KYC and Beneficial Ownership Checklist
Know who really owns the borrower: identity, owners, sanctions checks and source of funds
Install it in one line — paste a single command into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and it writes the skill into your project.
Free, and about thirty seconds: a work email and a six-digit code.
Downloading shares your name, firm, role, and email with The Helvetica Group. That introduction is what keeps every skill here free.
What this skill does
Works out who you are really dealing with when you lend to, or take money from, an LLC, a trust or an individual. It traces ownership through every layer to real people, lists what to collect and screen, and leaves a file that shows the work, which warehouse lenders, capital partners and note buyers increasingly ask for.
What it does
- Builds the ownership chart through every layer of LLCs and trusts, multiplying percentages down to the individuals
- Identifies the beneficial owners and the person in control, using a common 25%-plus-control test that it tells you to confirm, or your own firm's threshold
- Lists the identity documents to collect for each individual, entity and trust, and checks they are consistent
- Sets out the sanctions screening steps, including the rule that makes a company blocked when sanctioned people own half or more of it, and how to clear a false match properly
- Traces where the down payment, rehab money or investment is coming from, and flags red flags like third-party wires
- Produces a KYC file checklist, a screening log and a refresh schedule
When to use it
- Onboarding a new borrower entity, guarantor or investor
- The borrower is owned by other LLCs, a trust or a foreign company
- Your warehouse lender or a note buyer asks for your KYC file
- Something about the money or the people doesn't add up
What to have ready
- Who the party is and their role in the deal
- Entity documents: formation certificate, operating agreement, ownership schedule
- Basic transaction details and where the funds are coming from
- Your firm's own KYC policy, if you have one
How to use it
- Download it with the button above. You'll sign in with a work email — that's how the creator knows who is using their skill.
- Copy the install prompt from the "Run it in Claude" box, and paste it into Claude along with the file. Claude installs the skill, fills in your firm's details where the file has
[BRACKETED]placeholders, and runs a quick test with you. - Then just ask in plain English. Claude picks the skill up on its own when a request matches it. Anything it still needs, it asks you for — it won't invent a number.
"New borrower: [BORROWER LLC], owned by two holding LLCs and a family trust. Here's the operating agreement. Who do we need to identify and screen, and what goes in the KYC file?"
What you get back
A KYC file with the standards applied, an ownership chart, a people-to-identify table, document checklists, a screening log ready to fill in, a source-of-funds trace, red flags, a diligence level and sign-off lines.
Good to know
- Output quality tracks input quality. A missing figure is flagged as missing — it is never estimated to fill a gap.
- Every draft is a starting point for your own review, not a finished decision.
- Runs anywhere Claude does: the Claude app, Claude Desktop, or Claude Code.
- It never records a screening result that wasn't actually run, and it leaves the question of which rules apply to your firm with your counsel.
Legal disclaimer
This skill drafts; it does not decide. Its output is not legal, tax, accounting, appraisal, or investment advice, and using it creates no attorney-client, fiduciary, or advisory relationship. Nothing it produces is a commitment to lend or an offer to sell a security. Verify every number, date, citation, and conclusion against the source documents, and have a qualified professional licensed in the relevant jurisdiction review the work before you rely on it or send it to a borrower, investor, counterparty, or regulator. Laws, rates, and market data change. The final work product is yours.
Inside this skill
The actual file you get. Members can read it in full before saving it.
KYC and Beneficial Ownership Checklist
Private lenders often treat "know your customer" as a bank problem, until a warehouse lender asks for the KYC file, a note buyer's diligence asks who owns the borrower, or a guarantor turns out to share a name with someone on a sanctions list. Layered LLCs, trusts and foreign holding companies make it easy to lend to someone without knowing who they are. This skill works out who has to be identified, what to collect, how to screen them and what to do when something does not add up — and leaves a file that shows the work.
Works for entity and individual borrowers and guarantors, fund investors and co-lenders, note buyers and sellers, and other counterparties. For investor accreditation and subscription documents, pair it with fund-investor-onboarding-checklist; this one covers identity, ownership, sanctions and funds.
Step 1 — Intake
| Input | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The party and its role | ✅ | Borrower, guarantor, investor, co-lender, note buyer, seller of a note, other |
| Party type | ✅ | Individual, LLC, corporation, partnership, trust, non-US entity |
| Entity documents | Entity: ✅ | Formation certificate, operating or partnership agreement, bylaws, trust agreement or certification, ownership schedule |
| Ownership chart | Helpful | Every layer up to individuals, with percentages — if none exists, Step 3 builds it from the documents |
| Transaction | ✅ | Loan, investment, note purchase — amount, property, where funds come from and go |
| Firm's own KYC policy | Helpful | Thresholds and documents the firm requires; if none, Step 3's common approach is used and labelled as such |
| Counterparty requirements | Helpful | KYC standards from a warehouse lender, capital partner or note buyer — often stricter than the firm's own |
Minimum viable: the party, its type and its role. For an entity, without ownership documents the output is a request list, not a completed chart.
Step 2 — Which standards apply (questions for counsel)
Frame these first; the answers set how formal the file must be. Do not answer them as fact.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|
Reading the full skill counts as a download. The contributor receives your name, company, and email.
Ratings & reviews
No written reviews yet. If you run this on a live file, say how it went. The next lender reading this page is deciding whether to trust it.
Examination record
Run it in Claude
- Copy the install command above
- Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
- It writes the skill in, fills in your firm’s details, and test-runs it with you
Prefer the file? The prompt above is for a package you already downloaded.
Details
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