FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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Company

About Sikoia
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Sikoia is the Unified Data Platform (UDP) for financial services. Sikoia orchestrates and standardises financial, company, and identity data for applications like customer onboarding, KYB and KYC checks, and other common risk decisions.

Does Sikoia offer product demos or trials?
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Yes, Sikoia offers product demos and trials for select solutions. Clients can book a customised product demo with Sikoia's experts here.

What does Sikoia offer?
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Sikoia offers a unified API and intuitive 360° customer data dashboard. Clients can use Sikoia's platform to access financial and identity data on consumers and businesses from market-leading vendors in the UK, Europe, the US, and other countries globally. Sikoia's platform standardises data formats from these vendors and across countries, allowing policies and business workflows to be automated efficiently.

Sikoia is an authorised reseller for providers such as TransUnion, Creditsafe, and many others.

Who uses Sikoia?
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Sikoia is trusted by companies throughout the financial services industry, ranging from embedded Fintech providers supporting high-volume online marketplaces to international payments providers, B2B lenders, and even business development teams at some of the world’s largest financial institutions. Sikoia's solutions are designed to meet the unique needs of each business case, ensuring maximum efficiency and compliance.

Why do customers trust Sikoia?
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As an approved reseller of consumer and business credit data from market-leading providers including TransUnion and Creditsafe, Sikoia satisfies the strictest vendor requirements on information security, data protection, and business continuity commitments.

Sikoia is also authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Account Information Service Provider (AISP) under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (FRN: 942979) and as a credit reference provider (FRN: 942616).

Does Sikoia provide customer support?
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Yes! Sikoia always provides comprehensive support regardless of how clients are using the platform – all customers have the reassurance of Sikoia's support SLA.

What is the pricing structure of Sikoia?
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Our pricing structure is tailored to the specific product/service clients are interested in. Please reach out to Sikoia's sales team for detailed pricing information. They will be happy to provide a quote based on volumes and data requirements.

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Services

What types of products/services does Sikoia offer?
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Sikoia takes pride in providing tailored solutions, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of clients' businesses.

Sikoia's comprehensive suite of solutions includes Global Customer Onboarding, Customer Due Diligence, and Credit Risk Assessment services. Individual features are designed to enhance efficiency and accuracy, including Bank statement extraction, Decisioning Checklist, and AI-driven AML (Anti-Money Laundering) capabilities.

Whether clients require a bespoke enterprise solution or simply wish to use specific capabilities, Sikoia is dedicated to empowering businesses with data-driven insights and seamless operation. Sikoia's unified data platform, accessible through a user-friendly dashboard and API, ensures clients have the tools needed to make informed decisions and succeed in today's dynamic business landscape.

Is Sikoia's solution only applicable for companies, or can it review private individuals?
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Sikoia's platform is engineered for versatility. Whether examining a corporate entity or an individual, Sikoia's system seamlessly supports customer due diligence checks and risk assessments. Notably, Sikoia's system can evaluate both categories simultaneously—a crucial feature when conducting business due diligence, as it enables a comprehensive assessment of both the company and the pivotal individuals affiliated with it.

Does Sikoia have an interface where user access can be managed?
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Sikoia's Dashboard is a web application built specifically for business users who want to gather and assess data on one or more companies or individuals simultaneously, to make better and more efficient business decisions.

How configurable is Sikoia to accommodate each customer's unique requirements?
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Sikoia's platform is highly configurable. Clients can plug-and-play with Sikoia's global ecosystem of data providers, selecting the providers they need. Sikoia provides the most complete set of reliable and relevant data sources, customised to specific requirements, including PEPs/Sanctions, Credit Bureaus, Adverse Media, Fraud, IDV checks, Open banking, Company registries, AML, and Document Data Extraction.

Sikoia's clients can also use its APIs to integrate data and capabilities into their existing processes very precisely.

Can a user configure their own rules and workflows when automating due diligence?
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Yes, by using Sikoia’s powerful checklists feature, clients can effortlessly encode their internal business rules and seamlessly test them against the data in a case to determine if that case meets their criteria.

Can Sikoia's API seamlessly integrate with both external and in-house developed applications?
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Yes, Sikoia's API can integrate with any application or site.

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Data

Why should a company use a Unified Data Platform?
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A Unified Data Platform (UDP) is a strategic necessity in today's data-driven landscape. By consolidating all data sources into a single system, Sikoia's UDP eliminates silos and ensures data consistency and accuracy throughout an organisation.

Sikoia equips businesses with robust automation tools, adeptly streamlining critical processes such as company validation, AML screenings, ID confirmations, risk assessments, and fraud detection. This encompassing automation not only elevates efficiency but also curtails manual interventions, delivering a cost-efficient strategy for operations.

With robust data governance features, Sikoia supports regulatory compliance, data traceability, and security, instilling confidence in customers and stakeholders. By facilitating better-informed decisions and accelerating data-driven initiatives, the UDP provides a competitive edge, fostering sustainable growth and innovation.

How does Sikoia work with its data providers?
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Sikoia works with data providers either as resellers or integrators. Where Sikoia acts as resellers, clients may choose to use their existing agreements instead.

Is there a limit to how many data sources Sikoia can handle in a single case?
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No, it simply comes down to the clients' needs.

Can Sikoia provide the data and insights through an API?
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Yes. Sikoia's Unified API is built on a RESTful JSON API to enable programmatic access to the platform. This allows clients' more technical users to create, request, review, and action data over an API, enabling them to automate and enhance their existing processes within the Sikoia ecosystem or even their own tools.

What type of data can clients get from Sikoia?
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Sikoia’s solutions enable clients to significantly accelerate customer onboarding, leading to cost reductions, improved customer experiences, and enhanced protection against high-risk business relationships. With Sikoia's user-friendly and integrated KYB/ KYC (Know your business/ customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) management platform, Sikoia's solution lets clients optimise decision-making processes and minimise friction within internal systems.  

How can I tailor the customer verification process to meet my specific needs using your data modules?
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Our platform offers customisable customer verification solutions through a diverse range of data modules, allowing you to tailor the process to your specific needs. Choose from modules such as PEPs, Sanctions, and Adverse Media; Open Banking; Identity Verification; Business and Personal Credit Bureaus; Document Insights; Public Registers; and Open Data. This flexibility ensures you can conduct precise KYC, KYB, and credit assessments, among others, with ease.

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General questions

How do KYB and KYC procedures differ from each other?
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KYB and KYC processes serve different, yet critical, functions. While KYC is largely concerned with confirming the identity of individual clients through personal details and documentation, KYB takes a broader perspective, examining businesses that regulated firms transact with. KYB looks into the business's structure, ownership, sentiment and reputation and other related aspects to gauge potential risks and ensure adherence to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules specific to businesses.

What types of information sources are relied upon for KYB checks?
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KYB checks are robust, drawing upon a wide array of information sources. Predominantly, these checks refer to the official government registries in the country where the business is established. To bolster these checks, additional resources like business registries, commercial databases, and public records may be utilised. Documents such as financial statements and annual reports, often found in the relevant company registry, may also come under review.

Which legal stipulations make KYB checks compulsory?
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KYB checks are mandated by various laws and regulations aimed at countering money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, and other financial crimes. These can include Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) laws, along with sector-specific compliance stipulations. Notable examples include the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Directives (AMLD 4, 5 and 6), Singapore's Corruption, Drug Trafficking, and Other Serious Crimes Act 1992, Hong Kong's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, and the USA PATRIOT Act. These legal frameworks largely derive from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Forty Recommendations, a global standard for combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

Which sectors must ensure KYB compliance?
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KYB compliance is crucial across many sectors, particularly those at greater risk of financial crime, such as money laundering. This includes financial institutions like banks, payment processors, and insurers. Other sectors like real estate, legal and accounting services, gaming, and virtual currency exchanges are also often required to carry out KYB checks. However, the specific obligations can vary, based on local laws and the assessed risks within each sector.