Using Company Registry Data For KYC Data Enrichment (2025 Guide)
You’ve got a KYC workflow, built in-house, but it’s only as good as the legal entity data you feed it. You need KYC data enrichment.
You have three options:
One: Set up direct API access to the register in question.
Two: Bulk download datasets (daily, weekly, monthly) and use your own API.
Three: Use a third-party data aggregator to do it for you.
Let’s go through each option.
Option 1: Setting Up API Access
What makes a good company registry API?
Ease of integration: The API connects to your KYC workflow.
Simple end-to-end workflow: search → verify → profile → order document, all in one API.
Cost control options: To prevent accidental overspending.
Consistent structured data: JSON/XML across jurisdictions so they don’t have to parse each registry’s quirks.
Developer enablement: Sandbox keys, Postman collection, sample payloads, and docs that mirror production behaviour.
But setting up direct API access to company registry data isn’t easy.
It takes time, man-hours, and resources.
Plus, according to Business Registry Insights, only 48.8% of the world’s corporate registers offer publicly available APIs.
Even then, many of them don’t necessarily make those APIs easy to access. Italy, for example, only makes them available to companies registered in Italy
We know because we’ve been building hundreds of corporate registry API connections since 2007.
Let’s say you want a full integration of the Companies House API into onboarding/KYC flows. That means data mapping, error handling, testing, and internal stakeholder approvals.
You need to deploy a cross-functional team: software engineers, functional analysts, data engineers, compliance reviewers, QA testers, and a project manager.
Timeline? You’re looking at 1-3 months.
Now multiply that by the number of registries you need to connect with.
That’s no easy feat.
This is why many institutions choose a managed provider. Because replicating hundreds of API integrations in-house can take years.
Option 2: Bulk Data Downloads
If you already have an in-house API for entity verification, you can download bulk data from the official company register.
Plenty of registries offer this, from the UK’s Companies House and Ireland’s CRO to Hong Kong and Singapore.
The data must be machine-readable (JSON, XML) and regularly updated. But these bulk data sets vary in how often they are updated.
Daily: Ireland’s CRO publishes open data that is updated daily, while the UK’s Companies House publishes data daily or monthly.
Monthly: Singapore’s ACRA, Belgium’s CBE, and New Zealand’s Companies Office publish monthly-updated datasets.
The obvious problem: By the time it’s integrated into your workflow, it’s already stale.
The Risks of Stale KYC Data
Just consider the most recent AML fines imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on UK financial institutions.
Final Notices from the cases of Gatehouse Bank and ADM Investor Services International (ADMISI), fined in 2022 and 2023, show the firms relied on outdated lists of investors and PEPs.
The danger is obvious: in the hands of criminals, shell companies change ownership rapidly to avoid detection.
In short: Be careful when enriching your database with bulk data. Prepare for time lags and the potential consequences.
This lag is exactly what criminals exploit and why live, time-stamped data access matters.
Option 3: Using a Third-party Data KYC Provider
Obliged entities can also use a third-party data provider.
There are two kinds: live registry access and a KYC data aggregator.
OpenCorporates, for example, is a database comprising company registry data downloaded from hundreds of official registries.
Kyckr offers live access. Through the Kyckr API, compliance teams are connected to 300+ official company registries in real time.
Kyckr also goes one step further than corporate registries: it solves the problem of shareholder data.
The UBO Data Problem
While 48.8% of corporate registries worldwide offer public APIs, few provide shareholder or beneficial ownership information as data.
This means KYC professionals must manually unwind complex corporate structures using shareholder and beneficial ownership disclosures in PDF format.
300+ registries, 1 API
The Kyckr API provides authoritative, live, time-stamped company registry data from 300+ official registries in 100+ countries:
Every record shows its source and timestamp for audit purposes.
Presented in a consistent, structured schema (JSON/XML) across jurisdictions, so they don’t have to parse each registry’s quirks.
Cost control to prevent overspending.
A simple end-to-end workflow: search → verify → profile → order document, all in one API.
Developer enablement: sandbox API keys, a ready-to-use Postman collection, sample payloads, and documentation that accurately mirrors production behaviour.
In other words, Kyckr normalises global registries into a standard schema, putting it all into one coherent data format.
It takes just 4-8 weeks to integrate and works beautifully with other APIs.
If your KYB process depends on data you can’t fully trust, it’s time to see what real-time registry integration looks like. [Book a demo of the Kyckr API.]
