Professionals face a business world with escalating regulation. Banks, law firms, tax consultants, trust offices, and other financial services providers have long been subject to a myriad of local, national, and international laws, governing how to engage in business.

 

In today's post-9/11 era, new regulations designed to stop fraud and shut-down terrorist activities are intensifying the challenge of due diligence unlike ever before. These challenges are extended worldwide through unified regulations and controls.

 

Trust services providers are under great pressure to re-tool their operational processes, and provide more and more frequent and complex reporting to satisfy both regulating bodies and the financial community.

 

One of the key regulations that add complexity to the performance of risk management is, “know your client” (KYC). This principle encompasses a set of rules, defined through a range of regulations and directives, that trust services providers must adhere to ensure they can demonstrate knowledge of the identity of their clients; it requires them to demonstrate knowledge of their clients through a collection of in-depth information about clients with whom they (intend to) do business. Its general mandate requires that these providers perform sufficient client due diligence.

 

Trust services providers must ensure and demonstrate that they have adequately checked and investigated that none of their clients participate in any enumerated activities; it requires the trust services providers to obtain and verify or validate information on companies, and their ultimate beneficial owners.

 

BK Group is committed to the principle and practice of “know your client” (KYC); this means that it will require certain information and documentation on prospective clients prior to accepting any new business.

 

This commitment to compliance demonstrates BK Group's undertaking to maintain the highest level of integrity in the services it provides; no client or external relationship is more important than the ethics, integrity, and reputation of BK Group.

 

BK Group's “know your client” (KYC) policy is, however, carefully designed to balance between respecting legitimate rights to privacy, whilst at the same time ensuring that it meets regulatory and internal audit.

 

In an attempt to minimize the bureaucratic burden on clients, BK Group has designed and developed a simple and effective intake process, that needs only be performed once.

 

BK Group is a founding member of the Dutch Fiduciary Association (DFA). The aims of this non-profit organization are the promotion of the interests of its members, and the advancement of the ongoing development of the trust sector, both in a domestic as well as an international setting.

 

For more information, please contact the Dutch Fiduciary Association:

 

t        +31 20 40 67 350

f        +31 20 40 54 748

 

General information is provided at the internet site of the Dutch Fiduciary Association: www.dutchfiduciary.nl.