Any bank, lending institution, investment platforms, mutual fund companies, insurance firms: basically any company that provides financial services needs to do a background check of its customers. This is mainly done to prevent money laundering instances, frauds and criminal activities. KYC is another name for such background checks. Online KYC for mutual funds can be completed by investors and they can choose the offline route as well.
KYC is an acronym for ‘Know your customer’ which is nothing but a customer identification process conducted by all financial institutions: brokers, asset management companies, banks and likewise. In lieu of the customer identification process you will be asked to furnish your photo identification, address proof and other identification documents to authenticate your identity.
The process of mutual fund KYC check is required under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (2002). Reserve Bank of India first furnished KYC guidelines in the year 2002. This has to be read together with the master circular issued by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Anti Money Laundering Standards which re-emphasizes the need for the same.
KYC is compulsory to make sure that investments made are of no spurious nature, preventing future cases of money laundering and frauds. It is a process to make sure that everyone who is investing provides their real names and details to prevent any unforeseen circumstances in future.
So when an asset management company asks for identification documents for a mutual fund KYC check it is mainly doing the same to establish authenticity. This is done to make sure that you are making the investment for investment purposes and that you do not have a history of defaults.
There are primarily two ways of getting your mutual fund KYC done: offline and online.
Offline KYC with KRA
CDSl Ventures Ltd. has been authorised by the mutual fund industry to conduct the KYC process for its investors. CVL is taking care of the ‘customer profiling and record keeping’ for completing the KYC norms.
Offline KYC with an Intermediary/platform
If you are planning to invest with a particular fund house or an investment platform, they will provide you with a KYC registration form, if you are not KYC registered already.
The fund house or the investment platform will be registered with a KRA, which is a KYC Registration Agency.
After you fill the form, your KYC for your PAN number will be created with a KRA by the company.
Online KYC with KRA
When it comes to online KYC, the process needs to be individually with the mutual fund house, the intermediary or whichever platform you choose to invest with.
The only difference that lies between offline and online KYC is that you will have to fill the form online and upload all the documents required. It relieves you from the cumbersome process of physically going to the office just go get an authentication done.
After completing the KYC process via a KRA online or offline, you will get a KYC identification number that can be shared with your chosen investment platform for you to begin investing.
Aadhaar based KYC: Even though providing Aadhaar for KYC is not compulsory anymore, investors do still prefer going the Aadhaar route for completing their KYC norms.Most fund houses and investment platforms provide Aadhaar based KYC system.
Authenticity is established on different levels : your name, photograph, resident address, income proof need to be verified. For the same, these are the documents that are required:
In case you to check KYC status for mutual funds investments, there are few easy steps you need to follow:
Online KYC with Groww
At Groww, you can complete the entire KYC process digitally in just five minutes and start investing. Here are the steps to do so:
To sum up, the KYC process is a necessary and essential step to have a hassle-free investing experience. Make sure you have all documents needed for KYC with you before you proceed.