KYB, know your business, is the verification a financial institution performs on a company rather than a person: confirming the legal entity exists, identifying its ultimate beneficial owners, checking licences and registrations, and screening the business and its principals against sanctions and adverse media. It is the business layer of the KYC obligation.
Why it matters
KYB is the substance of merchant underwriting. When onboarding stalls, it is usually a KYB gap, an ownership chain that does not resolve to real people, a licence that does not match the vertical, a mismatch between the website and the stated business. High risk merchants can compress weeks out of every application by maintaining a current KYB pack: corporate documents, ownership chart down to individuals, licences, processing history and clear product descriptions, kept consistent across every acquirer and payment service provider they approach. Inconsistency between applications is itself a red flag that triggers deeper review.