business will not necessarily tell you who
owns it and therefore who is liable for the
debts.
• If your customer is not a company or
an LLP do you know the name(s) and
personal address or addresses of the sole
trader or the partners?
• Have you seen letterhead, documents
from registrar or other documents that
show what the name of the business is and
who owns it?
• Have you used a Credit Reference
Bureau to check your customer’s details
and credit status?
• Have you talked to other suppliers of the
business to obtain references?
• If your customer was previously dealing
with one of your competitors, are you
happy with their reasons for coming to
you instead?
• Does the information you have gathered
about your customer support the amount
of credit they have asked you for?
Once you have car-
ried out a credit
check or other inves-
tigations in relation
to your customer, you
can decide how much
of a risk they pose
to your business and
what measures you
need to put in place
to protect yourself.
It is obvious that the objective of Knowing
Your Customer is to prevent businesses
from being used, intentionally or
unintentionally, by criminal elements for
fraudulent activities. Having procedures
in place enables better understanding of
customers and their financial dealings.
This helps them manage their risks in a
well-judged manner as well as protecting
business from financial crime and reducing
risk by fulfilling your KYC due diligence
screening obligations with accurate and
structured information.
We hope that this guide has given you
some idea of how you can minimize
the risks in doing business with your
customers. If you have any questions about
how to get to know your customer, please
feel free to get in touch with us!
Wasilwa Miriongi is a Certified
Credit Professional currently
working as the Managing Director,
Del Creder Credit Management
Limited. You can engage him on
this or related matters via email
at: WMiriongi@gmail.com.