KYC & AML Compliance for the Real Estate Sector
Real Estate agents must take the necessary steps to ensure that they are protected and compliant with KYC and AML compliance regulations. KYCAID helps to onboard legitimate customers, strengthen ongoing monitoring and secure your business from hefty fines.
AML Checks for the Real Estate Sector
Identifying Beneficial Ownership
KYC confirms beneficial ownership, curbing the use of shell companies to conceal property owners, and enhancing transparency in real estate transactions.
Money Laundering Threats
Real estate deals are often targeted for laundering illegal money. Through validating fund sources and their credibility, KYC significantly hampers undetected money laundering schemes in real estate.
Improving Due Diligence Practices
KYC aids in evaluating the reliability of all involved parties, reviewing their financial background and identifying any legal matters that could impact the transaction.
Regulatory Compliance
Real estate transactions face money laundering risks. AML checks aid agents in adhering to global and local regulations, ensuring client identity verification, and reporting any suspicious transactions promptly.
Protecting Reputation
Real estate professionals need to maintain a trustworthy reputation. Being associated with money laundering activities can harm an agent's reputation and business. AML checks help protect the integrity of the real estate industry and individual professionals
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Real Estate as a target for fraudsters
The real estate industry is a target for money launderers since buying & selling property enhances the flow of dirty money. Buying property via complex illicit systems of foreign companies facilitates money laundering. Also, this area deals with large financial transactions that hide information about the owners and their sources of income. Some transactions may involve third parties of doubtful reputation.
A real estate agent should follow the specific compliance requirements, as KYC for estate agents, know your buyer and establish beneficial owner due diligence. However, the sector of real estate is vulnerable to money laundering & terrorism financing because of compliance gaps, as follows: an opportunity to buy real estate using cash, and a lack of transaction transparency.
Real estate money laundering red flags
Cash Transactions
Shell Companies
Rapid Resale at a Significant Profit
Unusual Buyer or Seller Behavior
Inconsistent Property Valuations
Lack of Financial Transparency
Use of Nominees or Straw Buyers
Unusual Financing Arrangements
Regular KYC & AML checks for estate agents
Enormous amounts of funds can be cleaned by criminals just in one transaction. That's why it's crucial for real estate agents to check the entire financial operations and report any suspicious activity.
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1 stepProof of ownership. A real estate agent can get it by viewing the title deeds that have all the needed data about the owner and their recent utility bills.
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2 stepProof of funds. When buying accommodation, a client should prove that the money to purchase the property came legally. An estate agent should provide information about the sources of those funds.
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3 stepProof of identity. Getting official documents, i.e. ID, to prove the personality of a client. That can be a passport or driving license and also provide a current address.
Anti-Money Laundering Software for Estate Agents
KYCAID’s platform offers European ID methods in a single integration point. There are 3 integration ways: pure API integration, web SDK and mobile SDK.
| 1 | |
| 2 | "applicant_id": 'applicant_id', |
| 3 | "type": "PERSON", |
| 4 | "first_name": "John", |
| 5 | "middle_name": null, |
| 6 | "last_name": "Doe", |
| 7 | "dob": "1970-10-25", |
| 8 | "residence_country": "GB", |
| 9 | "gender": null, |
| 10 | "email": "[email protected]", |
| 11 | "phone": null, |
| 12 | "pep": null, |
| 13 | "profile_status": false, |