Reference

Glossary

Plain-language definitions of the 74 terms most often used across our 209 jurisdiction guides, supplier comparisons, and API directory entries. Editorial reference only. Not legal, regulatory, compliance, financial, or tax advice.

Updated 2026-05-21. Cite individual terms by appending the anchor to the page URL, for example /glossary#ubo.

KYC, AML, and due diligence

AML (Anti-Money Laundering): The body of laws, regulations, and procedures designed to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds as legitimate income. Most jurisdictions impose AML obligations on banks, professional services firms, and other regulated entities.
CDD (Customer Due Diligence): The baseline process of identifying and verifying a customer at onboarding. Typically includes legal name, address, date of incorporation, ownership structure, and the nature of the business relationship.
CTF (Counter-Terrorism Financing): Measures to prevent funds from reaching designated terrorist organisations or individuals. Often regulated alongside AML under a combined AML/CTF framework.
EDD (Enhanced Due Diligence): A higher-intensity investigation triggered by elevated risk factors: high-risk jurisdiction, PEP status, complex ownership, or unusual transaction patterns. Goes beyond CDD with source-of-funds verification, in-person checks, and senior management approval.
KYB (Know Your Business): The corporate-entity equivalent of KYC. Establishes legal existence, ownership structure, beneficial owners, and authorised signatories of a business customer or counterparty.
KYC (Know Your Customer): The umbrella term for identifying and verifying a customer before opening an account or relationship. KYC for individuals typically includes identity document verification, address verification, and screening against sanctions and PEP lists.
MLRO (Money Laundering Reporting Officer): The designated person responsible for receiving internal suspicious activity reports and filing them with the relevant financial intelligence unit. A statutory role in most regulated firms.
Onboarding: The end-to-end process of accepting a new customer or counterparty, from initial application through identity verification, risk scoring, and account activation.
PEP (Politically Exposed Person): An individual who holds or has held a prominent public function. PEP status extends to immediate family members and close associates. Triggers EDD obligations in most jurisdictions.
Risk-based approach: The principle that AML/CTF controls should be proportionate to assessed risk. Lower-risk customers get simplified due diligence; higher-risk customers get enhanced due diligence. Mandated by FATF Recommendation 1.
SAR (Suspicious Activity Report): A confidential report filed by a regulated entity to its national financial intelligence unit when it detects activity that may indicate money laundering or terrorist financing. Filing is mandatory; tipping off the customer is a criminal offence.
Source of funds / source of wealth: Source of funds is the origin of money used in a specific transaction. Source of wealth is the origin of a customer's total assets. Both required for EDD; the distinction matters for accuracy of risk assessment.

Beneficial ownership and UBO

Beneficial owner: The natural person who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity, regardless of intermediate corporate layers. The end-point of an ownership chain.
Beneficial ownership threshold: The minimum ownership percentage that triggers beneficial-owner declaration. The global default is 25%, though some jurisdictions and use cases apply lower thresholds (10% or even 1% for high-risk sectors).
Nominee director / nominee shareholder: A person who holds office or shares on behalf of someone else (the beneficial owner). Common in offshore structures. Most beneficial-ownership regimes require disclosure of the underlying party, not the nominee.
PSC (Person with Significant Control): The UK term for beneficial owner. Defined under the Companies Act 2006. UK companies must maintain a PSC register and file PSC information with Companies House.
UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner): The natural person at the top of the ownership chain. Equivalent to "beneficial owner" in most jurisdictions. Distinguishing the "ultimate" prefix matters when entities sit between layers of corporate ownership.
Layered or watered-down ownership: An ownership structure where intermediate holding companies sit between the operating entity and the beneficial owner. Each layer dilutes the percentage; multiple layers can drop a 25% ultimate stake below visible thresholds in any single registry.

Sanctions and watchlists

Adverse media: Negative news coverage about a person or entity, screened during onboarding or periodic review. Sources include mainstream news, trade publications, court records, and regulatory enforcement databases.
Asset freeze: A prohibition on dealing with funds or economic resources owned, held, or controlled by a designated person. The primary mechanism of financial sanctions.
OFAC SDN list: The United States Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Has extraterritorial reach: any USD-denominated transaction routed through the US financial system is subject to OFAC.
Sanctions screening: The automated or manual process of checking customer names against sanctions lists. Typically uses fuzzy matching to catch transliteration variants and aliases.
SDN (Specially Designated National): An individual or entity included on the OFAC SDN List. US persons are prohibited from dealing with SDNs and their property is blocked.
UN Consolidated List: The United Nations Security Council's consolidated sanctions list. Implemented by all UN member states. Covers terrorism, weapons proliferation, and country-specific regimes.
Watchlist: Any maintained list of persons or entities that warrant elevated scrutiny. Includes sanctions lists, PEP databases, enforcement action lists, and proprietary lists from data vendors.

Company registries and structure

Beneficial ownership register: A government-maintained record of beneficial owners of legal entities. Some jurisdictions make these public (UK, Denmark), others restrict access to law enforcement and regulated entities (most EU member states post-Tax Justice Network ruling).
Business name (trade name): A name under which a business operates that is different from its registered legal name. Often referred to as DBA ("doing business as") in the US. Most jurisdictions require business names to be separately registered.
Charter document: The constituting legal document of a company. Names vary by jurisdiction: Certificate of Incorporation (US, UK), Memorandum and Articles (UK, common law), Statutes (civil law), Bylaws (US for internal governance).
Company number: A unique numeric or alphanumeric identifier assigned to a company by its national registry at incorporation. The primary key for that company in the registry. Distinct from tax IDs and LEI codes.
Director: An individual appointed to the board of a company with fiduciary duties to the company. Most jurisdictions require at least one director and impose disqualification rules for fraud or insolvency.
Filing: Any document submitted to a company registry, typically annually (annual return), upon a change (director appointment, share transfer), or at incorporation. Most registries make filings publicly accessible.
Limited liability company: A legal entity where shareholders' financial liability is limited to the unpaid portion of their share capital. The dominant business form globally. Local terminology varies: Ltd (UK, Commonwealth), LLC (US), GmbH (Germany), Sdn Bhd (Malaysia), Pte Ltd (Singapore).
Officer of the company: A person holding a position of authority within a company. Includes directors, secretaries, and (in some jurisdictions) auditors. Officers carry personal liability for certain compliance failures.
Public registry: A company registry whose records are accessible to the public, typically through an online search portal. Most common-law jurisdictions and most EU member states maintain public registries. Some Middle East and Caribbean jurisdictions restrict access.
Registered office: The official legal address of a company, where statutory correspondence is received. Must be a real address in the jurisdiction of incorporation. Distinct from the principal place of business.
Shareholder: A holder of shares in a company. Confers ownership rights including voting (usually) and dividend entitlement (if declared). Names of shareholders may or may not be public depending on jurisdiction.
Strike off: The removal of a company from the registry, after which it ceases to legally exist. Can be voluntary (initiated by the company) or involuntary (initiated by the registrar for non-filing). The company's assets typically pass to the state.

Identifiers and codes

BVD ID: A proprietary entity identifier assigned by Bureau van Dijk (now part of Moody's) across its Orbis database. Useful for cross-referencing companies across jurisdictions in BvD-derived datasets.
DUNS Number: A nine-digit unique business identifier issued by Dun and Bradstreet. Required for US government contracting and widely used in supply-chain data.
ISIN (International Securities Identification Number): A 12-character alphanumeric code identifying a specific security (stock, bond, etc.). Issued under ISO 6166. Standard reference in financial markets.
LEI (Legal Entity Identifier): A 20-character alphanumeric code identifying a legal entity participating in financial transactions. Issued under ISO 17442 by accredited Local Operating Units. Mandatory in many derivatives, securities, and reporting regimes since the 2008 financial crisis.
NACE code: The European Union's industry classification system (Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne). Used by most EU member states for business registration and statistical purposes.
NAICS code: The North American Industry Classification System. Replaced the older SIC system in 1997. Used by US, Canada, and Mexico statistical agencies.
SIC code: Standard Industrial Classification. Older industry classification system. Still maintained by Companies House in the UK and used in some legacy datasets. Distinct from the US NAICS that replaced US SIC.
Tax ID (TIN, VAT, GST): A jurisdiction-specific identifier issued for tax purposes. TIN (Tax Identification Number) is generic. VAT (Value Added Tax) numbers are used for indirect-tax-registered businesses in EU and many other countries. GST (Goods and Services Tax) is the equivalent in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Singapore.

Data suppliers and procurement

API access: Programmatic access to a data supplier's system via documented HTTP endpoints. Distinct from web-portal access and bulk-extract licensing. Pricing and rate limits vary widely across suppliers.
Bulk extract: A full or near-full snapshot of a supplier's data, typically delivered as flat files (CSV, Parquet) at agreed intervals. Often more cost-effective than per-record API calls at scale, but adds data-storage and refresh-cadence considerations.
Credit bureau: A company that aggregates credit-related data on individuals and businesses, typically for lender underwriting. Examples: Experian, Equifax, TransUnion globally; CTOS and CCRIS in Malaysia; CRIF in continental Europe.
Data aggregator: A vendor that consolidates data from multiple primary sources (registries, news, sanctions lists, etc.) into a unified product. Distinguishes from a registry direct or a credit bureau.
Data reseller: A vendor that re-licenses third-party data, typically with value-added services (UI, normalisation, regional coverage bundles). Reseller agreements usually carry restrictions on redistribution and sub-licensing.
Data refresh cadence: How frequently a supplier updates its dataset against primary sources. Cadence ranges from real-time (some sanctions feeds) to monthly or quarterly (annual-filing-driven registry data). Critical for compliance use cases.
Local presence: Whether a supplier maintains a physical office, incorporation, or government affiliation in a given jurisdiction. Often a quality and accountability signal for jurisdiction-specific data.
Registry direct: Sourcing data directly from a company registry, either through the registry's own portal or through formal data-distribution agreements. Distinguishes from aggregator-sourced or reseller-sourced data.
SLA (Service Level Agreement): A contractual commitment on service quality dimensions: uptime, response time, data freshness, support escalation. Most enterprise data licences include SLAs; consumer-tier access typically does not.
Sponsorship (on bdg): A paid editorial highlight on supplier or API directory pages, clearly labelled as sponsored. Three tiers: Bronze USD 149, Silver USD 349, Gold USD 799 per jurisdiction per month. Editorial coverage decisions are not influenced by sponsorship status.

Entity type abbreviations (common)

Sdn Bhd (Malaysia): Sendirian Berhad. Malaysian private limited company. Equivalent to UK Ltd or Singapore Pte Ltd. The dominant private-company form in Malaysia.
Pte Ltd (Singapore): Private Limited. Singapore private limited company. Up to 50 shareholders, share transfer restrictions, separate legal personality from owners. Registered with ACRA.
GmbH (Germany): Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. German limited liability company. Most common private corporate form in Germany. Minimum share capital EUR 25,000.
SARL (France): Société à responsabilité limitée. French private limited company. Common form for SMEs. No minimum capital since 2003.
KK / Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan): Japanese joint-stock company. The dominant business form in Japan. Replaced the older Yugen Kaisha (YK) form after the 2006 Company Law reform.
LLC (US): Limited Liability Company. US hybrid entity combining limited liability with pass-through tax treatment by default. Governed at state level, with significant variation across states. Distinct from a corporation (Inc).
Ltd (UK and Commonwealth): Private limited company. The standard private-company form across UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada (some provinces), and most Commonwealth jurisdictions.
Pty Ltd (Australia): Proprietary Limited. Australian private limited company. Maximum 50 non-employee shareholders. The dominant private-company form in Australia.
BV (Netherlands): Besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid. Dutch private limited company. Minimum share capital reduced to EUR 0.01 after 2012 Flex-BV reform.

Regulatory bodies (commonly cited)

ACRA (Singapore): Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. Singapore's company and accounting regulator. Maintains the BizFile portal, the primary source for Singapore company data.
ASIC (Australia): Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Maintains the Companies Register and regulates corporations, markets, and financial services in Australia.
BNM (Bank Negara Malaysia): Malaysia's central bank. Issues AML/CTF policy documents binding on reporting institutions. Maintains the Financial Intelligence and Enforcement Department (FIED).
Companies House (UK): The UK's registrar of companies. Maintains free public access to company filings, beneficial owners (PSC register), and document history. The reference model cited globally for registry transparency.
FATF (Financial Action Task Force): The intergovernmental body that sets international AML/CTF standards. Its 40 Recommendations are implemented by member jurisdictions and assessed through mutual evaluations. Maintains "grey list" and "black list" of high-risk jurisdictions.
FCA (UK Financial Conduct Authority): The UK conduct regulator for financial services firms. Authorises and supervises consumer credit, payments, investment firms, and many KYC service providers.
FinCEN (US): Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The US Treasury bureau responsible for collecting and analysing financial transaction data to combat money laundering. Administers the Corporate Transparency Act's beneficial-ownership reporting regime.
MAS (Singapore): Monetary Authority of Singapore. Singapore's central bank and integrated financial regulator. Issues AML/CTF notices binding on financial institutions.
SEC EDGAR (US): Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval. The US Securities and Exchange Commission's public filings database. Primary source for US listed-company disclosures.
SSM (Malaysia): Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia. Companies Commission of Malaysia. Maintains the Malaysian company registry and oversees business name registrations.

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