What is Know Your Customer (KYC)?

What does KYC involve?

KYC rules require financial firms to find out who they are dealing with. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is an international standard-setting body. Its 2001 paper, since superseded, said KYC is most closely associated with the fight against money laundering. Sound procedures, it said, go beyond opening accounts and keeping records. Banks, it said, need a policy on which customers to accept, more extensive checks on higher-risk accounts and monitoring for suspicious activity. Regulators also call these checks customer due diligence, or CDD.

In the United States, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) lists four core requirements of its Customer Due Diligence Rule for banks and other covered institutions:

• identify customers and verify their identity
• identify and verify the beneficial owners of companies opening accounts, meaning any individual who owns 25 percent or more and an individual who controls the company
• understand the nature and purpose of customer relationships
• monitor on an ongoing basis to report suspicious transactions and keep customer information up to date

A FinCEN order of February 13, 2026 means the beneficial-owner check need not be repeated each time an existing customer opens another account. That holds unless facts cast doubt on earlier information or risk procedures require it.

In Norway, the financial regulator Finanstilsynet says banks must check information about potential customers when a relationship begins and follow up on existing customers. A firm that does not meet its obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering Act can be fined.

Why does KYC matter for bank jobs?

KYC is continuing work, not a single check. DNB, a Norwegian bank, says on its website that it collects information when a customer relationship begins. It says it then reviews and updates that information, asking customers questions at regular intervals. It says more than nine million transactions a day go to and from its accounts. Electronic monitoring screens them, it says.

On October 6, 2026, DNB announced a cut of about 400 full-time equivalents. Its release said AI agents can contribute substantial efficiency gains in areas including control of customer data and work on the KYC process. That is the bank's own account. The release gave no figures on how much KYC work software now does. In August 2025, DNB confirmed plans to cut about 100 positions in areas including customer identification and anti-money-laundering work, Finwire reported.