Innov8tif

EMAS eKYB — corporate identity verification

Verify the business. Vet the humans behind it.

A business cannot prove its own identity — the people behind it must. EMAS eKYB merges registry verification, automated UBO discovery, and director eKYC into one workflow, so you onboard corporate customers in minutes instead of weeks.

The stakes

A shadow economy is scaling faster than manual due diligence

Scam syndicates, shell companies, and AI-powered fraud are weaponising synthetic business identities across ASEAN. The numbers set the context for why corporate onboarding needs to change.

2,137%

Surge in deepfake-related fraud attempts across APAC financial sectors, 2023–2024.

Signicat, 2024

US$64B

Estimated annual revenue of the cyber-fraud industry in the Mekong region alone.

UNODC, via USIP

US$1T

Projected value of the ASEAN digital economy by 2030 — the surface that fraud is chasing.

Technode Global

A compliance analyst reviewing a corporate entity structure
Why corporate onboarding is different

An entity can't prove its own identity

Consumer onboarding verifies a natural person. Corporate onboarding verifies a legal construct — and the humans hiding behind it. That gap is exactly where modern fraud operates.

  • Shell entities with valid paperwork

    Real registration numbers, no genuine operational footprint — designed to legitimise laundering or vanish with credit.

  • Proxy "role shifters"

    Directors who are either complicit or victims of identity theft, standing in for whoever really controls the entity.

  • Manual due diligence is too slow

    Fast-moving fraud rings outrun manual checks, and human review adds error when the detail matters most.

Our pillars of trust

Three pillars for the future of B2B trust

The era of static document checking is over. Drawn from millions of ID verifications across ASEAN, these three principles shape how eKYB is built.

Verify the entity, validate the human

A business cannot commit fraud — only the people behind it can. Effective KYB merges with KYC, cryptographically linking each ultimate beneficial owner to a real, living person.

Context over documents

Fraudsters reuse the same drop addresses and company secretaries across hundreds of shell entities. eKYB surfaces those anomalies at scale, rather than reading each document in isolation.

Continuous, not episodic

A valid partner today can be struck off or sanctioned tomorrow. Perpetual KYB monitors directorship and status changes in real time, not just at the point of onboarding.

The core engine

Official-source verification, automated end to end

The engine pulls the entity record straight from the registry, resolves who really owns it, and interrogates every supporting document — before a human ever reviews the case.

Instant registry integration
Direct API connections to SSM pull real-time company data from the official source — no reliance on user-submitted PDFs.
Automated UBO discovery
The engine unpeels complex corporate structures automatically to identify the individuals at the top — the ultimate beneficial owners.
AI document forensics
OkayDoc detects forged certificates of incorporation, memorandums of association, and financial statements.
The EMAS eKYB verification engine surfacing registry, ownership, and document checks

The human layer

Bind the entity to a real, present person

Registry data proves a company exists. Biometrics prove the person signing the deal is who they claim to be — and is not a stolen photo or a deepfake.

Biometric liveness

Active and passive liveness confirm the person signing the deal is real and present — blocking stolen photos and deepfakes.

Director eKYC

Directors capture their NRIC and a short selfie video; the system extracts ID data and biometrically matches it to the document.

Watchlist screening

Director identities are cross-referenced against global sanctions, PEP, and adverse-media lists instantly.

How it works

One secure workflow, four roles

eKYB connects the admin, operator, company contact person, and manager in a single case flow — from configuration to a defensible approve-or-reject decision.

  1. 1

    Setup

    Admin

    Configures accounts and the verification checks each case must run.

  2. 2

    Case creation

    Operator

    Opens a case and inputs the required company and director data.

  3. 3

    Submission & verification

    Company contact

    Submits company and director details; the system runs the automated checks.

  4. 4

    Review & decision

    Manager

    Reviews the results and approves or rejects the case.

The checks

Four checks behind every corporate decision

Each case runs the same rigorous set — from the compulsory registry cross-reference to biometric director identity and beneficial-ownership mapping.

Director eKYC

A director validates their identity by capturing their NRIC and a short selfie video. The system extracts ID data and uses biometric verification to confirm the individual is real and matches their documents.

Compulsory

SSM check

A mandatory corporate screening step that validates a business against the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) database — comparing submitted details directly to official government records.

AML screening

The OkayDB AML API screens directors and shareholders against four high-risk categories: politically exposed persons, sanctions, adverse-media exposure, and regulatory enforcement lists.

UBO mapping

Visualises a company's ownership structure to identify who actually profits from it — mapping beneficiaries across every level with shareholdings, ownership percentages, and positions held.

Why EMAS eKYB

Speed and security, without the trade-off

In a market where speed is competitive but security is mandatory, eKYB consolidates fragmented verification into one framework — three strategic advantages fall out of that.

01

One workflow, not five tools

Fragmentation creates blind spots. eKYB centralises the entire compliance workflow into one command centre — eliminating data silos and simplifying regulatory reporting.

02

Official-source data, zero-trust

The system pulls data directly from official sources like SSM rather than trusting user-submitted PDFs. This zero-trust approach cuts onboarding from weeks to minutes while preserving data integrity.

03

Frictionless for directors and reviewers

A guided mobile interface lets directors complete biometric verification in seconds, while compliance managers review and approve cases from a clean dashboard — no legacy software to navigate.

Built for the regulators

The same EMAS platform banks already run KYC on

Central banks across ASEAN — including BNM and MAS — are tightening AML/CFT penalties for institutions that fail to identify the ultimate beneficial owner behind a corporate account. eKYB runs on the same EMAS platform that financial institutions already deploy for individual eKYC, so the audit trail and controls extend to the entity layer without a new vendor.

Helps you satisfy

BNM
MAS
OJK
BSP
NBC
BOT
SBV
AMBD

Configurable workflows align with your regulator's eKYC, AML, and customer due-diligence requirements.

PDF

Read the eKYB whitepaper: The Invisible Partner

Whitepaper on Electronic Know Your Business (eKYB): why verifying corporate entities, beneficial owners, and directors is the missing layer in digital onboarding across ASEAN — and how EMAS eKYB closes it.

1.6 MB · PDF

Request the whitepaper

Scope EMAS eKYB for your onboarding stack

Tell us about your corporate onboarding workflow and we will scope registry coverage, UBO patterns, and integration with your existing eKYC — usually within 48 hours.

Talk to our team about eKYB

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