KYC, a refresher
KYC = Know Your Customer. The process by which a financial institution verifies identity, address, source of funds, risk tolerance. Mandated by AML regulations. Historically, each broker does its own KYC — meaning a multi-broker investor submits the same documents 3-5 times.
The problem with non-portable KYC
For a diaspora investor wanting BRVM + BVMAC access via two brokers:
- Fill 2 complete KYC forms (1-2 hours each)
- Send documents twice (ID, address proof, selfie, source of funds)
- Wait for 2 manual validations (5-15 business days each)
- Maintain 2 dossiers in case of address or status change
Significant opportunity cost and friction discouraging market expansion.
The portable KYC idea
A single dossier, verified once by a trusted authority (or technical aggregator), cryptographically signed, and recognised by all brokers in the network.
1. Ed25519 signatures
Ed25519 is an elliptic-curve signature algorithm. Short signatures (64 bytes), fast verification (~40 μs), ~128-bit security. The issuing authority (Inopay) generates a key pair. Each KYC attestation is signed with the private key. Any broker verifies it in milliseconds with the public key.
2. Claims-carrying attestation
The attestation contains: dossier ID, validation date, DD level (KYC1/2/3), document hashes, expiration, Ed25519 signature. Documents themselves stay encrypted in sovereign storage (MinIO, AES-256-GCM) and are only disclosed to a broker upon explicit investor consent.
Concrete flow
- One-time: KYC on Inopay (6 min, mobile or web).
- Inopay verifies (OCR, liveness, PEP/sanctions screening, adverse media).
- If approved: attestation is signed and published on your profile. 12-month expiry, renewable.
- When connecting to a partner broker: you consent to share your attestation. The broker verifies it cryptographically — without redoing the process.
- Investing can start immediately.
Measurable benefits
For investors
- Onboarding time: from 10-15 days to 6 minutes
- One dossier to maintain
- Granular sharing control (you see what each broker can access, and can revoke)
- Enhanced compliance: claims are immutable and timestamped
For brokers
- KYC cost per client: reduced by ~80%
- Onboarding conversion: 3-5× higher
- Simpler regulatory filings (single traceable attestation)
For regulators
- Cryptographic traceability of verifications
- Reduced risk of inconsistent double validation
- Common base for AML audits
What about privacy?
A poorly designed portable KYC could create a centralised super-profile — unacceptable. Inopay's architecture minimises this surface:
- Original documents are encrypted with a key derived from the client's passphrase.
- Attestations only contain document hashes, never the documents themselves.
- Sharing consent is explicit, granular, and revocable from the investor dashboard.
- Chained audit ledger for every consultation.
Beyond the gadget: a redesigned market
Portable KYC changes competitive dynamics. Brokers no longer compete on onboarding (mutualised) but on what matters: execution, fees, reporting quality, support. For investors, a more liquid, transparent, less captive market. For BRVM / BVMAC / GSE, an efficiency leap that can significantly expand the investor base — particularly the diaspora.