KYC Verification (Know Your Customer)

KYC verification confirms the identity of individual investors. It's the process of checking that a person is who they say they are, using their personal information and government-issued identification.

Compliance Provider Architecture

The platform uses a split-provider compliance architecture. KYC and KYB are handled by separate providers:

• KYC (individual identity verification) is processed by Plaid
• KYB (entity verification) is processed by a separate provider

This split means that KYC and KYB results arrive through different webhook endpoints and may have different processing times. From an admin perspective, the experience is the same -- you see a unified verification status on the investor's identity record regardless of which provider processed it.

What Information Is Collected

US Persons

• First name and last name
• Date of birth
• Residential address (street, city, state, zip code)
• Social Security Number (SSN) -- last 4 digits or full, depending on the verification level

International Investors

• First name and last name
• Date of birth
• Residential address (country-specific format)
• Government-issued ID -- varies by country:
  • Australia: Driver's license, passport, Medicare card
  • Canada: Social insurance number, driver's license, passport
  • United Kingdom: Passport, driver's license, national insurance number
  • Other countries: Passport or national ID number

All personal information is encrypted at rest -- even the platform's database doesn't store it in plain text.

KYC Statuses

When KYC Is Triggered

KYC verification is triggered when an investor makes their first investment. It is NOT triggered during onboarding -- the investor provides their information during onboarding, but submission to Plaid happens later.

Specifically:

• The investor completes onboarding (identity info saved as "draft" or "submitted")
• The investor commits to an investment
• The system submits the investor's identity to Plaid for verification
• Plaid checks the information against government databases and returns a result (Approved, Rejected, or Needs Info)
• Results arrive asynchronously via webhook and are processed automatically

When KYC Is NOT Required

• Wire transfer investments -- currently bypassed
• External funding (IRA/DAF) -- bypassed because the custodian handles verification
• Already approved -- if the investor's identity was previously verified, it's reused for all future investments

What Admins Should Know

• KYC is usually automatic -- the system handles submission and result processing without admin intervention.
• Draft identities are not yet submitted -- if you see an identity in "draft," it means the investor hasn't invested yet (or their information is incomplete).
• Approved identities are reusable -- once verified, the investor's identity is valid for all future investments. They don't need to re-verify each time.
• Rejected doesn't mean the end -- sometimes legitimate investors get rejected due to data entry errors or formatting issues. See Verification Issues playbook.
• All PII is encrypted -- you may see limited information in the admin panel (last 4 of SSN, partial name) rather than full details, for security.