KYB vs KYC: what's the difference?

Q: How do I automate KYB?

Use a KYB API: call GET /v1/business with a name or identifier to resolve a canonical entity with provenance, and POST /v1/screening for denied-party checks.

KYC (Know Your Customer) verifies an individual — name, identity document, address. KYB (Know Your Business) verifies a company — its legal identity, registration, identifiers, and risk signals — before you onboard it as a customer, vendor, or partner.

Quick comparison

	KYC	KYB
Subject	A person	A business / legal entity
Verifies	Identity, address, documents	Legal name, registration, identifiers, ownership, risk
Typical identifiers	Government ID, SSN	EIN, LEI, CIK, FDIC cert, registration number
Common in	Banking, fintech onboarding	B2B onboarding, payments, lending, marketplaces, vendor risk

What KYB actually checks

Entity identity — does this business exist and is this its canonical name?
Strong identifiers — EIN (IRS), LEI (GLEIF), CIK (SEC), FDIC certificate, and crosswalks between them.
Firmographics — address, state, website, and other descriptive attributes.
Risk / screening — is the business (or a related party) on a sanctions or denied-party list?

Automating KYB with an API

KnowFirm is a KYB API: send a name or identifier and get back a single canonical entity resolved across authoritative public sources (IRS, GLEIF, SEC, FDIC, and more), with a confidence score, per-field provenance, and optional sanctions screening — all self-serve and usage-priced.

curl -H "X-API-Key: $KNOWFIRM_KEY" \
  "https://api.knowfirm.com/v1/business?name=acme%20corporation"

KnowFirm covers the business side (KYB) and is not a consumer-reporting product — it is not for KYC of individuals, nor for FCRA-covered decisions (credit, employment, insurance, or housing eligibility).

FAQ

Is KYB the same as KYC? No. KYC verifies an individual person; KYB verifies a business entity — its identity, registration, identifiers, ownership, and risk signals.

What identifiers does KYB use? Business identifiers such as EIN (IRS), LEI (GLEIF), CIK (SEC), and FDIC certificate numbers, rather than personal IDs.

Can KnowFirm do KYC on individuals? No. KnowFirm is KYB/firmographic only — it verifies businesses, not people, and is not an FCRA consumer-reporting product.

How do I automate KYB? Use a KYB API: call GET /v1/business with a name or identifier to resolve a canonical entity with provenance, and POST /v1/screening for denied-party checks.

See also: KYB API overview · Sanctions screening API.