Analysis of KYC accuracy and documentation quality in account opening at Prime Bank’s Mohakhali branch

Abstract

This report explores the digging of Prime Bank PLC, particularly the Mohakhali branch, regarding KYC verification and documentation while opening new accounts. From November to February, I contributed to observe how the strict anti-money laundering regulations would actually cause the work to drag on. The security measures are quite strict, but the RMs were still able to open a stream of new customers every day, and to be honest, there were no major issues. I began by examining 100 Account Opening Forms searching for the typical errors and omissions that tend to push people back to square one. My work was not simply to go through the figures, rather it was to recognize the underlying stories that tend to be hidden behind the errors. I observed the process as it happened, both on paper and on computer-based systems such as PRIME INTELLECT and T24. The truth is that it is surprising how easily mistakes can creep in when the bank is busy. NID checks are usually quite smooth like 94%, because the automated system directly communicates with the Election Commission. But it gets complicated when it comes to obtaining additional financial statements. About 30% of the time, the tax statements such as e-TIN or PSR simply are not present. In one out of every five instances, there is no conclusive evidence available to trace the origin of the funds. In most cases, it is because people do not want to reveal that information, or because someone just misses a step. And to be frank, technology is not cooperating much. Only 20% of the technology available at the Mohakhali branch communicates with each other as they should, so they have to retype the same information, essentially asking for trouble. However, beginning these checks earlier in the internship did help reduce the rework rate of the branch by 12%, so that’s a positive. To make onboarding smoother, the study suggests using the same checklists in every issuance center. That way, more things get done right the first time. It also says to bring in OCR tools for documents that are not NIDs, so there is less manual work.