Know Your Assets (KYA)

Know Your Asset (KYA) is a technology-enabled asset due diligence and monitoring service that helps investment managers, fund boards and governance teams assess, verify and monitor the underlying assets held within investment funds.

Waystone’s KYA service provides greater transparency into asset ownership, sanctions exposure, governance risks and anti-money laundering (AML) considerations, helping firms make informed investment decisions, strengthen governance and support compliance with evolving regulatory expectations.

Private assets often involve complex ownership structures, limited transparency and cross-border transactions. As private markets continue to grow, regulators are placing greater emphasis on understanding the risks associated with the assets themselves, not just the investors.

KYA helps firms identify and manage potential risks at the asset level, supporting stronger governance, risk management and regulatory compliance.

Regulators are placing increased emphasis on transparency, governance and asset-level risk management within private markets. Investment firms are expected to understand not only their investors, but also the underlying assets held within their funds.

Frameworks such as the EU AML package, Luxembourg AML requirements and broader regulatory expectations around asset-level risk assessment have contributed to the growing adoption of KYA approaches.

Waystone helps firms implement a structured and risk-based approach to asset due diligence, monitoring and governance.

Know Your Customer (KYC) focuses on understanding and verifying investors, customers and counterparties. Know Your Asset (KYA) focuses on understanding and assessing the underlying assets held within a fund.

Together, KYC and KYA provide a more comprehensive view of risk by helping firms understand both who they are doing business with and what they are investing in.

KYA is particularly valuable for private market investments, including:

• Private equity
• Private credit
• Real estate
• Infrastructure
• ELTIFs
• Other private, unlisted and illiquid assets

These asset classes often require enhanced due diligence due to their complexity and limited public information. For more information on KYA services for your specific asset class, speak to an expert at Waystone.

A KYA framework can help firms identify and assess a range of risks, including:

• Money laundering and financial crime risks
• Sanctions exposure
• Beneficial ownership and control risks
• Jurisdictional and geopolitical risks
• Governance and reputation risks
• Adverse media findings
• Related-party risks

A typical asset-level risk assessment may include:

• Asset and ownership verification
• Beneficial ownership reviews
• Risk profiling and scoring
• Sanctions screening
• Adverse media checks
• Jurisdictional risk analysis
• Ongoing monitoring and review

The level of due diligence applied is typically aligned to the asset’s risk profile.

Technology helps streamline and standardise asset-level due diligence by automating key workflows, enhancing data quality and improving operational efficiency.

Modern KYA solutions can support:

• Automated risk scoring
• Sanctions and adverse media screening
• Beneficial ownership reviews
• Document collection and management
• Ongoing monitoring
• Centralised reporting and audit trails

This enables firms to focus resources on higher-value risk analysis and decision-making while improving scalability and consistency.

Yes. KYA provides a consistent framework for asset due diligence and monitoring across different jurisdictions, fund structures and asset types.

This helps firms maintain a structured approach to risk management while navigating varying regulatory requirements.

KYA helps firms demonstrate a risk-based approach to asset-level due diligence, governance and ongoing monitoring.

By providing documented evidence of assessments, screening and reviews, firms can better prepare for regulatory enquiries, audits and compliance reviews.