ID Register predicts further expansion
THE ID Register is predicting further growth as more investors take advantage of its platform.
The Guernsey-based company has seen an expansion in growth from several thousand users of its investor onboarding and KYC (know your customer) platform to tens of thousands.
Founder Tim Andrews spun the company out of Apex last year and has been plotting growth since then – which has seen the ID Register receive a licence from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and build several key alliances.
It employs 15 people in Guernsey and others across the globe – and is set to increase its office space in the Market Buildings in St Peter Port later this year.
Mr Andrews explained that when the idea of the ID Register was first devised some 6,500 investors were using its service, which offered a hassle-free way to deal with tax reporting requirements.
‘The service that we offer is very simple,’ he said.
‘If you are an institutional investor, a sovereign wealth fund or a family office, a high net worth individual or the settlor of a trust, then we will approve you on our platform for KYC for Fatca and CRS, and if you’re subscribing into funds, under securities law as well with a subscription questionnaire.
‘That one approval can be used across all your different counterparties.
‘You do it once. You’ve effectively got your passport. It’s more private and it’s a lot less hassle.
‘Our market is global – we now have 25,000 mainly institutional investors on any platform with 270-odd client mandates. Roughly half of the investor base is US-UK and the other half is rest of world.
‘We solve a problem that bedevils investment transactions everywhere.’
The company employs 15 people in Guernsey, one in Ireland, three in Mauritius, and is recruiting, with an aim to double staff numbers by the end of the year.
‘The majority of our people are employed to pick up the phone and answer investors’ questions about how they answer a particular question, or they’ve submitted this document and is it good enough, to review the information we have received and to then approve it and sign it off,’ Mr Andrews said.
‘We are very much a managed service enabled by technology and, as such from a Guernsey perspective, we are drawing on expertise that Guernsey has.’
