Several fields in the Kyckr Company API are returned both as the raw value from the registry (*.original) and as a standard Kyckr value (*.normalized). The standard values are a smaller, consistent set so you can route entities through the right path in your KYC workflow without parsing every variation a registry might use.
The values describe the legal structure of an entity. They are intended to support triage in your KYC workflow — for example, routing a Trust to a different sub-workflow than a Public Limited Company. Kyckr does not prescribe what each path should do; the regulatory treatment of an entity depends on your jurisdiction, the rules that apply to your firm, and your internal policy.
For finer detail than the standard value provides — for example distinguishing 株式会社 (KK) from 合同会社 (GK) within Private Limited Company — read the *.original field, which keeps the exact registry-source string.
Beta. legalForm.normalized will first be populated for Hong Kong, China, and Japan in an upcoming release. Other jurisdictions will follow.
legalForm field on Lite Profile and Enhanced Profile responses includes both original (the registry label) and normalized (one of the 15 values below).
| Value | What it describes |
|---|
Private Limited Company | Company with limited shareholder liability that is not publicly tradable. The dominant corporate form in most jurisdictions. |
Public Limited Company | Company with limited shareholder liability whose shares may be publicly traded (whether or not the entity is currently listed on an exchange). |
Limited Partnership | Partnership with at least one general partner (unlimited liability) and one or more limited partners (liability limited to their contribution). |
Limited Liability Partnership | Partnership in which every partner’s liability is limited. Member-managed rather than shareholder-managed. |
General Partnership | Partnership in which every partner carries unlimited liability. No limited partners. |
Cooperative | Member-owned entity, typically with one-member-one-vote governance. Includes mutual societies, mutual insurance, and savings cooperatives. |
Collective Investment Vehicle | Pooled investment vehicle — UCITS, AIF, mutual fund, MISM, and similar fund structures. |
Association | Member-based entity, not shareholder-based. |
Sole Proprietor | A single natural person operating as a business. No separate legal entity from the individual. |
Branch | A registered place of business of another legal entity. Has no independent legal personality of its own — the entity that carries the obligations of the branch is the parent. |
Foreign Registered Body | A foreign-incorporated legal entity that has registered locally. Has its own legal personality (incorporated elsewhere). |
Government or Public Body | An entity owned or controlled by a government or public authority. |
Foundation | Civil-law foundation. An entity without members or shareholders, governed by a board against its founding charter. |
Trust | Legal arrangement in which property is held by trustees for beneficiaries. |
Other | No specific value fits. The registry label is in legalForm.original. |
Branch vs Foreign Registered Body
Branch and Foreign Registered Body look similar but describe different things:
Branch — no independent legal personality. The branch is an operating arm of a parent entity. The legal entity carrying the obligations of the branch is the parent. The parent may be domestic or foreign — whether the parent is foreign is captured separately on registrationType, not in this field.Foreign Registered Body — has its own legal personality, incorporated elsewhere. The locally-registered entity is the same legal entity as the foreign-incorporated parent.
Some registry data uses the English word “subsidiary” for what is structurally a branch. The Chinese 分公司 (branch) is sometimes rendered upstream as
"Subsidiary" — a mistranslation, because 子公司 (separate legal entity owned by the parent) is the actual Chinese term for “subsidiary”. In the Kyckr response both the string
"Subsidiary" and the Chinese suffix 分公司 are mapped to
Branch. See the
China country guide for the full mapping.
Good to know
- Charity, religious, and similar regulatory designations are an overlay, not a legal form. A “Company limited by guarantee” registered as a charity is
Private Limited Company (its legal form); the charity status will be carried separately in a future regulatoryDesignations[] field.
- The three partnership values describe different legal structures. General Partnership, Limited Partnership, and Limited Liability Partnership differ in which partners carry unlimited liability and which carry limited liability. They are not interchangeable.
- Sector labels like “Bank” or “Insurance Company” are not legal forms. A bank registered as a public company is
Public Limited Company. The sector aspect is downstream classification.
totalCapital.type
The totalCapital summary on Enhanced Profile responses includes a type field with three possible values.
| Value | What it describes |
|---|
Fixed | Share capital cannot vary without amendment. |
Variable | Share capital can vary (open-ended fund / SICAV / mutual structure). |
Registered | The registry reports registered-capital amount (rather than authorized or paid-in). Used primarily for CN / JP / VN entities. |
legalStatus.normalized
The legalStatus field on Lite Profile and Enhanced Profile responses includes both original (the registry string) and normalized (one of the values below).
| Value | What it describes |
|---|
Active | In good standing at the registry. |
Inactive | Dissolved, struck off, or otherwise no longer active. |
Distressed | In administration, liquidation, insolvency, or similar non-terminal distressed state. |
Other | No specific value fits. The registry string is in legalStatus.original. |
How the mapping works
Each upstream data source has a lookup table that maps its terms to these standard values. As an integrator you only see the result — both the original registry string and the standard value are returned on every response.
Future normalised fields
Additional fields will be normalised over time and documented here. Likely next: activity / industry classifications, and regulatory-designation overlays (charity, religious, etc.).
