Learn / updated 2026-10-03

What is KYB (Know Your Business)? Checks, data and limits

Know Your Business (KYB) is the process of verifying a company before you onboard it as a customer, supplier or partner. It is the business counterpart of KYC for individuals.

The first step: is this a real legal entity?

Before anything else you need to know that the company exists in an official register and that its details match what it told you:

• the legal name and legal form,
• the registration number and the register it comes from,
• the status (active, dissolved),
• the registered address and industry code,
• an LEI or VAT number if the company has one.

A name typed into a form is not enough: many companies share similar names, and a register entry can be a subsidiary, a holding company or a small club that shares an address.

What a registry lookup gives you

An entity lookup returns the matching legal entities with a score and a reason, so you can tell an exact match from a close one. It reads the official register directly, so the record is as current as the register. Ambolt's EntityResolve does this for a set of national registers and the global LEI index.

What a lookup does not tell you

• Who owns or controls the company. Beneficial ownership is held in separate registers with their own access rules; Ambolt does not return officers or owners.
• Whether the company is trustworthy. A lookup confirms identity, not creditworthiness, sanctions status or intent.
• A legal conclusion. Regulated KYB for financial services has duties set by law. A data lookup is an input to your process, not a replacement for it.

A practical flow

1. Ask for the company name, registration number or website.
2. Resolve it to a legal entity and keep the register, number, date and score.
3. If the score is below your threshold, or two entities are close, ask the customer to confirm which one.
4. Continue with the checks your own rules require.

Frequently asked questions

How current is register data? As current as the register publishes it. Each answer carries the time it was read.

Can an AI agent do the first step? Yes. The lookup is a single call, and the match score and ambiguity flag tell the agent when to ask a human.

Not legal or compliance advice. See the EntityResolve reference for the call and its inputs.

Related

• Company Registry Lookup: API reference
• CPV codes and OCDS explained: how public tenders are described
• How EU VAT number validation works (VIES explained)
• What is an LEI (Legal Entity Identifier)? Format, use and lookup
• What is MCP (Model Context Protocol)? A plain explanation
• All tools and prices

Informational only, not financial, legal or tax advice.