Adyen KYB requirements, explained: what to prepare

Last verified: 30 September 2026. This guide summarizes Adyen's public documentation for Adyen for Platforms as it read on that date. Adyen's requirements change, and they differ by country or region, legal entity type and the financial products offered. Check the linked pages before relying on any line here.

Sweat AI is not affiliated with or endorsed by Adyen. Preparing the items below does not guarantee verification. Adyen decides which capabilities each user may use and can request more information at any time.

Adyen for Platforms lets marketplaces and software platforms onboard their users (sellers, merchants, service providers) so those users can take payments and receive payouts. Adyen's docs say it must verify those users before it processes payments, pays out funds or offers other financial products, and that verification results decide which "capabilities" a user gets. This guide covers the organization case, a registered company, from the analyst's side: what Adyen asks for, what evidence satisfies it, and what each document cannot prove.

What drives the requirements

Adyen's docs say requirements depend on three things:

1. The country or region the user operates in. Adyen gives an example: in Belgium a sole proprietorship must have a registration number, while in the United Kingdom it does not.
2. The user's legal entity type. Adyen lists individual, organization, sole proprietorship, trust and unincorporated partnership, with support varying by country. Its docs say the individual type is supported only for payment facilitators, and trusts only in Australia and New Zealand.
3. The financial products offered. Payments and payouts are included by default. Business accounts and card issuing add checks.

Verification is also not one-off. Adyen re-verifies users when they request new capabilities, when they change their data, and during periodic data reviews it requires. When checks fail after onboarding, Adyen may set a verification deadline; if issues are not resolved in time, capabilities are disallowed.

Upfront or staggered collection

Adyen describes two collection modes. In upfront verification, the platform collects everything at onboarding. Staggered verification collects the minimum first and more as the user moves into higher tiers; Adyen says only payment facilitators can use it, on request. Tiers depend on the user's country, legal entity and processed amount, and Adyen notes that triggered checks or high-risk capabilities can also move a user up a tier. When a user moves up, payouts are paused until the additional checks pass.

The organization baseline

Adyen's docs say that, in general, to onboard an organization you must collect:

• The legal name of the organization
• The registration number
• The registered address, and the principal place of business if different
• The ultimate beneficial owners, controllers and signatories
• The bank account for payouts

Adyen classifies organizations as private companies, listed public companies, nonprofits, incorporated associations, incorporated partnerships and governmental organizations.

Legal name and registration number

Adyen uses the name and registration number to verify the organization automatically. If that fails, it may request a registration document, which must:

• Be issued by a public authority, government agency or judicial authority
• State the legal entity name and registration number
• Have an issue date within the last 12 months, or be signed and dated by a legal representative within the last 12 months

Adyen states that a "doing business as" or "trading as" name cannot be accepted as the legal name. It publishes a country table of typical registration documents: a Companies House certificate of incorporation in the UK, a Kbis extract in France, a Handelsregisterauszug in Germany, a KvK extract in the Netherlands, and, for the United States, the IRS SS-4 confirmation letter tied to the EIN. Adyen says the table is not exhaustive and other documents meeting the rules may be accepted.

Evidential limit. A registry extract proves the entity is on the register with that name and number on the extract's date. It does not show who owns it, and an old extract says nothing about the entity's status today, which is why the 12-month window exists. For US entities, note that the example document Adyen lists is a tax letter, which says nothing about state good standing; see what a certificate of good standing proves.

Address

Adyen verifies the address automatically and may ask for proof of address if that fails. The document must come from a reliable, independent source, and Adyen gives the local commercial register as an example. It must be issued within the last 12 months, or contain a signature and a dated state of affairs not older than 12 months.

Evidential limit. A register extract confirms the registered address. If the principal place of business differs, that is a separate fact, and the register usually cannot establish it.

Tax information

If automatic tax ID verification fails, Adyen may ask for proof of organization tax information. It must be issued by a public authority, state the legal name, tax ID and country of registration, and be issued, or signed and dated by a legal representative, within the last 12 months. Adyen warns that in some countries the VAT number is not the same as the tax ID.

UBOs, controllers, signatories and directors

Adyen verifies the identity of every individual associated with the organization. Its docs set these criteria:

Adyen adds that UBOs, signatories and directors residing outside its supported countries may require additional due diligence, and some individuals may exceed its risk tolerance.

For UK organizations, Adyen requires a supporting document for each director, either a trade registry extract or an internal company document, meeting the 12-month issue or signature rule.

Proof of ownership

If automatic verification of a UBO through ownership fails, Adyen asks for a visual ownership and control chart. It must show:

• The full structure of all legal entities and UBOs under review, including all intermediate companies
• Each entity's official legal name, legal structure and registered country
• Ownership and control relationships, with percentages
• How each UBO meets the criteria (for example, owning 25% of shares)
• A signature, the signer's name and job title, and a signature date not older than 6 months

If the chart is signed by a qualified professional (a lawyer, accountant or auditor whose qualification can be checked with their professional body) or certified by a comparable external provider, no further documents are needed. Otherwise, Adyen requires external official documents supporting the chart, not older than 6 months. Its examples include shareholder and securities registers, UBO registers, articles of incorporation, annual reports and returns, shareholder, assignment and partnership agreements, board decision records, a certificate of incumbency and the registration document. For Dutch entities, Adyen may ask for a KvK UBO register extract.

Evidential limit. An ownership chart drawn by the applicant is a statement. It becomes evidence through the professional's signature or the external documents behind it. When a holding company sits in the chain, trace it to natural persons; see ultimate beneficial owner.

Extra checks for business accounts and card issuing

Adyen's docs list additional requirements when a platform offers these products:

• Business accounts (organizations and sole proprietorships in BE, DE, ES, FR, GB, NL and US): industry, website URL if the user is online, source of funds, FATCA/CRS classification for organizations, tax residence country and ID number for the organization and associated individuals, source of wealth when Adyen requires it, and a live selfie and photo ID for each signatory. Signatory authority may need a trade registry extract or board minutes. US business accounts carry further onboarding-flow requirements, and Adyen says business accounts are not available to US governmental organizations.
• Card issuing (EEA, UK and US): a VAT number, or tax ID where there is no VAT system, and source of funds.

Where source of funds must be evidenced, Adyen publishes accepted documents by source type; for previous business earnings these include recent accounts, annual statements, the latest tax filing, a signed accountant's letter, or invoices from the last three months.

Document file rules

For the organization documents covered here, Adyen accepts JPEG, JPG, PNG or PDF, one file per upload, with PDFs between 1 KB and 2 MB and other formats between 100 KB and 2 MB. A 2 MB cap is easy to exceed with a scanned multi-page filing, so compress before upload.

Preparation checklist

1. Confirm the legal entity type Adyen supports for the user's country.
2. Use the registered legal name, never the trading name.
3. Obtain a registry extract or equivalent issued within 12 months.
4. Record the registered address and the principal place of business separately.
5. Confirm the tax ID and, where relevant, the separate VAT number.
6. Map every owner at 25% or more, directly or indirectly, through all intermediate entities.
7. Name at least one UBO through control (always, for US organizations) and at least one signatory.
8. For AU, CA, HK, NZ, SG and UK organizations, list the directors Adyen requires.
9. Prepare a signed ownership chart, dated within 6 months, with professional sign-off or supporting official documents.
10. If offering business accounts or card issuing, prepare source-of-funds evidence, tax residency details and signatory ID and selfie.
11. Check every file against the format and size limits.

The KYB review checklist covers the same file from the reviewer's side.

Where Sweat AI fits

Sweat AI is an AI-native BPO for banks and fintechs, starting with back-office workflows like KYB, onboarding and fraud reviews. We build one evidence profile per business from registry records, public sources and the documents you authorize us to read, then map it to a provider's published requirements as an evidence assessment. You get one consolidated request list naming each missing item, why it is needed and what would satisfy it. That assessment is our reading of the file; Adyen's verification remains Adyen's decision. See how an analyst verifies a business for KYB or our KYB review service.