You signed up, you got the confirmation email, and then the dashboard asked for a selfie and a copy of your DTI certificate. If that is where you stopped, you are not alone. Verification is the single step where most new merchants stall. Perhaps there is a lack of what KYC is or why a payment company needs it before you can get paid.
We cover what KYC means, why the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas requires it from every financial institution in the country, and what it does for you and your customers. It also shows you exactly what to prepare so you can finish yours in one sitting.
What KYC means
KYC stands for Know Your Customer. It is the process a financial institution uses to confirm that a customer is who they say they are before opening an account or moving money for them.
In practice, KYC is a short checklist. The institution collects your basic details (name, date of birth, address, contact information), asks for a government-issued ID, and checks that the ID matches the person submitting it.
You have almost certainly done KYC before, even if nobody used the term. Opening a bank account, upgrading a GCash or Maya wallet, applying for a credit card, signing up for an online broker — all of these run the same checks. The forms and the app screens differ, but the underlying question is identical. Who are we dealing with, and can we prove it?
For a payment provider like PayMongo, KYC is the step between creating an account and accepting live payments. Until it is done, money cannot legally flow through the account.
Why every institution is required to do it
KYC is not a company policy. It is a legal obligation.
In the Philippines, the requirement comes from the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 (Republic Act No. 9160, as amended) and the rules the BSP issues under it.
Section 921 of the BSP's Manual of Regulations for Banks, on customer due diligence, requires every covered institution to identify each customer and verify their true identity "based on official documents or other reliable, independent source documents, data or information." The same section flatly prohibits anonymous accounts and accounts under fictitious names.
The word "covered" is doing a lot of work there. It does not only mean banks. E-money issuers, payment system operators, remittance companies, pawnshops, insurers, and securities dealers are all covered persons under the AMLA framework.
Each of these must run KYC, and each of them answers to a regulator for it. Payment companies like PayMongo, which hold an Electronic Money Issuer license from the BSP, are held to the same customer due diligence standards as a bank.
This is why you cannot skip verification by switching providers. Any legitimate payment company in the Philippines will ask for the same things, because the law requires all of them to.
Why the BSP mandated it
The BSP's job is to keep the country's financial system stable and trusted. KYC is one of its main tools for doing that, and the reasoning is simple.
Money laundering, fraud, and terrorist financing all depend on one thing: the ability to move money without anyone knowing who is behind it. If an account can be opened under a made-up name, stolen funds can be collected, split, and withdrawn with no trail back to a real person. KYC removes that option. When every account is tied to a verified identity, illicit money has nowhere to hide.
There is also a practical, national-interest reason. The Philippines was placed on the Financial Action Task Force's "grey list" of jurisdictions under increased monitoring in 2021, largely because of gaps in anti-money laundering enforcement. Being on that list makes cross-border payments slower and more expensive for every Filipino business and every overseas worker sending money home. Getting off the list, which the country finally achieved in February 2025 after nearly four years, required regulators to show that financial institutions were actually identifying their customers.
The BSP has also kept the rules current as the country goes digital. Circular No. 1170, issued in 2023, formally recognized the PhilSys National ID (including the ePhilID) as sufficient proof of identity on its own and set standards for electronic KYC, so that verification can happen through an app with a liveness check and face match rather than a branch visit. The goal was to make KYC faster for legitimate customers, not to add friction.
How KYC protects institutions and merchants
It is easy to read KYC as a burden placed on you by the regulator. It is more accurate to see it as the reason the payment system is safe enough to use.
For the payment company, KYC is what keeps the license. A provider that onboards unverified merchants risks fines, restrictions, or losing its authority to operate. That directly affects you: a provider under sanction cannot pay out.
For merchants, the protection is more direct than it first appears.
Your payouts are protected. KYC links your account to a verified person and a verified bank account. If someone gains access to your dashboard and tries to redirect settlements, the identity checks and OTP confirmations on file are what stop them.
Your name is protected. Verified onboarding means fraudsters cannot open a payment account using your DTI registration or SEC papers and collect money in your business's name.
Your business is protected from chargebacks and disputes tied to fraud. Because every merchant on the platform has been verified, card networks and banks treat transactions from that platform as lower risk. That keeps acceptance rates up and fees down for everyone on it.
And your reputation is protected. Consumers are more willing to pay a business through a platform they know has vetted its merchants. KYC is part of why a customer will type their card details into a PayMongo checkout page without hesitation.
Finish your KYC (it takes about 5 minutes)
If you have a PayMongo account that is still unverified, here is exactly what to prepare. Having these ready before you open the dashboard is the difference between finishing in one sitting and abandoning it halfway.
For the personal identity check (KYC), you need one valid government-issued ID and a phone or laptop with a camera. Accepted primary IDs include a driver's license, Philippine passport, PRC ID, UMID, PhilSys National ID, or ePhilID. The flow asks you to verify your email or mobile number, take a short liveness check, upload your ID, and complete a face match. [VERIFY: confirm current accepted ID list and whether three secondary IDs are still accepted in place of one primary ID]
For the business check (KYB), have digital copies of your registration documents ready.
If you are a sole proprietor: your DTI Certificate of Business Name Registration and your BIR Certificate of Registration (Form 2303).
If you run a corporation: SEC Certificate of Incorporation, Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws, your latest General Information Sheet, BIR Certificate of Registration, and a notarized Secretary's Certificate naming the person authorized to transact with PayMongo. One Person Corporations follow a similar list. Partnerships submit their SEC Certificate, Articles of Partnership, BIR registration, and a notarized Partnership Resolution.
You will also be asked about the business itself: what you sell, your industry, your estimated monthly volume, your address, and your TIN. Answer these accurately. Mismatches between the form and your documents are the most common reason an application is sent back with an "Action Required" status.
Once everything is submitted, the onboarding team reviews it and your dashboard status moves to Activated, Under Review, or Action Required.
Why finishing your KYC with us is worth it
Verification is the last gate between you and everything PayMongo can do for your business. Once your account is activated, all of it opens at once.
You can get paid any way your customers want to pay. Cards, GCash, Maya, GrabPay, QR Ph, and online banking through InstaPay and PESONet are all available from a single account, with no separate applications for each channel.
You can start collecting without writing a line of code. Send a payment link over Messenger or Viber and get paid in minutes, drop a hosted checkout onto your website, or use PayMongo Storefront to put up an online store that accepts payments out of the box. If you run a restaurant or cafe, Order and Pay lets customers order and settle from their table by scanning a QR code.
You can move money out, not just in. Your collections settle into your account on a regular payout schedule, and from there you can use Disbursements to pay suppliers, staff, or refunds in bulk, hold funds in your PayMongo Wallet, and spend with virtual cards for online subscriptions and ad budgets.
For fintechs and platforms: KYC does not have to start from zero
If you are building a fintech product, a marketplace, or any platform that onboards businesses, you already know that KYC is your biggest onboarding cost and your biggest source of drop-off. Every merchant you sign up has probably been verified somewhere else already, and you are asking them to do it again.
Philippine regulation allows a covered institution to rely on customer due diligence performed by another covered institution, provided the relying party can obtain the identification information immediately and remains responsible for the outcome.
PayMongo has verified tens of thousands of Philippine businesses through the process described above. For partners who meet the regulatory requirements, that verification can be made portable: a merchant who has already completed KYC and KYB with PayMongo can carry that verification into your platform instead of uploading the same documents a second time. It shortens your onboarding, cuts your compliance cost, and gets your users to their first transaction faster.
Frequently asked questions
Is KYC required by law in the Philippines?
Yes. The Anti-Money Laundering Act (RA 9160, as amended) and BSP regulations, including Section 921 of the Manual of Regulations for Banks on customer due diligence, require every covered institution to identify and verify its customers. Anonymous and fictitious-name accounts are prohibited.
What documents do I need for KYC
For an individual, one valid government-issued ID such as a passport, driver's license, or PhilSys National ID, plus a selfie or liveness check. For a business, your registration documents: DTI certificate and BIR Form 2303 for sole proprietors, or SEC documents, GIS, BIR registration, and a Secretary's Certificate for corporations.
How long does KYC verification take?
The identity check itself usually takes a few minutes if your ID is valid and your camera works. Business verification takes longer because documents are reviewed by a person. Submitting complete, legible, and consistent documents the first time is the fastest way through.
What happens if I don't complete KYC?
Your account stays in setup mode. You can explore the dashboard and test integrations, but you cannot accept live payments or receive payouts until verification is approved.
