means of contact used by each customer (email address, telephone numbers, postal address, secure messaging in the customer’s account, etc.). By having the option of using a variety of channels, you will increase your chances of reaching the customer with one of these methods. On the other hand, in order to control costs, prioritise mail only when necessary – for example, to customers less comfortable with digital channels or in the case of a final reminder.

2/ Once the customer is aware of the update request, the second indicator to be optimised is the take-up rate corresponding to the customers’ consent to the update of their file.

In fact, some customers complain about the constraints associated with these administrative formalities. Above all, it is necessary to prepare and use reasoned and personalised arguments, given by expert, trained members of staff. We have seen that 95% of customers agree to carry out the remediation following a well-reasoned call with one of our advisors. Also, rely on the official communication channels used by your company in its relationship with your customers (corporate website, customer support, etc.) in order to rule out any suspicion of phishing, for example.

3/ Customers must then be able to take action and provide whatever is required in order to obtain a maximum collection rate.

To do so, make it easier for them to cooperate and favour user-friendly digital channels, while leaving the door open to traditional channels such as post. You can also directly ask the customer what their preferred method is. Anticipate their questions and answer them if necessary. Offering support through a hotline or a chatbot is a good way to overcome any final obstacles they may face. Finally, in the event of a lack of response, send reminders with prompts, progressively and sufficiently spaced out to both control costs and preserve the customer relationship.

4/ Finally, the last key indicator to optimise is the compliance rate of the files collected.

Some files may be rejected due to incompleteness, illegible supporting documents or still being out of date. Raising the customer’s awareness beforehand of the required quality of the documents to be provided will help to avoid many rejections. Also, it is important to be pragmatic andadapt the level of the requests based on the assessed degree of AML/CFT risk. Analysing pre-existing information will also potentially reduce the number of items to be collected. Finally, in the event of a non-compliant file being received, set up a specific follow-up process to make the file compliant.

Define and prepare the campaign in advance by implementing a process that combines technology for automated tasks and people for high-value tasks. Throughout the remediation campaign, set goals, particularly for remediation rates that you will manage each week by optimizing these 4 key indicators. It is also wise to demonstrate flexibility by testing and adapting each element of the process in order to continuously improve results. This is the key to a successful KYC remediation campaign.