An introduction to BrightChecks, the checks it provides, and how it supports ECCTA and AML compliance.

Why Bright developed BrightChecks

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) introduces major reforms to improve the accuracy and integrity of data held on UK companies, strengthen anti-fraud and anti-money laundering measures, and require more robust identity checks across regulated sectors.

Under ECCTA, businesses — particularly accountants, payroll bureaus, company formation agents, and service providers — must ensure they have effective processes for:

▪  Verifying the identity of clients, directors, and persons with significant control (PSCs)

▪  Assessing risk and financial credibility where appropriate

▪  Demonstrating a clear audit trail of checks performed

BrightChecks was created to make meeting these obligations straightforward, efficient, and fully traceable.

What BrightChecks does

BrightChecks lets you run five types of check, all from a single dashboard using a shared credit wallet.

Identity verification — ID Basic and ID Enhanced

BrightChecks' identity checks confirm a client's identity quickly and securely, supporting ECCTA's enhanced identity verification framework.

▪  ID Basic — Biometric verification. Confirms the individual's identity using document authentication and facial matching.

▪  ID Enhanced — Biometric verification plus address validation, date of birth confirmation, and mortality screening.

Company Check

Company Check gives you a full company due diligence report in one place — without leaving BrightChecks or using a separate credit agency. Each report covers:

▪  Credit score and credit or contract limits

▪  County Court Judgements (CCJs) and insolvency history

▪  Current and former directors, including dissolved directorships

▪  Shareholders and group structure

▪  Up to five years of filed financials

Company Check also includes free ongoing monitoring — if a risk-relevant change is detected after your check, you receive an email alert naming the specific change. Available for UK and Republic of Ireland companies. 12 credits per check.

AML Checks — Standard and Enhanced

AML Checks screen an individual against anti-money laundering datasets, including PEP and sanctions lists.

▪  AML Standard — Automated screening against address and mortality data, and PEP and sanctions lists. No client interaction required. UK individuals only. 4 credits per check.

▪  AML Enhanced — Everything in AML Standard, plus biometric identity verification — document authentication, facial matching, and liveness testing. Requires your client to complete a biometric step. UK and international individuals. 6 credits per check.

How AML results work:  AML checks return one of three statuses — Passed (no match found), Refer (a possible match requiring your review), or Failed (a confirmed match). A Refer status is not a compliance failure — it means the system has found a possible match that needs a human decision before the check can resolve. See Running an AML Check for full details.

Important:  BrightChecks' AML Checks are separate from BrightManager's existing AML functionality. They do not share data or results and one does not replace the other.

Full reporting and audit trail

All checks are logged and recorded automatically, giving you a complete compliance trail — important for ECCTA readiness, AML compliance, and general governance. The audit trail can be exported in standard formats for compliance and record-keeping purposes.

Risk rating and rationale

For Company Check and AML Checks, you can log a risk rating and written rationale against every check. This documents your professional assessment of the individual's or company's risk profile at the time of the check, and is recorded in your audit trail.

Flexible, credit-based pricing

You purchase credits and use them as needed across all check types — there is no recurring subscription cost. The larger the credit bundle, the lower the effective cost per check. For full pricing, see the article: Subscribing and purchasing credits.