From fintechs to traditional banks, teams are investing more than ever in Know Your Business (KYB) programs. But even as tools evolve, the risks are evolving faster.
Shell companies are getting harder to spot. Synthetic identities are on the rise. And fragmented vendor stacks are slowing down good customers while letting bad ones through.
A recent analysis of 40+ BEV buyers in Liminal's 2025 Link Index uncovered a few hard truths:
- 77% of institutions still struggle to detect shell companies tied to sanctioned individuals
- 82% feel unequipped to spot synthetic identities in beneficial ownership
- And while 95% plan to adopt AI agents for KYB in the next 2 years, only 40% use them today
That gap between strategy and execution? It's where the fraud lives.
Why traditional KYB is falling short
Let's be honest: legacy KYB systems weren't designed to handle today's threat landscape. Most focus on static checks — business name, incorporation date, maybe an EIN. That might confirm a business exists, but it doesn't prove it's real.
Meanwhile, the fraud playbook has gone dynamic:
- Synthetic business identities are increasingly used to open accounts that pass surface-level checks
- Shell structures are being layered to obscure true ownership and avoid sanctions screening
- Dormant businesses are being reinstated and repurposed for fraud at scale
And it's working. According to PwC's 2024 Global Economic Crime Survey, procurement fraud remains a significant concern, with 55% of respondents acknowledging it as a widespread issue in their country. Yet, many organizations are not leveraging available tools to effectively identify or combat it.
The Link Index reveals what the best vendors get right
Every year, Liminal’s Link Index evaluates the top providers helping financial institutions and fintechs verify business entities, detect risk, and stay compliant. But this year’s findings go beyond feature comparisons — they highlight a shift in mindset.
Top-performing vendors are moving from point-in-time checks to continuous, risk-based decisioning. Instead of just verifying that a business exists, they’re enabling smarter onboarding through:
- Real-time data enrichment: Static records don’t cut it anymore. Leading platforms combine authoritative and alternative data — like web presence, ownership changes, and sanctions watchlists—to generate dynamic risk scores.
- Configurable onboarding flows by risk tier: Not every entity needs the same level of scrutiny. The best vendors support flexible KYB workflows that fast-track low-risk customers and trigger deeper reviews for high-risk profiles.
- Unified identity views across functions: Rather than siloing fraud, compliance, and onboarding data, modern platforms build persistent profiles for each business—reducing rework, improving accuracy, and accelerating decisions.
The 2025 Link Index breaks down these traits — and where most vendors fall short. Inside the report, you’ll find:
- The top 5 benchmarks every KYB leader should track
- Where top vendors are pulling ahead—and how
- How AI, data orchestration, and continuous monitoring are shaping the future of KYB
Download the full Link Index here.
Go deeper with Middesk, Liminal, and American Banker
Join our upcoming web seminar to unpack the 2025 Link Index, learn what top KYB teams are doing differently, and discover what it actually takes to build a complete BEV solution in 2025. Register here.
