KYC is an acronym for “Know Your Customer” and is a term used for Customer Identification Process as a part of Account Opening process with any financial entity. KYC establishes an investor’s identity & address through relevant supporting documents such as prescribed photo id (e.g., PAN card) and address proof and In-Person Verification (IPV). KYC compliance is mandatory under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and Rules framed there under, read with the SEBI Master Circular on Anti Money Laundering (AML) Standards/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) /Obligations of Securities Market Intermediaries.

In case of joint holders in a folio/account, each holder needs to complete the KYC process individually using separate KYC forms.

A standard Account Opening form (AOF) is generally divided in 2 parts:

• Part I contains the basic and uniform KYC details of the investor as prescribed by the Central KYC registry (Uniform KYC) to be used by all registered financial intermediaries and
• Part II additional KYC information as may be sought separately by the financial intermediary such as a mutual fund, stock broker, depository participant opening the investor’s account (Additional KYC).