Internal KYC checks

Completing a KYC check within the deal team, without the participant being contacted at all — when to use it, and the trade-off to be honest about.

Overview

An internal check is a KYC check your team completes on the participant's behalf. The product names both cases in the option itself:

"Use this option when you already have all necessary documents or when the investor is unable to perform the digital KYC process."

You already hold the documents. An investor known to the firm, previously onboarded, or whose file came through an adviser. Asking them to upload what you already have is friction with nothing gained.

The investor cannot complete the digital process. Some participants will not, or cannot, work through an online flow. Internal KYC means their check does not stall because of it.

What you'll learn

When an internal check is the right choice
What choosing internal guarantees
How to complete one
The provenance trade-off it carries

What internal means in practice

Three things, all stated on the option card:

Managed internally by the back-office team
No emails or invitations sent to the shareholders
No actions required by the shareholders via the platform

That second point is the one that matters when you are deciding. Choosing internal is a guarantee that this person will not be contacted by the platform — useful for a sensitive investor, or where the relationship is handled entirely through a partner.

Before you start

You need the shareholder's documents in hand: a current identity document, a recent proof of address, and their personal details.

Steps

From the project Dashboard, select Launch KYC Checks and choose the shareholders (A7.2).
On Choose Verification Level, select Internal KYC (back-office handled) for the people concerned. The level is per check, so you can set internal for some and simple for others in the same batch.
Launch the process. The internal checks appear on the dashboard alongside any simple ones.
Open an internal check and enter the shareholder's information and documents yourself — the identity document, the proof of address, and the personal details.
Review what you have entered, as you would review a participant's submission.
Verify the check (A7.6).

What good looks like

The check reaches Verified on the dashboard, having never left the team. The participant was not contacted at any point, and the same documents are on file as if they had submitted them.

The trade-off worth being honest about

Internal KYC moves the work from the participant to your team, and it moves the provenance too. When a participant uploads their own passport, the file's origin is unambiguous. When the team uploads it, the provenance is whatever the team's own record-keeping says it is.

That is not a reason to avoid internal checks — the two cases above are real and common. It is a reason to be deliberate: use internal because one of those cases applies, not because it seems quicker.

Common problems

Documents you were given are out of date. The same requirements apply as for a participant-submitted check — an identity document must be current, and a proof of address recent. Holding an old file is not the same as holding a valid one.

Nobody knows who supplied the documents. Internal checks make the team the source. Note in your own records where the documents came from, because the platform records that the team entered them, not who gave them to you.

You chose internal and now want the participant to complete it. The level is set per check at configuration. Confirm with your team how to change it rather than assuming — it may require a new check.

A7.1 — What a KYC check covers · the two levels, side by side
A7.4 — Simple KYC checks · the path this one replaces
A7.6 — KYC: approve, then verify · closing an internal check out
A7.2 — Launching KYC checks and tracking them · where internal checks appear