KYB Philippines: Verifying SEC and DTI Registration

Know Your Business (KYB) describes how a company confirms that a business client is real, legally registered, and controlled by identifiable people. In the Philippines, that means checking the right registry for the entity type: the SEC for corporations and partnerships, the DTI for sole proprietorships, and the CDA for cooperatives. Since 1 January 2026, SEC rules also require corporations to disclose beneficial owners holding at least 20%, which gives KYB teams a clearer starting point for ownership checks.

What KYB Means for Philippine Businesses

KYC verifies a person. KYB, by contrast, verifies an organization, and then the people behind it. Typically, banks, payment providers, marketplaces, lenders, and B2B platforms all need it whenever they onboard merchants, suppliers, or corporate customers.

• Is the business real? First, confirm it exists in an official registry.
• Is it in good standing? Then check that its registration is active, not revoked or expired.
• Who owns and controls it? Next, identify directors, officers, and beneficial owners.
• Are those people who they claim to be? After that, check each of those people as thoroughly as any retail applicant.
• Do any of them carry risk? Finally, screen them against PEP and sanctions lists.

Under the AMLA, covered persons must apply due diligence to legal persons as well as individuals. So for banks and other covered institutions, KYB is not optional. For everyone else, it is the main defense against shell companies, fake merchants, and invoice fraud.

Verifying SEC and DTI Registration

So the first KYB step is matching the business to the correct registry. Because Philippine businesses register in different places depending on their form, checking the wrong registry produces a false “not found.”

Entity type	Registry	What to confirm
Stock and non-stock corporations, One Person Corporations	Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)	Registered name, SEC registration number, date of incorporation, status
Partnerships	SEC	Registered name, registration number, partners, status
Sole proprietorships	Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) business name registry	Business name, owner, registration validity and scope
Cooperatives	Cooperative Development Authority (CDA)	Registration number, type, status
Regulated firms	BSP, Insurance Commission, or SEC secondary license	License type and validity for the activity offered

Two details trip up many teams. First, a DTI business name registration is not a separate legal entity: the owner is personally the business, so you also run KYC on that owner. Second, SEC registration alone does not, by itself, authorize lending, investment taking, or payments, which need secondary licenses. Therefore, always match the license to what the business actually does.

Also, document checks should cross-reference the registry, not just accept a scanned certificate. After all, a forged Certificate of Incorporation looks convincing until its number fails to match the official record.

Finding Beneficial Owners Under the 2026 SEC Rules

The biggest recent change for Philippine KYB came from SEC Memorandum Circular No. 15, Series of 2025. Specifically, it set the Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Rules of 2026, effective 1 January 2026.

Rule	What changed
Ownership threshold	Lowered from 25% to 20% of voting rights, voting shares, or capital
Coverage	All SEC-registered corporations, domestic or foreign, stock or non-stock
Reporting channel	HARBOR, the SEC beneficial ownership registry launched in January 2026, instead of the General Information Sheet (GIS filing continues until HARBOR is fully operational)
Updates	Changes in beneficial ownership reported within seven days
Penalties	Fines for non-disclosure; false filings risk penalties as high as P2 million and possible dissolution

For KYB teams, the 20% line matters most, because it now matches the threshold in AMLC regulations, so the owners a corporation discloses to the SEC and the owners a bank must identify are more likely to be the same people. Still, disclosure is not verification. You should still confirm each owner’s identity and look for control exercised through nominees, trusts, or agreements rather than shares. Our guide to beneficial owners explains how to trace those indirect structures.

Screening Directors and Owners

Once you know who runs and owns the business, then treat each person as an individual customer.

1. Verify identity. First, check each director’s and owner’s government ID against official records.
2. Confirm presence. Next, for the authorized signatory who onboards the account, add liveness and face matching.
3. Screen. Then check names against PEP and sanctions lists, plus adverse media where your risk policy requires it.
4. Rate risk. Finally, combine entity and individual results into one business risk level.

Verihubs ID Verification handles the individual layer for Philippine directors and owners, checking each person’s ID data with the issuing government agency. A business with a sanctioned or politically exposed owner needs enhanced due diligence, as our walkthrough of EDD steps shows.

Red Flags in Philippine KYB

Most KYB failures follow familiar patterns. So watch for these during onboarding.

• Registry mismatch. For example, the name or number on the documents differs from the official record.
• Recent registration with high volume. A company formed weeks ago expects large transaction flows.
• Shared addresses. Many applicants list the same virtual office or residential address.
• Nominee directors. The same individuals appear as directors across many unrelated firms.
• License gaps. A business offers lending or investments without the required secondary license.
• Owners who refuse identity checks. In fact, reluctance to verify beneficial owners is itself a signal.

Meanwhile, the SEC regularly publishes advisories on unregistered or unauthorized entities, so check them as part of onboarding. For a broader look at how shell companies move money, see our explainer on money laundering in the Philippines.

Automating KYB Checks With an API

Manual KYB can take days per business, mostly spent searching registries and chasing documents. Automation, however, cuts that time and makes results consistent.

Step	Manual approach	Automated approach
Entity lookup	Staff search registries by hand	API looks up the business by name or registration number
Ownership mapping	Analysts read filings and draw structures	Ownership data returned as structured records
Individual checks	Separate KYC on each person	ID verification and screening triggered per director and owner
Monitoring	Periodic manual refresh	Alerts when ownership, status, or screening results change

Verihubs Know Your Business finds a company’s ownership structure, licenses, and beneficial owners from its name or registration number, and keeps monitoring for changes. Combined with individual ID checks, therefore, that gives onboarding teams one pipeline for both the business and its people.

Ongoing Monitoring After Onboarding

KYB does not end once a business is approved. Over time, ownership changes, directors resign, and licenses lapse. Under the 2026 SEC rules, corporations must report ownership changes within seven days, yet your own records will not update unless you look.

• Set review cycles by risk. For instance, review high-risk clients yearly and lower-risk clients less often.
• Rescreen on list updates. After all, sanctions and PEP lists change without warning.
• Watch for trigger events. A new director, a change of address, or a sudden jump in volume should prompt a fresh check.
• Re-verify signatories. Also, when a new person gains account authority, verify their identity before granting access.

Besides, continuous monitoring is what examiners increasingly expect. A clean file from onboarding two years ago, by itself, says little about the business you serve today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is KYB in the Philippines?

In short, KYB checks a business client’s registration, standing, ownership, and controlling persons, both at onboarding and throughout the relationship.

How do I verify if a business is registered in the Philippines?

Check the registry that matches the entity type: the SEC for corporations and partnerships, the DTI business name registry for sole proprietorships, and the CDA for cooperatives. Then confirm any secondary licenses the business needs.

What is the beneficial ownership threshold in the Philippines?

Under the SEC’s Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Rules of 2026, the threshold is 20% of voting rights, voting shares, or capital, down from 25% under the earlier rules.

Is DTI registration enough to verify a business?

Not on its own. It confirms the business name is registered to a sole proprietor. Since the owner is the business, you should also verify that owner’s identity and check any licenses the activity requires.

Who must conduct KYB?

First, AMLA covered persons, such as banks, payment providers, and other supervised institutions, must apply due diligence to business clients. Beyond them, marketplaces and B2B platforms also use KYB to stop fake merchants and fraud.

Registry First, People Always

In short, Philippine KYB starts with the right registry: SEC, DTI, or CDA, plus any secondary license. Then it moves to the people, using the 2026 beneficial ownership rules as a starting point and verifying every director and owner as an individual. So automate the lookups, screen continuously, and treat any refusal to verify an owner as the warning sign it usually is.

Onboarding merchants or corporate clients in the Philippines? Map your KYB pipeline with Verihubs from registry check to owner screening.