Looking for some insight on what others are doing when a deposit account is being opened by a business or non-profit that is incorporated or formed in another state. To what degree do you verify they are in good standing and authorized to conduct business w/in the state the account is opened in?

Check with the NJ Secretary of State's (SOS) office. It's likely that any entity creeated in another state, but doing business in NJ, is required to register to do business in NJ.

If so, your SOS will make certain the out of state corporation is properly formed and that it minds it's P's & Q's regarding registration in NJ. Your "evidence of continued existence" could be obtained from your own SOS from day one.

Thanks Ken
That is actually what we currently do. Looking to see if that is the norm.
We are doing a review of our efficiency,customer service, processes etc and this has come up several times as inconvenient, not customer friendly and being told it is not something other banks are doing when opening a deposit account. I can provide lots of sound reasons from a compliance and risk point why we should do it but they will coming back w/ other banks don't.

Try this: "It's the law of this state that requires you to register, not us. We just want a copy of that registration."

In general, registration in a foreign state is required only if the entity is doing business in that state. In some states, opening a bank account alone is not deemed to be "doing business" and registration is not required by law. However, some banks require registration of all foreign entities because they understand that if the entity is not registered in their state they would have to go to the entity's place of incorporation in order to sue them over a default on a loan, an unsatisfied overdraft etc.

Our CIP requires a "primary" and "secondary" business document on most businesses & lists what the acceptable documentation is (depending on the type of business). Usually, it is the articles & certificate of good standing.

Several states do allow you to pull articles & certificates of good standings from their Secretary of State websites. Some, you can only get a certificate of good standing or entity information and some you do have to pay for to get documents. It's a little hit or miss. The website for the national list of SOS links is:

http://nass.org/index.php?option=com_contact_display&Itemid=346

If we cannot obtain the documents, our CIP further allows us to obtain the CIP required information that we would normally
get for an individual,on the principal owners of the business in lieu of obtaining the articles & certificate of good standing.