Corporate account opening software, with every owner and signatory on one record.
BAOS takes a business application from the entity's details through its directors, beneficial owners, signatories, mandate and board resolution, with the documents each entity type needs. Your team reviews it in one workflow, then opens the account in your core banking system. Registry and ID checks stay with the verification provider you already use.
- 15business entity types, from sole proprietorships to SACCOs, trusts and NGOs
- 5business starter forms, including trustee and Islamic-banking variants
- 8operating mandates, from singly to any four to sign
- 9document slots in the Kenya corporate pack
What BAOS records for a business applicant.
Everything sits on the published form your bank controls. These are the starter sections; your team adds, removes or reorders fields in the form builder.
Fifteen entity types
Limited company, sole proprietorship, partnership, trust, society, club, association, SACCO, NGO or charity, school or college, community-based organisation, government entity or parastatal, financial institution, registered group, or other. Rules in the form can use the entity type to show the questions and documents that apply.
Directors, shareholders and beneficial owners
A register of directors and shareholders with role, ID or passport number, shareholding and nationality, and a beneficial-owners table with each owner's ID or registration number and shareholding. Where a shareholder is itself a company, a field records the beneficial owner behind it.
Signatories and the mandate
Each signatory with ID, tax PIN, email, mobile, position and occupation, and the operating mandate from eight: singly, either or survivor, all to sign, any one, two, three or four to sign, or a special mandate written out in full.
The board resolution, in the application
Complete the resolution in the form, with the meeting date, the directors present and the resolved clauses to open the account, appoint the signatories, accept your terms and register for internet banking, or upload one on letterhead. Partners' resolutions are recorded the same way.
Documents for the entity and each signatory
Document slots for the business and for every signatory, each required or optional, and rules that can ask for a document only when it applies. Staff verify documents one at a time or a whole application at once.
AI document pre-check (Enterprise)
On the Enterprise plan, an AI pre-check reads seven Kenyan document types, including the certificate of incorporation, the CR12 and the KRA PIN certificate, and compares the name, registration number, PIN and CR12 directors with the application. It is an advisory pre-check for staff, not a verification.
The Kenya corporate starter form, step by step.
BAOS ships five starter forms for businesses: BAOS Classic (published by default), Kenya corporate standard, Tanzania enterprise, a trustee account and an Islamic-banking variant. The Kenya corporate standard runs in seven steps.
- 1Business information
Entity details, size and activity, physical and postal addresses, and the primary contact.
- 2Account selection
Product, currency and branch.
- 3Ownership
Directors and shareholders, then beneficial owners.
- 4Compliance
PEP and FATCA declarations, and the source of funds.
- 5Signatories and mandate
Who can operate the account, and how.
- 6Facilities
Cards, cheques, channels and transaction alerts.
- 7Confirm and submit
The board resolution, declarations, documents and a final review.
Its document pack
| Document | For | Required / Optional |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate of incorporation or registration | Business | Required |
| Memorandum and articles, constitution or partnership deed | Business | Required |
| Company KRA PIN certificate | Business | Required |
| CR12 or latest annual returns | Business | Optional |
| Board resolution (if not completed in the form) | Business | Optional |
| Proof of business address | Business | Optional |
| ID or passport copy | Each signatory | Required |
| Passport-size photograph | Each signatory | Required |
| KRA PIN certificate | Each signatory | Optional |
Kenya's rules for company accounts, and where they land.
What Kenyan law and CBK guidance ask a bank to collect from a business, what BAOS records, and what stays with a registry or your verification provider.
| The rule | Recorded in BAOS | Outside BAOS |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name, certificate of incorporation or memorandum and articles, registered office, a certified board resolution naming the signatories, the people who manage, control or own the entity, financial statements and the PIN.POCAML Regulations 2023, reg 16(1) | Entity details, directors and shareholders, the resolution, and a document slot for each item. | The BRS official search (often called the CR12) for directors and shareholders. |
| A beneficial owner is a natural person with at least 10% of the shares or votes, the power to appoint or remove a majority of the board, or significant influence or control.Companies (Beneficial Ownership Information) Regulations, reg 3(2) | Each owner's name, ID and shareholding, and the person behind a corporate shareholder. BAOS does not calculate ownership. | Matching the names against the CR12 and the BO form filed at BRS (BRS can release BO data on Form BOF6), and reporting a mismatch to the FRC (CBK BO guidance 4.6 to 4.8). |
| For anyone acting for the company, verify their authority, then identify and verify them.POCAML Regulations reg 23; CBK CDD guidance 3.4.2 | Each signatory's identity, ID document and tax PIN, the mandate, and the resolution that appoints them. | ID checks for each signatory, with your verification provider. |
| Opening an account with a financial institution is a transaction that needs a KRA PIN, and the entity's PIN is part of its due diligence.Tax Procedures Act, First Schedule item 11; reg 16(1)(h) | The entity's PIN, with a KRA PIN format check, and the PIN certificate. | A name-on-PIN check against KRA records, which CBK gives as an example. |
| Partnerships: the deed and every partner's particulars. Trusts: the deed, settlor, trustees and beneficiaries; from 25 September 2026, written trusts must be registered or incorporated at BRS.Regs 17 and 18; Trust Administration Act 2026, s.5 | Both as entity types, and a trustee starter form with trustees and settlors or beneficiaries as separate lists and the trust deed required. | The Registrar of Trusts register at BRS. |
| Keep due-diligence records for at least seven years after the transaction or the relationship ends.POCAMLA s.46(4); reg 42 | The application, its documents and every workflow action, in your own Azure database. | Your retention policy: BAOS has no retention or deletion tooling. |
Summaries of Creodata's Kenya fact sheet, checked against primary sources on 8 October 2026. Not legal advice.
- It does not search the BRS, IPRS or KRA registers, or verify directors' and signatories' IDs. Pair it with your identity-verification provider.
- It lists the business, its directors, owners and signatories for sanctions and PEP screening, but the screening runs in your screening tool.
- It does not work out ownership through chains of companies.
- It does not book the account: staff open it in your core banking system and record the account number in BAOS.
Frequently asked questions.
What is corporate account opening software?
Software that runs a business's application to open a bank account: it collects the entity's details, owners, signatories, mandate, resolution and documents on one record, and routes the application to staff who review it and decide. BAOS does this for 15 entity types, alongside the identity-verification, screening and core banking systems you already run.
Is BAOS a KYB tool?
It is the KYB capture and review part. The business, its directors, shareholders, beneficial owners and signatories are recorded with their documents, and each of them is listed for screening once. Registry lookups, ID verification and list screening are done by your providers.
Can one form serve companies, partnerships, trusts and NGOs?
Yes. The entity type is a field like any other, so rules in the form can show a partnership deed only to partnerships, trust details only to trusts, or audited accounts only to companies.
Does BAOS check the CR12?
Not against BRS. On the Enterprise plan, the AI document pre-check reads an uploaded CR12 and compares its directors with those entered in the application, as an advisory check for staff. The BRS official search itself comes from the applicant or the bank.
How many signatories and owners can an application hold?
The starter sections take one to four signatories, up to ten directors or shareholders and up to ten beneficial owners. Your team can change those limits in the form builder.
See it with your own forms.
Bring your account types and your document checklists to a live demo, and see an application go from the applicant to your reviewers.