KUALA LUMPUR (June 30): Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) today issued a policy document on electronic Know-Your-Customer (e-KYC) that is aimed at accelerating and streamlining the practices of industry players in their adoption of e-KYC technology, the online process of identifying and verifying individual customers.

The adoption of e-KYC technology by the industry is in line with the central bank’s efforts to facilitate greater digital offerings of financial services.

“This is expected to pave the way for greater innovation in the financial sector, including end-to-end offering of digital financial services for customers,” BNM said in a statement today.

According to BNM, e-KYC enables the digital on-boarding of customers to occur anytime and anywhere. With the implementation, it said a majority of customers no longer need to visit the physical premises of a financial service provider to open an account.

In addition to increased customer convenience, the digital on-boarding of customers enabled by e-KYC also lowers cost for both users and providers. This can also help increase competition in the financial sector over the long term, said the central bank.

“The policy document seeks to promote the safe and secure application of e-KYC technology in the financial sector by clarifying desirable outcomes in the use of e-KYC and sets out best practices as well as parameters to ensure security and integrity of the on-boarding process for customers.

“It also forms part of a series of measures adopted by the bank in ensuring that regulatory requirements support the country’s agenda for the digital economy,” it added.