Keeping the right information about each customer helps a store stay organized and quickly find what it needs when a transaction or an older record needs to be reviewed.
At a remittance store, the service does not end when the transfer is completed. Throughout the relationship with a customer, the store may need to review documents, update information, check previous transactions, or better understand that customer’s history.
In previous articles, we covered what KYC is (Know Your Customer) and some of the KYC requirements for remittance agents. Now, let’s take it one step further: what information makes sense to keep organized in each customer’s profile?
The answer may vary depending on the remittance company, the transaction, and the procedures established in the store’s own AML Program. The goal is not to create one list that applies to every situation, but to understand what information is commonly part of an organized customer profile.
Start With the Customer’s Basic Information
The customer profile should allow the store to clearly identify who that person is.
Depending on the applicable requirements and the store’s procedures, this may include the customer’s full name, date of birth, address, phone number, and information from the identification document used by the customer.
These details form the foundation of the customer relationship.
When the customer comes back weeks later, the staff does not have to start from scratch. They can review the existing profile, confirm that the information is still accurate, and update anything that has changed.
Identification Documents Are Also Part of the Customer’s History
The document presented by the customer is an important part of the identification process.
In addition to the document information, the store may keep a copy or identification record according to its internal procedures and applicable requirements.
It is also important to track the expiration date.
Imagine a customer who regularly sends money. If the document on file has expired, the store needs to be able to identify that before it becomes an issue during a new transaction.
As we discussed in the article KYC Requirements for Money Transfer Stores in the United States, storing the document is only one part of the process. The store also needs a way to keep track of this information over time.
Contact Information Helps Keep the Customer Profile Up to Date
Phone numbers and addresses may seem like simple details, but they are part of a useful customer profile.
Customers move, change phone numbers, or update other personal information over the years.
If the store only keeps the information collected during the customer’s first visit, the profile can quickly become outdated.
That is why each new interaction can also be an opportunity to confirm that important information is still accurate.
Transaction History Helps You Understand the Customer Relationship
A customer profile does not have to be just a collection of documents.
Transaction history can also help the store understand its relationship with that customer: when they completed transactions, how often they returned, how much they sent, and which beneficiaries they used, based on the information the store keeps and the applicable requirements.
This can be especially useful when a customer comes back with a question about a previous transaction.
Instead of relying on an employee’s memory or searching in different places, the staff can review the available transaction history.
Beneficiaries Can Also Be Part of the Customer’s History
A customer may regularly send money to the same person.
In other situations, they may send money to several different beneficiaries.
Keeping this information organized can make it easier to review the customer’s history and understand the context of transactions made over time.
For example, if a customer who normally sends money to one or two family members suddenly starts making several transfers to different beneficiaries within a short period, the staff can review the previous history and better understand this change in activity.
Having multiple beneficiaries by itself does not mean there is a problem. The history simply provides more context so the store can follow the procedures established in its own AML Program when a transaction needs to be reviewed.
Some Information May Require Internal Notes
Not everything needs to be just a customer profile field.
In certain situations, it may be useful to record an internal note related to the customer interaction or documentation, according to the store’s procedures.
For example, if during a review an employee needs to document an explanation related to a transaction or information provided by the customer, that note can become part of the customer’s history.
This helps prevent important information from existing only in the memory of the employee who handled the transaction.
The Customer Profile Should Follow the Customer Over Time
One of the biggest benefits of maintaining an organized customer profile becomes clear when a customer stops being new and starts building a history with the store.
Imagine someone who makes their first transfer today and comes back several times over the next two years.
If the store only keeps documents from each transaction separately, it can be difficult to see the full customer relationship.
When the information is connected to the same customer, it becomes much easier to review their history, check updated information, and understand how that relationship has developed over time.
Having Information Does Not Mean Keeping Everything Indiscriminately
This is an important point.
A store should not simply collect as much information as possible about every customer.
The information kept should be related to the needs of the operation, applicable requirements, and the procedures established in the store’s AML Program.
Customer information also needs to be handled carefully because it involves personal data.
The goal of an organized customer profile is to have the information that is needed available when it is needed, not to create a file without clear criteria.
The Problem With Keeping Information Scattered
Imagine a store that keeps documents in one folder, contact information in a spreadsheet, notes in a notebook, and transaction history inside different remittance company portals.
Maybe everything works when the volume is small.
But when a customer asks about an old transaction, the staff has to search in several different places.
The same thing happens when a document needs to be updated or when the owner wants to understand that customer’s history.
The information exists, but it is scattered.
And information that is difficult to find can be almost as problematic as information that does not exist.
This Becomes Even More Important When the Store Works With Multiple Providers
A remittance store that works with Western Union, MoneyGram, RIA, Intermex, or other companies may have information about the same customer spread across different systems.
The customer is one person.
But inside each company’s system, that customer may appear in separate records.
That is why having a centralized view can make operations much easier. Instead of thinking of each transaction as an isolated record, the store can see the customer and their relationship with the business more completely.
This will be an important point in a later article in this series about How Money Transfer Agents Can Monitor Customer Activity Against Their Own AML Thresholds.
An Organized Customer Profile Also Makes Customer Service Easier
Imagine a customer walks into the store and asks:
“When was the last time I sent money to my mother?”
Or:
“How much did I send last year?”
If the information is organized, the staff can review the available history and answer much more easily.
This improves the customer experience and also reduces the time spent looking for information.
What Should a Store Be Able to Find Quickly?
In the end, an organized customer profile should allow staff to quickly find, according to the store’s procedures and applicable requirements, information such as:
- who the customer is;
- what identification information is on file;
- which documents were presented and their expiration dates;
- how to contact the customer;
- transaction history;
- beneficiaries associated with transactions;
- relevant internal notes;
- information that needs to be updated or reviewed.
The goal is not to turn every customer interaction into an administrative task.
Quite the opposite: the better the information is organized, the less time staff needs to spend trying to find it.
The Most Important Thing Is Being Able to Find the Information When You Need It
A store can have a lot of data stored and still struggle to answer a simple question.
The real value of an organized customer profile is not simply in the amount of information being kept, but in how easily the information that is needed can be found.
That is why KYC should not be viewed simply as collecting a document during the first transaction.
It is a process that continues throughout the customer relationship.
And as the store grows, keeping this information organized becomes increasingly important for maintaining an efficient and consistent operation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What information should a remittance store keep about its customers?
Depending on the applicable requirements and the store’s procedures, the customer profile may include identification and contact information, documents, transaction history, beneficiaries, and other information needed for the operation.
Does a store need to update customer information?
Information should be maintained according to applicable requirements and the procedures established by the store. Details such as an address, phone number, or identification document may need to be updated when they change.
Why is it important to keep customer profiles organized?
Because it makes it easier to find documents and transaction history, reduces the time spent searching for information, and helps the store maintain more consistent KYC and AML procedures.
Continue Reading
Knowing what information to keep is only one part of the process. The next step is understanding how to organize this information when a store works with multiple providers and needs to monitor the activity of the same customers across different systems.
Read next:
- How Money Transfer Agents Can Monitor Customer Activity Against Their Own AML Thresholds →
- How to See Which Customers Are Approaching Your Store’s AML Thresholds in MsB Manager →