What is Customer Due Diligence?
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) is the process of verifying who a customer is, understanding their financial behaviour, and deciding the right level of monitoring for that relationship. It is a core requirement under AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism) regulations. Financial institutions are required to collect and verify customer information at onboarding, and to review that information periodically or when risk indicators change. Sigma CDD helps compliance and operations teams run these checks consistently and at scale, combining identity verification, risk scoring, screening, and reporting into a single workflow.Why it Matters
Regulators including the CBN, FATF-aligned authorities, and other financial intelligence units require institutions to know their customers and demonstrate that they do. Failing to implement effective CDD can result in:- Regulatory fines and sanctions against your institution
- Facilitating transactions linked to financial crime
- Reputational damage and loss of correspondent banking relationships
- Delayed or failed regulatory audits
When to Run CDD
CDD should be run at several points in the customer lifecycle:| Trigger | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Onboarding | Verify identity and establish an initial risk profile before activating the relationship |
| Periodic review | Refresh checks on a scheduled basis (quarterly, annually) based on risk tier |
| Risk trigger | Re-run checks when a customer’s activity raises new concerns: unusual transactions, change in business nature, or a new adverse media hit |
| Regulatory request | Produce a verified compliance record on demand for audit or reporting purposes |
Core CDD Capabilities
Sigma CDD covers five core capabilities:- Identity Verification: Verify customer identity details against government databases and document sources.
- PEP, Sanctions, and Adverse Media Screening: Screen customers against global watchlists, sanctions programmes, and news intelligence.
- Risk Assessment: Apply configurable risk criteria to score and classify customers into risk tiers (low, medium, high).
- Review and Decisioning: Review flagged outcomes, investigate findings, and record final compliance decisions.
- Reporting: Generate compliance-ready reports summarising verification results, risk scores, and screening outcomes.
Getting Started
Follow the dashboard flow for setup, execution, and review.
Use Case
See how CDD supports onboarding and risk management.