KYC Requirements in the UK
UK organizations need to verify customers securely, manage identity fraud, and support risk-based Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) processes without creating unnecessary onboarding friction. The UK regulatory landscape continues to evolve around digital identity, customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence (EDD), and ongoing monitoring requirements.
Entrust Identity Verification solutions help businesses navigate UK KYC and AML obligations, deliver trusted digital onboarding experiences, strengthen fraud prevention, and accelerate customer acquisition through a single end-to-end platform.
Solution Highlights
Support UK KYC and AML processes
Build risk-based identity verification journeys with document verification, biometrics, trusted data checks, and fraud detection to support customer due diligence (CDD) requirements.
Detect sophisticated fraud without adding unnecessary friction
Combine identity verification, liveness detection, device intelligence, and fraud signals to help identify suspicious activity while enabling legitimate customers to onboard quickly.
Strengthen KYC with both compliance and fraud prevention
Modern digital identity verification helps organizations satisfy regulatory obligations while reducing onboarding friction, account fraud, and financial crime risk.
How Can Entrust Help Your Business?
Navigate UK KYC and AML requirements
Build digital onboarding journeys that support FCA rules and guidance, Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs), customer due diligence (CDD), and risk-based identity verification requirements.
Improve customer onboarding experiences
Combine document, biometric, and data verification in streamlined journeys that help legitimate customers seamlessly, yet securely, prove their identity. Entrust offers global document support for verification from over 195 countries.
Detect sophisticated identity fraud and account misuse
Combine biometric verification, liveness detection, device intelligence, and fraud signals to identify impersonation attempts, synthetic identities, and other emerging threats.
Streamline identity verification operations
Automate identity and compliance checks through configurable workflows that help reduce manual reviews, improve consistency, and scale customer onboarding.
Support trusted digital identity verification
Leverage identity verification solutions certified against the UK Digital Verification Services Trust Framework (DVSTF) to help establish trust in remote customer onboarding journeys.
Deliver ongoing protection
KYC is not a one-time event. UK-regulated organizations must conduct ongoing monitoring to ensure customer information remains accurate and to identify changes in risk profiles, unusual activity, or potential financial crime indicators.
How Can Businesses Verify Their UK Digital Identity?
UK organizations are required to establish and verify a customer's identity as part of their customer due diligence obligations. Guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) supports a risk-based approach, allowing firms to select the identity verification methods that best meet their compliance and risk management needs.
Today, many organizations leverage digital identity verification solutions that combine government-issued ID verification, biometric authentication, trusted data sources, and fraud detection capabilities. These approaches help organizations verify customers remotely, reduce onboarding friction, and build confidence in the integrity of their KYC processes.
How Can Certified Digital Identity Support UK AML Compliance?
In February 2026, UK government guidance clarified how certified digital verification services can be used to support identity verification requirements under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs). Organizations can leverage services certified under the UK Digital Verification Services Trust Framework as part of their Customer Due Diligence (CDD) processes, helping create trusted digital onboarding journeys while supporting AML requirements. Organizations must still apply a risk-based approach and meet their broader AML obligations, but the guidance provides greater certainty around the use of digital identity verification in regulated industries.
How Can Entrust Help Organizations Meet UK KYC and AML Requirements?
Organizations across the UK must balance customer experience, fraud prevention, and regulatory obligations throughout the customer lifecycle. Entrust helps organizations support KYC and AML requirements through identity verification, biometric verification, fraud detection, and workflow orchestration capabilities designed for digital onboarding.
Our solutions help organizations verify identities remotely, support risk-based customer due diligence processes, reduce manual reviews, and strengthen defenses against identity fraud. For applicable use cases, Entrust also provides certified digital identity-verification services under the UK Digital Verification Services Trust Framework (DVSTF), helping create more secure and trusted onboarding experiences. Customers remain responsible for determining which checks are appropriate and for meeting their wider KYC, AML, and sector-specific obligations.
Is Entrust Trust Framework Certified?
Yes. Entrust Identity Verification is listed on the UK DVS register as a certified Identity Service Provider and Component Service Provider. Its current certified scope includes supported identity-verification profiles for Right to Work, Right to Rent, and DBS-related checks.
Certification applies to the listed service, roles, and certified scope. It does not mean that every Entrust product or every identity-verification use case is certified under the Trust Framework.
What Are KYC Regulations in the UK?
For financial services the UK recognises the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as the "international standard setter" for AML and KYC requirements. There are various UK laws that govern AML and KYC requirements, primarily:
The Terrorism Act 2000
Mandated that financial services must take steps to prevent terrorist financing, including customer due diligence (CDD), transaction monitoring, and reporting obligations. It has been amended numerous times, including the Terrorism Act 2006, the Terrorism Act 2000, and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Amendment) Regulations 2007.
The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002
This is the UK’s primary AML regulation. Under POCA, banks and financial institutions must take the necessary steps to detect money laundering activities. These steps include customer due diligence (CDD), transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting.
The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 (MLRs 2017)
Another key piece of AML legislation in the UK and transposes the obligations set out in the EU’s 4AMLD, and subsequently, 5AMLD via The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019. It also introduced the requirement that firms implement a written AML and CFT risk assessment.
The 2017 MLRs were then amended in 2022 to focus on helping businesses operating in the UK comply with international AML standards on virtual assets, and examine the requirement to perform risk assessments on proliferation financing.
The UK government also issued a forward-looking review of AML in June 2022, concluding that the current regime is broadly fit for purpose and required no wholesale changes for the time being.
Identity Verification Solutions for the UK
Document and Biometric Verification
Have confidence in your customer’s identity by verifying 2500+ UK and global photo IDs. Powered by award-winning AI, our Entrust document verification uses advanced techniques to assess documents for authenticity.
Entrust is Built Around Privacy and Security
UK Digital Verification Services Trust Framework
Identity Service Provider
Component Service Provider
Supported supplementary-code scope: Right to Work, Right to Rent and DBS-related identity verification
Related Resources
The Identity Shift: Preparing for Europe's New Regulatory Era
Learn what the latest eIDAS 2.0, ETSI v2, EUDI Wallet, and Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) changes mean for financial institutions and how to build a compliant, fraud-resistant identity strategy before the 2027 deadlines arrive.
The Identity Shift: Preparing for Europe's New Regulatory Era
Learn what the latest eIDAS 2.0, ETSI v2, EUDI Wallet, and Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) changes mean for financial institutions and how to build a compliant, fraud-resistant identity strategy before the 2027 deadlines arrive.
Identity Verification (IDV) demo
See how to design drag-and-drop verification workflows and validate identities using biometrics, documents, and trusted data sources.
A Guide to Identity Security
How to prevent fraud, reduce the risk of ATO, and secure the entire identity lifecycle. Protect your organization’s digital future while balancing security requirements and customer experience.
FAQs
Who regulates KYC in the UK?
UK KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements in the UK arise primarily from the Money Laundering Regulations and related sector requirements. Supervision varies by industry and can involve bodies including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and certain professional supervisory bodies. Firms must implement customer due diligence and risk-based controls to comply with these regulations.
Read the Onboarding in Europe’s New Regulatory Era Playbook.
When is Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) required in the UK?
UK firms must apply Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) when a customer or transaction presents a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing. This may include relationships involving Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), customers connected to high-risk jurisdictions, unusually large or complex transactions, suspicious activity indicators, or other high-risk scenarios identified through a firm's risk assessment process.
How long must UK firms retain KYC records?
Under the Money Laundering Regulations, firms must generally retain customer due diligence records and supporting documentation for five years after the end of the business relationship or transaction. After that period, records are typically expected to be deleted unless another legal or regulatory requirement permits or requires further retention.
How does the UK Trust Framework relate to KYC and AML?
The UK Trust Framework establishes rules and independent certification for digital verification services. February 2026 government guidance explains how certified services listed on the DVS register can support identity-verification checks under the Money Laundering Regulations. Organizations remain responsible for their wider customer due diligence and AML obligations.
Does Entrust complete Right to Work or Right to Rent checks?
Entrust provides the certified identity-verification component for supported Right to Work and Right to Rent pathways. The employer or landlord remains responsible for completing the overall check and making the final employment or tenancy decision.
Our identity experts are available to talk through your requirements, answer questions, and set up a KYC solutions demo.
Legislative and regulatory requirements can vary by jurisdiction, industry, product, and use case and may change over time. The information provided on this page is for general informational purposes only and reflects our understanding as of the date of publication. It does not constitute, and should not be relied upon as, legal, regulatory, or compliance advice. You should consult your own legal, compliance, or regulatory advisors regarding any questions or requirements that may apply to your business.