NBB first bank to join National eKYC platform

MANAMA: National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) yesterday announced it has joined the National eKYC (know your customer) platform mandated by the Central Bank of Bahrain and operated by The Benefit Company.

NBB was the first bank in Bahrain to join the platform, which will be used by all financial institutions to simplify and ease client onboarding and KYC maintenance requirements electronically.

The Benefit eKYC platform is a cloud-based/blockchain hybrid solution that provides financial institutions with the ability to retrieve and process client KYC and other data from the related bodies including Bahrain’s Information and eGovernment Authority (IGA) and will also include international screening without the need for a physical presence, document verification or authentication.

NBB has been successfully transacting on the platform since it went live on April 30.

NBB chief executive Jean-Christophe Durand said: “We are delighted to have been the first bank to come on board with this innovative project.”

“The adoption of eKYC helps banks realise the digitalisation of a very important part of our business and compliance procedures and will go a long way in streamlining internal processes for bringing on new customers and keeping information on existing clients up-to-date,” he added.

NBB head of network management and strategy Nabeel Mustafa said: “Currently to take advantage of the platform, customers can visit NBB’s main branch and be on-boarded for a basic account without the need to provide the bank with any documentation other than a signed consent form and all his/her relevant KYC information will be retrieved from IGA’s centralised repository.

“The introduction of this service for all customers across the bank’s branches will soon follow. The next phase of the project will include API integration and richer data to allow for more financial services to be provided to customers through the system.”

Source: http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/568697

 

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