Lithuania-based regtech company iDenfy has announced the launch of a Secretary of State (SOS) business search tool as part of its Know Your Business (KYB) platform.
With this newly added capability, iDenfy seeks to support businesses in instantly connecting and verifying company information across all 50 US states, leveraging official Secretary of State records. The API solution aims to help high-risk companies, including fintechs and banks, optimise KYB onboarding accuracy and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements across different states.
Improving verification across banking and fintech
The Secretary of State acts as the official authority in the US, being responsible for maintaining business registration records. These databases are saved to contain essential information, if a business's legal registration status, its current status, whether it is active or inactive, and whether it has filed all the required reports to remain in good standing. Skipping this verification step leads to businesses risking onboarding shell companies or entities which are engaged in financial infidelity.
As detailed by iDenfy’s officials, enhancing access to SOS filings supports organisations in reducing time, as manually checking all these databases can pose complexities. The company’s SOS lookup system links to all US SOS office portals and extracts relevant information about another company efficiently, which is an important aspect of B2B partnerships and KYB compliance. Traditionally, analysts need to look up all portals manually, which can lead to issues, as some companies are registered in one state while they operate in another. In these cases, organisations need to check multiple SOS portals, with many of them being gated with fees and the need to create accounts to access corporate data.
Furthermore, through its new tool, iDenfy intends to simplify what has previously been a fragmented and time-consuming process. The system can automatically receive official data from the Secretary of State and create a short and detailed PDF report which summarises the company’s registration details, legal status, entity type, tax ID, registered address, and if any governing individual or stakeholder is involved.
Additionally, the SOS tool allows the identification of potential threats, including inactive entities, missing or inconsistent registration data, and past bankruptcies. By being aware of these risks in the early stages, businesses can safeguard themselves from reputational damage or regulatory fines. Also, after a business’s legal data is gathered from the SOS database, it is automatically cross-checked against other KYB criteria, such as sanctions lists, adverse media, and tax ID verification from IRS records. For high-risk industries, such as crypto, this additional layer of security can support companies in avoiding bad actors from unclear firms.
