Lithuania-based regtech company iDenfy has introduced a Secretary of State (SOS) business search feature as part of its Know Your Business (KYB) platform.
Supporting Instant Verification Across US States
The newly added functionality aims to assist businesses in quickly accessing and validating company information across all 50 U.S. states, utilizing official Secretary of State records. The API solution is designed to enhance the Know Your Business (KYB) onboarding process for high-risk organizations, including fintechs and banks, by improving accuracy and ensuring compliance with state-specific regulations.
The Role of Secretary of State in Company Registration
In the United States, the Secretary of State serves as a key authority responsible for maintaining business registration records. These records typically include essential details such as the legal registration status, current company status (active or inactive), and whether all necessary reports have been filed to keep the entity in good standing.
Failing to conduct this verification can lead businesses to potentially onboard shell companies or entities involved in financial misconduct. To address these risks, iDenfy has developed an SOS lookup system that efficiently links to all U.S. Secretary of State office portals and extracts pertinent information about another company, thereby streamlining the B2B partnership process and KYB compliance.
Simplifying a Complex Process
Traditionally, analysts must manually search through multiple SOS databases, which can be time-consuming. With iDenfy’s system, this process is automated, providing instant access to official data from the Secretary of State and generating concise PDF reports that summarize a company’s registration details, legal status, entity type, tax ID, registered address, and any relevant governing individuals or stakeholders.
Moreover, the SOS tool identifies potential risks such as inactive entities, missing or inconsistent registration data, and past bankruptcies. Awareness of these issues early on helps protect businesses from reputational damage or regulatory penalties. Post-data collection, the SOS information is cross-referenced against other KYB criteria, including sanctions lists, adverse media reports, and tax ID verification through IRS records. This additional layer of security is particularly beneficial for high-risk industries such as cryptocurrency where avoiding bad actors in unclear firms is crucial.
