In recent decades, the advance of new digital technologies and globalisation have led to a new dimension of digital financial crime. Although cybercrime is still a fairly recent phenomenon, it is evident that financial crime increasingly shifts to the digital realm. Almost 50% of so-called white-collar crimes such as tax evasion, corruption and money laundering are already committed via digital technologies. According to the German Federal Criminal Office, these crimes caused damages of 3.356 billion euros in 2018.
In order to protect companies, individuals and also economic growth in general, a multitude of international regulations and laws have been enacted. These are intended to prevent – among other things - fraud, financial crime, the financing of terrorism and money laundering, while at the same time promoting long-term international economic growth.
In Germany, for example, money laundering was included as a criminal offence in the Criminal Code as early as 1992. Today there are international regulations and laws to prevent money laundering, which must be implemented at national level in the form of so-called minimum standards.
An essential instrument for the prevention of money laundering is the KYC principle. "Know Your Customer" describes the required verification for the prevention of money laundering as laid down in the Money Laundering Act (§ 10 para. 1 nos. 1 and 2 GwG).
According to the Money Laundering Act, banks, insurance companies as well as regulated payment service providers are obliged to obtain certain data to verify the identity of a contractual partner (or the persons acting on behalf of the contractual partner). In order to comply with this duty of care and to be able to execute payments for intellectual property rights securely at all times, PAVIS Payments will check customer data using the KYC principle from 1 July 2020. As a regulated payment service provider, PAVIS Payments adheres strictly to all legal regulations.
As part of the KYC process, some company-related and personal data must be confirmed, so that the ownership and control structure of the contractual partner can be determined. This includes company-specific information such as legal form, address, registration number and sector. Depending on the legal structure, the personal data of the legal representative or the beneficial owner must also be collected. In addition, depending on the respective legal structure of the customer, either a business licence, shareholder agreement or an extract from the commercial register including the list of shareholders is required.
To make the KYC process as secure, clear and efficient as possible we have built a PAVIS Portal, where customers can enter the required data and upload related documents. Thanks to state of the art technology and strict data protection measures, using the PAVIS Portal is not only the fastest, but also the most secure method of data transfer.
An invitation to the PAVIS Portal is sent automatically by email. As soon as all the necessary information has been entered, PAVIS clients can not only rely on the highest possible level of protection when paying fees for industrial property rights, they also benefit from clearly structured and transparent processes at all times.
