KYC (Know Your Customer) is a set of standards and procedures within the finance industry that allows companies to identify their customers in order to comply with anti-money-laundering (AML) laws. If you want to trade at NBX, you will be required to complete the KYC form. Following good KYC procedures is one of the ways that we make sure bad or malicious actors are kept off of the exchange so we can provide a fair, compliant and transparent market for all of our clients.
In order to start trading an NBX client has to pass KYC procedure. If you have recently created an account on NBX, you will see the notification as shown on the screen below.
Click on "verify me" to start the procedure.
During the KYC process you will also be required to provide information about whether or not you are or have a relationship with a politically exposed person (PEP, see below), and whether you are the beneficial owner (BO, see below) of the funds that you will hold at NBX. Politically exposed persons or non-beneficial owners of funds can, of course, also trade at NBX, but their status must be disclosed using the KYC form during on-boarding.
Following the procedure, you will see the screen below.
After submitting your details, you will be able to make deposits, withdrawals, trades and other actions on NBX.
Who is a politically exposed person (PEP)?
A politically exposed person is a natural person who currently holds or has held some sort of prominent public office. The family members and close associates of PEPs are also considered to be PEPs. Typically, a politically exposed person holds one of the positions described below:
- a head of state, head of government, minister or deputy minister;
- a member of parliament;
- a justice of the supreme court, constitutional court or any court, the judgements of which can be appealed against only in exceptional circumstances;
- a member of the supervisory board of a state audit institution or central bank;
- an ambassador, chargé d’affaires and senior officer of the defence forces/military;
- a member of a directing, supervisory or administrative body of a state company.
The list mentioned above also includes positions in the European Union and in other international organisations.
A family member of a politically exposed person (a person performing prominent public functions) is defined as:
- his or her spouse;
- a partner equal to a spouse under the law of the person’s country of residence or a person who as of the date of carrying out the transaction had shared a household with a PEP for no less than a year;
- his or her children and their spouses or partners;
- his or her parents.
A close associate of a politically exposed person is defined as::
- a natural person who has a close business relationship with a person performing in a prominent public function or who is a joint beneficial owner of a legal person or contractual legal arrangement with a PEP;
- a person who as a beneficial owner has full ownership of a legal person or contractual legal arrangement, which is known to have been founded for the benefit of a PEP.
What is a beneficial owner?
In short, a beneficial owner is the actual owner of the funds that will be held in the user account you establish at NBX. If you are not the owner of the funds, that is okay, but you will need to declare who is the actual owner using the KYC form.
A beneficial owner is a natural person for whose benefit or in whose interest a business relationship is established and in whose benefit or interest all or separate transactions from a user account are made.
A real owner (beneficiary) is a private person, who is the actual owner of the funds that are placed in a user account, or a private person in whose interest all transactions from said account are made.