Completing the individual Risk Assessment and Finalising Onboarding

Summary

This article guides you through completing the individual risk assessment questionnaire and finalising the onboarding process to officially onboard the client. Finalising client onboarding completes the verification cycle, formally approving the client for ongoing business interactions, and the updated onboarding status serves as an audit-ready confirmation of compliance with organisational and statutory protocols.

When to Use This

Use this as the final step in the AML onboarding workflow after the client has submitted their information and you have reviewed the AML Summary.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Locate the pending client whose onboarding status is marked as In Progress and Risk Pending under the active matters list, select their card, and click View report to inspect their automated AML report details.

2. Review the compliance and identity verification findings within the document viewer, and accept the report to initiate the onboarding profile. Then, click AML summary to review detailed client data and individual check statuses under the AML/CFT Client Due Diligence section.

3. Select the KYC onboarding form to check pre-filled client details (personal info, PEP status, services requested, and representatives).

4. Click Complete at the bottom right to save.

5. Under the Assessments section, click Complete next to Risk Assessment.

6. Go through the digitised risk assessment questionnaire, which is based on regulatory starter kits.

7. Answer Yes or No to each listed risk evaluation query. These questions cover:

   • High value transactions
   • Physical currency use
   • Virtual asset involvement
   • Unusual service requests
   • Criminal or unusual activity
   • Politically Exposed Person (PEP) statuses (Domestic, Foreign, or International)
   • Non-enrolled third-party involvement
   • Unexplained wealth
   • Charity or Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) associations
   • Interaction via remote channels
   • Country-based risk ratings (Medium or High risk countries)

8. Review the calculated risk rating and click Update risk at the bottom right to save the assessment and automatically update the client's calculated risk rating. A confirmation notification will appear indicating that the risk questionnaire has been saved and the risk rating updated successfully.

9. Next, locate the Final onboarding checks and click Complete to review compliance standards.

10. Review the onboarding statements and click Select all or manually tick each checkbox to confirm you are satisfied that identity, authority, and relationship purposes have been established on reasonable grounds, that PEP and sanctions screening are finished, and that overall ML/TF risk has been reasonably managed.

    

11. Click Save to record your attestations. A confirmation toast will acknowledge that the checks have updated successfully.

12. Verify that the Verification of Identity, Risk Assessment, and Final Onboarding Checks are all marked with a completed status. If comfortable to onboard the client, click the Onboard button situated at the bottom right of the screen. If not, you have the option to Escalate or Offboard.

    

13. In the Confirm onboarding prompt, review the details and the warning regarding the retention agreement, and click the green Onboard button to finalise the process. Then, click Back at the top-left corner to return to the client registry and verify that the client's onboarding status has successfully updated to a green ONBOARDED indicator with an assigned risk rating.

    

Common Questions

• Where do the risk assessment questions come from? The questions are digitized and pulled from regulatory starter kits to ensure compliance.
• What happens after I click Onboard? The client is successfully onboarded, and the data will feed back into the Compliance Center and Practice Management Software.

Troubleshooting Tips

• High risk rating calculated: If the risk assessment returns a high risk, ensure you have adequately reviewed all client documentation and consider if Enhanced Due Diligence is required before finalising the onboarding.