Trulioo UBO Discovery Agent launches for beneficial ownership checks
Trulioo says its AI agent helps compliance teams identify ultimate beneficial owners when registry data is incomplete.
By Rafael Ortiz · Fintech Correspondent
· 3 min read
Trulioo UBO Discovery Agent, a new AI tool from the identity verification company, has launched to help compliance teams determine who ultimately owns a business. Trulioo said Thursday that the product extends its existing UBO Discovery capability and sits inside its business risk and know your business, or KYB, verification workflow.
The company framed the launch as a response to a harder compliance problem: AI-enabled fraud is making it easier for bad actors to disguise control of companies, while business registries may not provide enough ownership detail. Trulioo said registries can be inconsistent or incomplete, leaving firms to search across multiple portals or rely on ownership declarations supplied by customers.
What is Trulioo's UBO Discovery Agent?
Trulioo describes the UBO Discovery Agent as a governed AI system designed to automate the search for ultimate beneficial ownership. A UBO is the person who ultimately owns or controls a company, even when that control is held through one or more intermediary entities.
The agent is intended to reconstruct ownership chains and address gaps where registries stop short, according to Trulioo. In practice, that means the system is aimed at situations in which a public or official record identifies another company as the owner, rather than naming the individual person at the end of the chain.
Zac Cohen, Trulioo’s chief product officer, said in the company’s announcement that registries show formal ownership but may not reflect changes quickly or identify natural persons in many markets. “The UBO Discovery Agent exists for the moment a registry runs out of answers,” Cohen said.
Beneficial ownership checks are a central part of KYB controls used by financial institutions, marketplaces and other regulated or risk-sensitive businesses. Companies use those checks to decide whether a business customer can be onboarded, whether additional review is needed and whether the ownership structure raises compliance concerns.
Why beneficial ownership checks are getting harder
Trulioo said compliance teams have often faced two imperfect options: manual review using analysts and research tools, or self-certifications submitted by customers. The company argued that both routes can be inefficient and may leave compliance teams without enough assurance.
The launch also comes amid wider concern that identity and business verification systems can block legitimate users while trying to stop fraud. PYMNTS Intelligence, in a recent report produced with Trulioo, said close to two-thirds of enterprises reported losing legitimate customers because identity checks created too much friction.
The same report found that internal teams said onboarding abandonment linked to verification obstacles had risen above 60%. PYMNTS wrote last month that sectors such as digital banking, gig economy platforms and online marketplaces face a particular tension because each extra verification step can reduce completion rates and each failed authentication can prompt customers to abandon onboarding.
Trulioo’s announcement positions the AI agent as part of a broader effort to strengthen business verification while reducing manual work. The company did not disclose pricing, customer names or performance metrics for the new tool in its announcement.
This story draws on original reporting from PYMNTS.
