KYB explained: Know Your Business checks for UK suppliers

Ask ten UK procurement leads what "KYB" stands for and you'll get nine versions of "the Companies House bit". It is much more than that — and the bit most teams miss is exactly where the fraud hides.

For the wider process, see the UK due diligence guide and the KYC checklist for accountants and law firms. KYC verifies a person. KYB verifies the business behind them — and in the UK that is rarely as simple as “look it up on Companies House”.

What a UK KYB check actually contains

• Legal entity name, company number and registered office
• Trading status, incorporation date and accounting reference date
• Full director list with appointment and resignation history
• All Persons of Significant Control
• Group structure and ultimate beneficial owner (UBO)
• Filing history — accounts, confirmation statements, charges
• Sanctions, PEP and adverse media screening on the entity and key people
• Trading reality — website, VAT, address, bank cross-checks

KYB vs KYC

KYC asks “is this person who they say they are?”. KYB asks “is this company real, who controls it, and is it safe to trade with?”. The two are complementary — modern onboarding does both.

Why “just check Companies House” is not enough

Companies House is the registry; it is not a verifier. Until reforms under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act are fully bedded in, you can still find shell companies with nominee directors and unverified addresses. A defensible KYB check layers Companies House data with sanctions screening, beneficial-ownership analysis and live monitoring.

How long should a KYB check take?

With the right tooling, a clean UK SME check is a 60-second job. Complex group structures or international ownership can take longer because you need to follow the ownership chain to the ultimate human.

Building a defensible audit trail

If a regulator or insurer asks, you should be able to show: what you checked, when you checked it, what data you saw, what risk score you assigned and what you did about it. Snapshots of every check — not just “we onboarded them in March” — are the standard.

From a tab open on Companies House to a defensible file

A proper KYB record is more than a screenshot. CompanyCheckr saves a timestamped snapshot of every check — entity, people, sanctions, news — so when someone asks "what did you know in March?", you can show them. Run a check or sign up to start a supplier file in two minutes.