SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – July 25, 2022 – Aspire, the #1 all-in-one financial operating system for growing businesses in Southeast Asia, has partnered with award-winning RegTech provider Know Your Customer to securely facilitate access to its financial products to underserved SMEs and entrepreneurs in the region.
It is estimated that there are 70 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia today, employing over 140 million people and accounting for 99% of all businesses in the region. In addition, thousands of new start-ups and SMEs are registered every day: recent research* has revealed that on average 9% of all entities present in company registers were incorporated in the last year for which data was available.
These companies are often in dire need of financial services such as business accounts, loans, credit cards, and a platform to manage their receivables and payables. Despite this, access to viable financial products remains difficult for many of them due to the challenges of financial institutions seeking to verify the ownership structures of these companies. In these cases, having real-time access to business records is essential for any FI looking to serve new businesses that are not yet present in conventional KYC databases.
By working together, Know Your Customer and Aspire will now be able to capture this rapidly growing demand in full compliance with local and international regulatory requirements.
The new partnership will enhance Aspire’s ability to digitize and streamline the crucial phase of onboarding SMEs, entrepreneurs and enterprise customers across the region through Know Your Customer’s digital solutions and unparalleled coverage of customer connections. real-time registry in the APAC region and globally.
Founded in 2018 to provide working capital loans to small and medium-sized businesses, Aspire now offers a portfolio of services to more than 10,000 businesses in the region, including multi-currency accounts and cards, expense management, accounts payable and accounts receivable management solutions – all in one account.
Know Your Customer is an award-winning regulatory technology (RegTech) company specializing in modular compliance solutions that allow companies to create the enterprise onboarding process that best suits their unique needs. The company recently announced the expansion of its real-time coverage to over 500 business registers in 123 countries around the world, officially becoming the industry’s first KYB provider.
Tarini Ponniah, Chief Compliance Officer of Aspire, commented:
“At Aspire, we are always looking for ways to support our customers and ensure they have a seamless onboarding journey with us. We strive to forge alliances with companies that share the same vision and can help us provide our services in full compliance with applicable regulations. Know Your Customer’s RegTech solution helped us achieve this incredible milestone in a very short time.”
Claus Christensen, CEO and co-founder of Know Your Customer, added:
“Aspire has quickly become a powerful force in the APAC Fintech space and we are excited to play such a strategic role in their current and future growth. I strongly believe that building strong synergies between disruptive Fintechs and innovative RegTech providers is key to driving the entire industry forward and this partnership is a perfect example of two innovative companies coming together to address a pressing need in the world. market. We look forward to supporting Aspire’s business growth with our modular solution and unparalleled coverage of real-time registry connections globally.”
The announcement of the partnership was officially commemorated with a signing ceremony held in Singapore during the visit of Micheál Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland (Prime Minister) on July 22, 2022.
Kevin Ryan, Enterprise Ireland South East Asia Director added:
“The Irish Government, through Enterprise Ireland, is proud to support innovative businesses such as Know Your Customer in their expansion. Signing today signifies their commitment to raising the bar for RegTech in Southeast Asia and we wholeheartedly congratulate them. ”
* New company registered every year, know your customer, March 2022: https://kycl.io/34HwDgQ
About Know Your Customer
Know Your Customer is an award-winning RegTech company specializing in next-generation digital onboarding solutions for financial institutions and regulated organizations worldwide. By providing a single source of truth, Know Your Customer enables customers to reduce AML risk, streamline processes through agile automation, improve data accuracy through live connections to business records, and Comply with internal, board and regulatory reporting requirements. The result is a faster onboarding time for new enterprise customers from an industry average of 26 days to hours, reducing manual compliance work by up to 85%.
With offices in Singapore, Dublin, Hong Kong, London and Shanghai, Know Your Customer has established a global presence and a reputation for excellence. Our client list spans 11 verticals – including banking, FinTech, insurance, payments, real estate, asset management, law firms – and 18 jurisdictions.
For more information, visit 
https://knowyourcustomer.com or follow Know Your Customer on 
LinkedIn or 
Twitter.
About Strive
Aspire is the all-in-one financial operating system for growing businesses. The company serves more than 10,000 startups and SMEs in Southeast Asia, helping them save time and money with multi-currency accounts and cards, expense management, payment management and management solutions. receivables – all in one account. Headquartered in Singapore, Aspire has over 400 employees in four countries and is backed by some of the world’s top VCs, including Sequoia and Y-Combinator.
