KYB guides
How do I check a company before I sign with it?
Pull its record from the official national register, find out who runs and owns it, validate its VAT number, and screen the company and its people against sanctions, PEP and offshore-leaks sources, recording each source and date. These guides show how to do each check by hand with the official tools, what each one can and can’t tell you, and how SONAR automates them.
Last reviewed:
Onboarding
What to check before you sign a supplier, partner or reseller.
Screening and ownership
Sanctions, PEP, beneficial owners, offshore leaks and VAT numbers.
- How do I screen a supplier against sanctions lists?Which official lists to search, how fuzzy matching works, and why a name match needs corroboration.
- How do I check whether a business partner is a politically exposed person (PEP)?Who counts as a PEP, where to search, and what a PEP match means.
- How do I find the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) of a company?Where beneficial ownership is published, where it isn’t, and how to corroborate it.
- How do I check if a company or person appears in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database?Search Panama, Paradise and Pandora Papers data, and read a hit carefully.
- How do I check if an EU VAT number is valid?Validate an EU VAT number in VIES, and read the result correctly.
Company registers by country
How to check a company in the national registers SONAR queries.
- How do I check who owns a UK company?Companies House and the PSC register: what they show and what they don’t.
- How do I check an Estonian company in the e-Business Register (Äriregister)?Search the e-Business Register by name or registry code, and use RIK open data.
- How do I check a French company (SIRENE)?SIREN, SIRET, the Annuaire des Entreprises and BODACC notices.
- How do I check a Polish company (KRS)?The KRS extract, the VAT White List and the CRBR beneficial owner register.
- How do I check a Czech company (ARES)?ARES, the commercial register extract, and the insolvency register.
- How do I check a Belgian company (KBO / BCE)?KBO Public Search, the Official Gazette annexes and NBB annual accounts.
- How do I check a Dutch company (KVK)?The KVK Business Register search, extracts and what is not public.
- How do I check a Norwegian company (Brønnøysund Register Centre)?Brreg’s Central Coordinating Register, its status flags and open data.
- How do I check an Irish company (CRO)?The CRO register, annual returns, and the RBO.
- How do I check a Danish company (CVR)?The CVR register on Virk Data, annual reports and Statstidende.
- How do I check a Finnish company (PRH / YTJ)?YTJ, the Business ID, and the register flags that matter.
- How do I check a Singapore company (ACRA)?ACRA Bizfile, the UEN, and the business profile.
- How do I check a Brazilian company (CNPJ)?The CNPJ card, situação cadastral and the QSA.
Skip the manual checks
One SONAR report covers the registry record, owners, 8 sanctions lists, PEP, ICIJ Offshore Leaks and adverse media, with a receipt for every source. 2 free reports a month, no card.
Screen a company free