What is KRA and KYC. I get to see this in a lot of places Banks, Insurance companies. Can someone please explain

[Niranjan]

KYC = Know Your Client.- this is the form wherein a client fills up basic details about him. Like Contact details, D.o.B etc,

KRA = KYC Registration Agency.- It is an authority supervised by SEBI, which uploads KYC of clients to a central data base.

KRA has been put forward by SEBI, to make the account opening process in financial sector easier and also to fast- track the account opening process. More on this, - http://www.sebi.gov.in/cms/sebi_data/commondocs/kycregulation_p.pdf.

One can ckeck KRA status by entering PAN in https://www.nsekra.com/

[VenuMadhav]

KYC is an acronym for ‘Know your client’ and KRA for ‘KYC Registration Agency’

KYC:

Every Intermediary forming part of the Financial market is required to comply with the KYC norms. Its similar to how before renting a house to a tenant, the owner collects all of the tenant’s information. All intermediaries are required to collect basic information about a client. Basic details of PAN, Address, Bank accounts etc are collected.The purpose of collecting these documents is to be able to establish the true identity and beneficial ownership of the accounts to prevent identity theft, money laundering, any financial fraud etc.

KRA:

KYC Registration Agency (KRA) is a SEBI registered agency. To brief you on why KRA came into existence let me give you an example. Let’s assume you opened an account with Broker 1 recently. While opening an account, you’d have submitted all your documents like PAN, Address proof etc. After a few days you want to open a new account with Broker 2 which means that you’d be forced to produce the proofs all over again. With the introduction of KRA, you are no longer required to submit these proofs again to Broker 2, if Broker 1 had registered you with the KRA when you first opened an account with them. This means that your account gets opened faster at the same time ensuring that all KYC norms are complied with.

The purpose of KRA was to form a central record of all client KYC’s which facilitated the client in a way that the client needn’t submit the KYC documents all over again.

Recent Development: The usage of uniform KYC was restricted to only SEBI registered entities which meant that if a person is KRA verified by way of submitting his documents to a stock broker & now chooses to open a bank account, then he’d have to provide a fresh KYC because Bank’s weren’t regulated by SEBI. However there has been a proposal by the Finance Minister in the Budget of 2014 which stipulates a common KYC across the entire Financial Sector which means once you are KRA verified, you can go about opening a bank account, mutual fund account, trading account by providing minimum documents.

Ref: http://www.livemint.com/Money/vayk9t5tcGzv6s0cAw20NM/Smoother-KYC-norms-and-single-demat-make-life-easier.html

[curiousvi]

@VenuMadhav

KYC Registration Agency (KRA) is a SEBI registered agency. To brief you on why KRA came into existence let me give you an example. Let’s assume you opened an account with Broker 1 recently. While opening an account, you’d have submitted all your documents like PAN, Address proof etc. After a few days you want to open a new account with Broker 2 which means that you’d be forced to produce the proofs all over again. With the introduction of KRA, you are no longer required to submit these proofs again to Broker 2, if Broker 1 had registered you with the KRA when you first opened an account with them. This means that your account gets opened faster at the same time ensuring that all KYC norms are complied with.

You said you are no longer required to submit all proof again but recently I tried to open a second account …that broker asked for all proof again even though my first broker registered me with KRA.