Verifying a business isn't just about the entity — your AML/CTF program also needs the people behind it: ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs), directors, and for trusts, the trustees and beneficiaries. This article covers what the KYB check finds automatically and how to verify the individuals it can't.
When you run KYB with the UBO Report option, CreditorWatch traverses the ownership chain and Nagaris presents the results on the KYB tab:
The Ultimate Beneficial Owners card lists each individual owner with their ownership percentage, share count and class, date of birth and age, address, and the source of the data (ASIC, UBO Report or Manual).
A Nominee badge flags a holder whose shares are not beneficially held — they hold shares on behalf of another party, so the true beneficial owner is upstream and needs further investigation.
Directors, Secretaries, Officers and Shareholders get their own cards, showing appointment dates, tenure, and a Ceased badge for former officeholders.
Share Capital breaks down share classes, counts and amounts paid.
If a listed person already has their own KYC profile linked, an Open KYC button on their row jumps straight to it.
The UBO card always explains itself rather than sitting empty:
Corporate-only ownership chain — No individual beneficial owners were identified. The ownership chain runs entirely through corporate entities — see the breakdown below. You'll see counts and lists of Linked Companies, International Companies (foreign holders) and Investigated Companies, plus Blocking Entities — corporate owners the provider couldn't see through, such as foreign companies. A Traversal: Incomplete marker appears when the search couldn't reach the end of the chain.
Not supported for this entity type — CreditorWatch doesn't support UBO traversal for trusts, partnerships, public companies or sole traders.
UBO traversal failed — the provider errored on that section only; re-run KYB to retry, the rest of the report is unaffected.
UBO traversal not run — re-run KYB with the UBO Report option enabled.
Because automated UBO traversal doesn't cover trusts, verify a trust's people through individual KYC sessions:
On the trust client, add each relevant person as a contact with the right role — the role options include Trustee, Beneficiary, Director, Shareholder, Partner, Power of Attorney and more. Roles show as badges on the contact card so it's clear why each person is attached.
Each contact-to-client link has a Verification Required switch (on by default for unverified contacts). Use it to mark exactly who must verify — for example the trustees and adult beneficiaries your AML program requires — and switch it off for people who don't need to (a minor beneficiary, say).
Start AML onboarding for each required person from their contact's AML tab, or select several contacts on the Contacts list and use Run AML to send onboarding in bulk. Each person completes their own onboarding form and identity verification, then flows through screening and risk assessment like any other individual.
The client group's Verification tab gives you a per-person view across the whole group — who is Verified (with the date), who still shows Verification Required, and each contact's roles against each entity — so you can see at a glance which trust players are outstanding.
When you complete the risk assessment, use the manual factors to reflect what you found: Complex Ownership Structure, Beneficial Owner Refused Disclosure and Shell Company Indicators are all available on business assessments, and High-Risk Jurisdiction covers foreign holders in FATF-listed countries. A corporate-only chain with blocking entities is a classic trigger for enhanced customer due diligence.
Ceased officeholders remain visible with their cessation dates — useful for spotting recent director churn, which also feeds the automatic Recent Director Churn risk factor.
The UBO Report PDF is cached on the profile so you can attach the ownership evidence to your working papers.
If your team would like a walkthrough of running verification for trusts and beneficiaries, contact support and the Nagaris team can take you through it.
