【Compliance Station® UBO Case Study】
Increased the collection rate of beneficial ownership information from 40% to 90%
- achieving enhanced AML with operational efficiency, while creating an environment where branches can focus on customer service -
10-Second Case Snapshot
Challenges
- Following a directive from the authorities, the credit union needed to improve the collection rate of Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) information, as part of their ongoing customer due diligence framework.
- Surveys were conducted by sales representatives and through direct mail (DM), but this resulted in a significant administrative burden.
- Errors in customer responses were frequently observed.
Benefits post implementation
- Administrative workload tied to direct mail (DM) decreased.
- The accuracy and reliability of customer information improved.
- The information collection rate increased from 40% to 90%.
Interview Notes (Interviewer: Our staff)
Shota Ishii
The Shiba Shinkin Bank
Director, Compliance Management Office
Business Overview: Contributing to regional economic vitality and sustainable growth through community-based finance
The Shiba Shinkin Bank, headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, serves small and medium-sized enterprises and individual customers in Tokyo and across Kanagawa Prefecture (including Yokohama and Kawasaki). This credit union provides a full range of financial services—deposits, lending, insurance, investment trusts, and more—while stimulating and sustaining regional economic growth. Further, through strategic partnerships with selected other institutions, Shiba Shinkin Bank offers actionable advice to meet business challenges and support market growth and sales expansion with measures tailored to customers’ life stage.
Challenges & Background: Data Quality and Timing
Based on the financial regulator’s Guidelines for Anti–Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, we attempted direct mail (DM) communications to corporate customers and followed up via visits by our branch staff and in-person guidance to update customer information, including UBO.
Despite these efforts, two issues persisted:
- Administrative workload
- The workload in handling inbound inquiries from customers who received DM
- Conducting additional investigations to customers who did not respond or whose address changes were discovered during the investigation
- Accuracy & reliability of customer data
- Frequent errors in customer responses, which then required extra back-office work to correct
Finally, we decided to impement Compliance Station® UBO because it leverages Tokyo Shoko Research (TSR)'s database—has one of Japan’s largest corporate databases—allowing us to secure UBO information efficiently, even for customers who are hard to reach through direct approaches.
Solution and Outcomes: Achieve operational efficiency with easy-to-use services and dedicated support
We obtain UBO information through "Compliance Station® UBO", targeting corporate customers that did not respond to DM, whose mail was undeliverable or who had been selected for annual review based on risk assessments.
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Reduced administrative workload
- Reduced the burden on the Compliance Management Office.
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By the end of fiscal year 2023, we were able to stop large-volume DM campaigns that had been driving most of the back-office work.
- Higher data accuracy & trustworthiness
- Moved from self-reported data to higher-quality UBO information, enabling more robust risk scoring.
In addition to easing the load on the compliance office, we created an environment where branch teams can focus on core, customer-facing work—a major win for the credit union.
Prospects: Put the Data to Work Beyond UBO Collection
With data obtained via Compliance Station® UBO, we identified cases where customers had become inactive (e.g., bankruptcy, suspension or closure of business). We plan to embed this insight into our operations—e.g., account freezing flows and closure notifications—and keep refining our runbooks.
Looking ahead to fiscal year 2026, we also plan an information refresh for high-volume, low-risk segments. While we currently use the Standard Plan of Compliance Station® UBO, we’re evaluating the option of Monitoring to further strengthen our AML control .
Overview of the service implemented at this time
Compliance Station® UBO
Powered by TSR’s nationwide database of 10+ million Japanese companies and our proprietary algorithms, this online service instantly pinpoints beneficial owners and ownership/capital backgrounds in full compliance with Japan’s Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds (APTCP).
