Corporate Insights - ComplyAdvantage https://complyadvantage.com/insights/topic/corporate/ Better AML Data Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:25:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 What is corporate screening in AML? https://complyadvantage.com/insights/what-is-corporate-screening-aml/ Mon, 29 Jul 2024 13:09:21 +0000 https://complyadvantage.com/?p=82439 Corporate screening is an essential process for ensuring the safe provision of financial services to other businesses. Choosing the right corporate screening solution requires a comprehensive understanding of the process’ objectives and inherent challenges. This article will cover: How corporate […]

The post What is corporate screening in AML? appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> Corporate screening is an essential process for ensuring the safe provision of financial services to other businesses. Choosing the right corporate screening solution requires a comprehensive understanding of the process’ objectives and inherent challenges.

This article will cover:

  • How corporate screening works and why it matters.
  • The challenges with deploying corporate screening practices at scale.
  • Best practices worth adopting and how technology can help.

What is AML corporate screening?

Corporate screening involves verifying, assessing, and assigning a risk score to companies with which businesses transact. This process encompasses any individual or entity that might represent the company, including employees, partners, and ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs).

Typically, these processes are part of the know your business (KYB) and anti-money laundering (AML) practices all financial institutions (FIs) are obligated to adhere to. However, they also protect businesses from various forms of economic and corporate fraud and the risk of reputational damage accompanying such threats.

Crucially, when executed rigorously and effectively, corporate screening processes prevent criminals and terrorists from using fake corporations to launder money, defraud legitimate businesses, and finance terrorist activities.

AML regulations and requirements for company screening

Regulations governing the need for corporate screening are implemented globally. This section outlines the key regulations in different regions.

Corporate screening regulations in the United States

In the US, KYB requirements were first specified by the Banking Secrecy Act (BSA) of 1970. This act aimed to prevent money laundering by drug traffickers and cartels, requiring organizations to investigate the beneficiaries of the businesses they dealt with.

The Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (PATRIOT Act) of 2001 expanded these requirements, ensuring firms collect and validate the identities of the individuals they do business with.

In 2016, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published further regulations stating that businesses also need to authenticate the status and identities of ultimate beneficial owners (UBO) as part of customer due diligence (CDD).

Additionally, businesses must scan the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) sanctions list to ensure they are not working with companies or individuals mentioned in it.

Corporate screening regulations in the United Kingdom

In the UK, businesses face comprehensive requirements for corporate screening under multiple regulations. These regulations mandate businesses to implement robust risk-based approaches to AML and counter-terrorist financing (CTF), including CDD, ongoing monitoring, and enhanced due diligence (EDD) for higher-risk clients. Key regulations include:

  • Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017: Requires businesses to conduct corporate screening by verifying the identity of corporate clients, understanding the nature of their business, and identifying UBOs. It mandates ongoing monitoring of business relationships and transactions to detect and report suspicious activities and EDD for higher-risk clients, including more frequent reviews and deeper investigations.
  • Proceeds of Crime Act 2002: Necessitates corporate screening to ensure businesses do not engage in activities connected to the proceeds of crime. It provides a framework for the confiscation of criminal assets and mandates the reporting of any suspicious activities that may be connected to criminal proceeds, requiring businesses to scrutinize and monitor client activities closely.
  • Terrorism Act 2000: Mandates corporate screening by criminalizing involvement in terrorism-related activities and requiring businesses to ensure their services are not used for terrorist financing.
  • Terrorist Asset Freezing Act 2010: Requires corporate screening to ensure businesses do not facilitate the transfer or use of frozen assets of individuals and entities involved in terrorism.
  • Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017: Requires accurate information to accompany fund transfers to ensure traceability. Businesses must collect and verify information about the payer and payee to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, making corporate screening a critical compliance component.

Corporate screening regulations in the European Union

In the EU, corporate screening requirements have evolved through various directives and guidelines, primarily focusing on AML, know your customer (KYC), and corporate governance standards. The foundation of these requirements was laid by the Anti-Money Laundering Directives (AMLDs):

Additionally, KYC regulations in the EU require businesses to verify the identities of their customers before establishing business relationships. This involves understanding the nature and purpose of the business relationship, maintaining accurate and up-to-date customer information records, and reporting suspicious transactions to the relevant financial intelligence units (FIUs).

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) also impacts corporate screening processes by setting stringent data protection and privacy standards. Companies must ensure the lawful processing of personal data, often requiring explicit consent from individuals, and implement robust data security measures. Individuals have the right to access, rectify, or erase their data.

Enforcement of corporate screening regulations in the EU is carried out by national regulatory authorities, with oversight from EU bodies such as the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

How does corporate screening work?

Similar to the customer screening procedures organizations must undertake before conducting business with consumers, corporate screening involves a series of checks to ensure all the parties involved are who they say they are and aren’t known criminals. However, with corporate screening, firms need to run these checks on companies and all the relevant people associated with them.

Corporate screening, therefore, includes several key components: 

  1. UBO checks: Companies must acquire, record, and supply complete, up-to-date information such as the customer company’s registration number, name, address, and official status. They also need to verify the identities of top management employees and determine all-natural, legal persons who directly or indirectly own the business, verifying the number of shares they own and how much management control they have to determine the UBO. Anyone identified as a UBO must then be run through appropriate due diligence checks as per AML/KYC requirements.
  2. Sanctions screening: Corporate screening also entails cross-referencing every involved individual and business entity against sanctions lists (such as the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list in the US) to determine whether they are known criminals. If they are on these lists, businesses must either subject them to EDD procedures, report their involvement to the relevant authorities, or cease transacting with them.  
  3. Adverse media screening: Businesses should also conduct routine scans of news media worldwide to ensure that no parties involved in the customer business’ ownership chain – or indeed the business itself – appear in negative news stories that may implicate them in criminal activity. This process must also include screening news media in multiple languages, focusing on the locations where UBOs are identified as operating.

Common challenges of company screening in AML

Even though all financial organizations must establish B2B relationships with customers, corporate screening is a complex and intensive process that throws up various investigative and organizational challenges. Some of the most common include:

  • The skill of criminals: Firms need to be particularly rigorous regarding corporate screening because criminals are particularly sophisticated when hiding their involvement in illicit transactions. Compliance teams need to uncover the true chain of ownership and identify whether or not any criminals are hiding behind other entities to commit financial crimes. Anything less results in significant penalties and severe reputational damage.
  • The dynamism of risk: Firms need to be able to effectively screen their business customers before the start of the relationship and continually adjust the risk score assigned to each customer over time. While a client’s business may pass an initial check, the entire web of entities and individuals around it may change subtly or substantially throughout the relationship. Any time this happens, it exposes the business once again.
  • The scale of screening: At an organizational level, firms need to establish teams, processes, and tools that can handle the complexity and scope of corporate screening. If too many of these processes are conducted manually or slowly, the overall efficiency of the compliance organization suffers. Moreover, it becomes harder to scale the compliance team as the business grows because the costs of inefficient screening efforts make it harder to onboard new team members.

Best practices for corporate screening

Given the non-trivial challenges of running and scaling corporate screening procedures, it’s worth considering the following best practices:

  • Define policies with a risk-based approach: Every business needs to determine its own approach to risk management before outlining its procedures. By determining the kinds of risk the business is willing to tolerate, which risks it cannot abide by, and the resources it’s able to commit to the effort, it becomes much clearer which policies and procedures need to be implemented for corporate screening. Documenting these principles and processes helps operatives make decisions faster.
  • Invest in employee training: Conducting corporate screening with the rigor and tact required takes finesse and nuance. Businesses can overcome the most important hurdles in scaling such an operation by investing time and effort into properly training and retraining staff. It helps employees conduct investigations more effectively and gives them the tools they need to navigate client relationships in a way that will ultimately serve the business in the long run.
  • Score risk dynamically: In the interest of short-term efficiency and quickly onboarding corporate clients, some businesses treat risk scoring as a one-and-done activity conducted at the start of the relationship. In practice, this simply exposes firms to penalties and reputational damage when they fail to adjust to new developments that could undermine that risk score. Firms should ensure they’re using technology to update risk scoring dynamically throughout the relationship.  

The importance of advanced technologies

Effective corporate screening involves a massive scale of investigative effort, documentation requirements, and dynamic risk scoring.

Technology can help firms analyze more information rapidly, document processes more accurately, and dynamically update the status of all parties involved with client businesses in a way that manual efforts simply cannot keep up with.

Specifically, AI and machine learning can help firms navigate sanctions lists and adverse media far more efficiently than manual efforts can. Sophisticated software ensures employees have all the information they need at their fingertips rather than switching inefficiently between multiple screens and systems.

AI-driven solutions for company screening

Businesses of all sizes work with ComplyAdvantage to screen corporate clients more effectively and rapidly. Some of the top benefits firms experience include:

  • Efficient automation of screening and continuous monitoring: Streamlined processes are achieved through automation for adverse media and sanctions screening. Continuous monitoring also ensures ongoing compliance, enabling firms to keep up with the latest regulatory requirements.
  • Customizable screening parameters: Firms can tailor screening and monitoring setups according to their unique risk-based approaches and policies. This customization ensures that the service fits seamlessly into the company’s existing operational framework.
  • Centralized information display: With ComplyAdvantage, all critical business information is accessible from a single screen. This centralized approach not only simplifies the review process but also aids in maintaining a comprehensive audit trail of every decision made, simplifying compliance and review processes.

Conduct the most rigorous corporate screening at scale with AI

Find out why leading financial institutions rely on ComplyAdvantage for company screening.

Learn more

The post What is corporate screening in AML? appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> ComplyAdvantage Recognized by G2 as a Leader in AML and Governance, Risk & Compliance https://complyadvantage.com/insights/complyadvantage-named-leader-in-two-g2-categories/ Tue, 02 Jul 2024 15:47:23 +0000 https://complyadvantage.com/?p=82152 (London) July 2, 2024 The G2 summer reports are out, and ComplyAdvantage has been placed in the Leader Quadrant for Anti-Money Laundering for a third consecutive quarter. Additionally, for the first time, the company has been placed in the Leader […]

The post ComplyAdvantage Recognized by G2 as a Leader in AML and Governance, Risk & Compliance appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> (London) July 2, 2024

The G2 summer reports are out, and ComplyAdvantage has been placed in the Leader Quadrant for Anti-Money Laundering for a third consecutive quarter. Additionally, for the first time, the company has been placed in the Leader Quadrant for a new category: Governance Risk and Compliance.

G2 is the world’s largest and most trusted software marketplace. It continues to rate ComplyAdvantage as a leader due to its high customer satisfaction (based on user reviews) and substantial market presence scores (based on market share, seller size, and social impact).

G2 has more than 90 million users annually — including employees at all Fortune 500 companies — who make decisions about software to invest in using authentic peer reviews.

About ComplyAdvantage

ComplyAdvantage is the financial industry’s leading source of AI-driven financial crime risk data and fraud detection technology. ComplyAdvantage’s mission is to neutralize the risk of money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption, and other financial crime. More than 1000 enterprises in 75 countries rely on ComplyAdvantage to understand the risk of who they’re doing business with through the world’s only global, real-time database of people and companies. The company identifies thousands of risk events daily from millions of structured and unstructured data points.

ComplyAdvantage has five global hubs in New York, London, Lisbon, Singapore, and Cluj-Napoca and is backed by Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Ontario Teachers, Index Ventures, and Balderton Capital. Learn more at complyadvantage.com.

 

For information:

Rica Squires

rica.squires@complyadvantage.com

The post ComplyAdvantage Recognized by G2 as a Leader in AML and Governance, Risk & Compliance appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> Uncover: The ComplyAdvantage Podcast https://complyadvantage.com/insights/uncover-the-complyadvantage-podcast/ Tue, 21 Dec 2021 10:19:34 +0000 https://complyadvantag.wpengine.com/?p=57778 Welcome to Uncover, a podcast by ComplyAdvantage. In this series, we talk to fintech and regtech founders, compliance leaders, product innovators, and industry experts from around the world to uncover the latest trends and best practices. Check back here regularly […]

The post Uncover: The ComplyAdvantage Podcast appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> Welcome to Uncover, a podcast by ComplyAdvantage. In this series, we talk to fintech and regtech founders, compliance leaders, product innovators, and industry experts from around the world to uncover the latest trends and best practices.

Check back here regularly to catch up on our latest episodes:

 

How to Fuse Open Banking and Human Interaction

Will automation and technology spell the end for delivering financial services in person? Will brick-and-mortar branches disappear from our high streets forever? The debate about automation in banking is often binary – either everything must be automated, or nothing should be. You’re either pro-innovation or pro-status quo. Today’s guest is building a company that challenges this polarizing narrative. Duncan Cockburn is the founder and CEO of OneBanks, a high-growth FinTech offering fully staffed, accessible kiosks where consumers can access the services of any bank – be it a digital upstart or an industry titan.

Listen here.

 

Cross-Chain Crime: The New Frontier in Crypto Laundering?

Tom Robinson is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Elliptic, a firm that has pioneered blockchain analytics for financial crime compliance since 2013. Tom joins Will Thompson to explore new research published by Elliptic on cross-chain bridges. Tom and Will also discuss OFAC’s sanctioning of virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash. Check out Elliptic’s research on cross-chain crime here.

Listen here.

 

Enhancing Risk Management and Detection with AI

Any financial compliance professional knows that data can be both your greatest asset and your worst enemy. Siloed, manual data sets can be costly and time-consuming to manage… and still leave firms open to breaching regulations and letting criminals through. Martin Rehak is the founder and CEO of Resistant AI. The company uses AI and machine learning to provide identity forensic solutions. In essence, it adds an AI layer on top of firms’ existing fraud and money laundering solutions, helping them to identify new risks and prioritize potential threats.

Listen here.

 

Digital ID and Financial Inclusion with Smile Identity

Mark Straub is the CEO of Digital KYC firm Smile Identity. It aims to offer the widest reach across Africa, covering over 1 billion identities. Last year the company closed a successful $7 million Series A funding round. Mark joins us to discuss the importance of financial inclusion, the role of Africa in the future of FinTech, and how Smile Identity will ensure its products can scale effectively.

Listen here.

 

Challenger Banking in the United States with Colin Walsh

Once described as the Winston Churchill of banking, Colin Walsh is a true industry veteran, taking on senior roles at Lloyds and American Express before founding Varo in 2015. Today, Varo has over 4 million customers and remains the first and only consumer FinTech with a US banking charter.

Listen here.

 

Finance and Banking for the Creator Economy

One of the many benefits of the dynamic FinTech environment across Europe today is its ability to design and develop innovative solutions to the needs of specific groups of users. Creators are one such audience. It’s estimated that 50 million people worldwide consider themselves creators.

Almost 2 million of those are professional creators, making a living from their passion full-time. They’re a diverse bunch, generating revenue from YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, acting, podcasting, writing, and illustrating.

Today we’re speaking to an entrepreneur who has made serving this audience his business – Tonjé Bakang. Tonjé is the co-founder and CEO of OnScale (formerly Muse), a neobank for creators worldwide.

Listen here.

 

Uncover Live: Christian Faes, LendInvest & FinTech Founders

This special live edition of the Uncover podcast was recorded at London’s Royal Institution in front of a live audience of more than 300 members of the ComplyAdvantage team from the UK, United States, Singapore, and Romania.

Our guest for this special discussion is Christian Faes. Christian is the co-founder and Executive Chair of LendInvest, a property finance marketplace that has lent more than £4 billion to support house building in the UK.

Prior to founding LendInvest, Christian was a real estate lawyer in Australia and the UK, co-founding the company in 2008.

Christian is also a prominent advocate for FinTechs, serving as Chair of FinTech Founders.

Listen here.

 

North Korea: Proliferation Financing and Sanctions Evasion with RUSI

In our 2022 State of Financial Crime survey, North Korea was listed as one of the top 3 geopolitical hotspots firms globally are most concerned with. So we’re delighted to have with us today two experts from RUSI’s Center for Financial Crime and Security Studies – Sasha Erskine and Tom Keatinge – to tell us more about their latest research in this area. Specifically, they’ve been researching designated non-financial businesses and professions – or DNFBPs – and how North Korea is exploiting them. Check out their research here.

Listen here.

 

KYC: Towards a Network-Based Approach to Risk

In this episode, David Birch, Principal at 15Mb and author, advisor, and commentator on digital financial services, joins us to talk about what it really means to “Know your customer.” Download today’s show to explore one of the biggest questions in AML: Are high barriers to entry when it comes to accessing financial services really effective in preventing and detecting financial crime?

Listen here.

 

How to Scale an AML/CFT Program for Crypto

Our State of Financial Crime 2022 report found that a whopping 98% of firms say they are crypto-native, offer crypto services, or are planning to do so in the future. So, with crypto services now reaching a mass audience, how do firms scale their compliance efforts? To explore this question, we’re joined by Brandi Reynolds, Managing Director at the Bates Group, a leading consultancy firm working across the AML and compliance space. Brandi is also Chief Compliance Officer at eToro and Voyager.

Listen here.

 

What Does it Take to Build a Fintech in Latin America?

Colombia is now home to more than 320 FinTechs, a 37 percent rise on 2017, making Colombia, with a population of 52 million people, the third largest FinTech hub in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico. Today, we’re speaking to Salomón Zarruk, CEO at Mono. Mono is a new Colombia-based B2B neobank designed to help entrepreneurs in the region reduce the time they spend on administrative work.

Listen here.

 

Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering with Robert Mazur and David Lewis

In this episode, we interview two of the world’s most consequential and insightful financial crime fighters – David Lewis, former FATF Executive Secretary, and Robert Mazur, ex-undercover money launderer. We discuss money laundering, drug trafficking and why existing approaches to tackling these issues aren’t addressing the real risks.

Listen here.

 

The Intersection of Fraud, AI, and AML

In our 2022 State of Financial Crime report, 41 percent of firms globally said that fraud detection was one of the key areas of their AML compliance programs they’re looking to improve this year. So for this episode, we’re joined by Hubert Rachwalski, CEO at Nethone. Nethone is a Poland-based fraud detection company using machine learning to detect and prevent card-not-present fraud and account takeover. They also describe themselves as a ‘Know Your Users’ company. In a recent technology report, Deloitte named Nethone Poland’s fastest-growing company, and the team raised almost $7m in its Series A funding round in July 2021.

Listen here.

 

How Do You Build a Neobank in India and the United States?

Raghunandan G is the founder of Zolve, a neobank based in India and the United States. In its seed funding round in early 2021, Zolve picked up an impressive $15m. Raghu previously co-founded Taxi For Sure, a cab aggregator in India, and is himself an angel investor in a number of successful startups. In this interview, Raghu explores the challenges and opportunities that come with neobanking in two of the world’s biggest markets.

Listen here.

 

Jeffrey Robinson: Money Laundering, Drug Trafficking, and Beneficial Ownership

Jeffrey Robinson is the international bestselling author of 30 books, including his classic money laundering tour de force, The Laundrymen, which made headlines in 14 countries. He writes and speaks widely on issues of money laundering and financial crime. A self-described ‘old fashioned story teller’, Jeffrey isn’t afraid to challenge established views and consensus opinions.

Listen here.

 

Plum: Building a Fintech for Young People

Victor Trokoudes is the Co-Founder and CEO at Plum. After studying economics at Harvard, Victor joined Transferwise early in the company’s life, helping to launch it in 25 markets. Today, Plum has more than 2 million registered customers. He joins Charles Delingpole to explore how he’s come to build a FinTech for young people.

Listen here.

 

The Modern CCO: Building an Agile Compliance Function with TransferMate

Charles Delingpole, Founder and CEO at ComplyAdvantage, interviews Simon McFeely, Global Head of Risk and Compliance at TransferMate. The payments platform has a great story to tell, building a product that removes real problems for compliance officers.

Listen here.

 

Meagan Birch, Global Head of AML & KYC: Designing effective AML solutions

As a former MLRO and Head of Compliance, Meagan Birch understands what it’s like to work in a financial institution on the front lines of the fight against financial crime. In this episode, she joins Jon Draper, Product Director at ComplyAdvantage, for an in-depth discussion on why AML systems aren’t effective enough today – and how they can be improved.

Listen here.

 

Ed Luo, Head of Compliance Systems, NEST Financial Group: Crypto, Blockchain, and an Agile Approach to Compliance

Join Arshi Singh, Product Director at ComplyAdvantage, for an in-depth discussion with Ed Luo, Head of Compliance Systems at NEST Financial Group. They’ll be talking about cryptocurrencies, the future of finance, and why compliance teams need to be agile to thrive in today’s world.

Listen here.

 

Benjamin Fernandes, CEO and Founder, NALA Money: Building a Fintech in Africa

Join our CEO and Founder Charles Delingpole for a fascinating conversation with Benjamin Fernandes, CEO and Founder of NALA Money. They discuss what it takes to build a fintech and how innovation in financial technology can improve lives around the world.

Listen here. 

 

Brent McIntosh, Council on Foreign Relations: International Cooperation on Payments, Crypto, and Covid

Join COO & CFO Vatsa Narasimha for a conversation with Brent McIntosh from the Council on Foreign Relations. Before joining the CFR, Brent served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. In a wide-ranging conversation, Brent and Vatsa discuss the digitization of payments, sanctions evasion, and cryptocurrencies.

Listen here.

 

Jason Leopold, BuzzFeed News: The FinCEN Files

In this episode, ComplyAdvantage COO & CFO Vatsa Narasimha discusses the FinCEN files investigation with Jason Leopold from BuzzFeed News. The FinCEN files revealed that financial institutions around the world have been complicit, or at least complacent, in the movement of trillions of dollars of illicit funds.

Listen here.

 

Innovations in KYC with CurrencyCloud

In our first episode, we talk to Jan Philippaerts, VP of Compliance Operations at Currency Cloud, about innovations in Know Your Customer (KYC), making your AML operations more efficient, and why strong AML is a key pillar of trust.

Listen here.

 

The post Uncover: The ComplyAdvantage Podcast appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> Infosec 101: What ‘security by design’ means at ComplyAdvantage https://complyadvantage.com/insights/infosec-101-what-security-by-design-means-at-complyadvantage/ Thu, 02 Dec 2021 11:57:03 +0000 https://complyadvantag.wpengine.com/?p=56099 By Neil Acworth, Head of Security Engineering Enthusiasts of space exploration will be familiar with NASA’s infamous Mariner 1 space probe. Launched in 1962 to great fanfare, within five minutes it had veered off course and had to be destroyed. […]

The post Infosec 101: What ‘security by design’ means at ComplyAdvantage appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> By Neil Acworth, Head of Security Engineering

Enthusiasts of space exploration will be familiar with NASA’s infamous Mariner 1 space probe. Launched in 1962 to great fanfare, within five minutes it had veered off course and had to be destroyed. $80m (quite literally) went up in smoke. The incident investigation later revealed that a single mathematical symbol had been misunderstood by a software developer. This typo led to a navigation error and what science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke termed ‘the most expensive hyphen in history.’

My takeaway from this saga? Security is a weak-link game.

Fortunately, in the aerospace industry at least, we’ve moved on from making aircrafts work to making them safe. However, in lots of organizations, software engineering still has to catch up. As engineers, we need to pay attention to the details to make sure that we catch the ‘typos’. But we also need to take a deeper approach to defense because we know attackers will find and exploit any mistakes we make.

At ComplyAdvantage, we recognize that it’s not enough to have perimeter firewalls, anti-virus and regular penetration tests – although we have implemented all of this. We need to engage in security (and privacy) by design. The first step towards achieving this is to understand the evolving threat environment we’re facing – this includes our attackers’ motivations and capabilities. We can then build security in, from the ground up, to meet these challenges.

As a relatively young company, we benefit from not having to nurse legacy software that was built in a much less complex risk environment. Our software is built to address today’s threats. It has multiple layers of protection, it’s cloud-native, and runs largely in ephemeral, short-lived containers that are regularly recycled and updated, making them harder to attack.

There are a raft of automated measures in place to verify the security of our platform, from code analysis tools and gizmos that check for insecure 3rd party components to various flavors of vulnerability scanners. But you can’t simply automate your way to security. So we provide security training for our engineers, we’re recruiting more security specialists (if you’re interested, we’d love to hear from you) and we’re continually assessing how we can improve our processes.

Despite the relative youth of our rocketship company, we’re big and successful enough to have a mature approach to security – but it’s not enough for us to just say all of this. So as well as penetration testing carried out by CREST registered external testers, we have qualified third-party auditors to check up on us regularly. We’re certified to the international standard for information security, ISO 27001, and we’re looking forward to gaining additional credentials as a demonstration of our continued commitment to keeping our customers’ data safe and our service the best on the market.

The post Infosec 101: What ‘security by design’ means at ComplyAdvantage appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> ComplyLaunch Partner Interview: Daniel Marsh, Head of Customer for Seccl https://complyadvantage.com/insights/complylaunch-partner-interview-daniel-marsh-head-of-customer-for-seccl/ Mon, 17 May 2021 16:10:02 +0000 https://complyadvantag.wpengine.com/?p=50111 Anti-money laundering (AML) and combating financing terrorism (CFT) compliance is complicated and not always well understood. Still, businesses must learn to navigate the regulatory landscape from the start. Otherwise, they leave themselves open to exploitation by opportunistic criminals and, ultimately, […]

The post ComplyLaunch Partner Interview: Daniel Marsh, Head of Customer for Seccl appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> Anti-money laundering (AML) and combating financing terrorism (CFT) compliance is complicated and not always well understood. Still, businesses must learn to navigate the regulatory landscape from the start. Otherwise, they leave themselves open to exploitation by opportunistic criminals and, ultimately, regulatory action.

But not all businesses have the resources and expertise to protect themselves. Early-stage startups, in particular, are vulnerable to overlooking the nuances of compliance requirements.

To address this issue, ComplyAdvantage launched its ComplyLaunch™ program. The goal: to provide qualified startups with free access to the tools and resources they need to manage AML/CFT risks and compliance requirements. 

The response has been tremendous with the first cohort of startups having signed up in just a few days. The program has also garnered the support of world-class organizations, including Seccl, a technology platform providing custody for financial services firms looking to safeguard their clients’ assets. ComplyAdvantage recently sat down with Dan Marsh, the Head of Customer at Seccl, to discuss why AML/CFT compliance is vital and how ComplyAdvantage’s new program can help.

 

Let’s start with a bit of context. Please tell us what Seccl is and what high-level market opportunity your company is innovating for.

Seccl is a platform technology business. We provide investment services to companies across the UK who want to make financial markets accessible for their customers. We spent the last five years building the infrastructure that sits behind global financial markets to allow easy plug-and-play access for retail consumers to trade, invest and save for their futures.

A program like this is powerful for startups because it will protect the business before they know they need to be protected.

Daniel Marsh, Head of Customer, Seccl

 

Who are your customers? What solutions have you developed to help your customers innovate or grow their businesses?

Our customers typically fall into two camps. We serve professional financial services providers — referred to in the UK as wealth managers or financial advisors. Those individuals build deep, long-lasting relationships with individuals and couples across the UK, helping them navigate the complexities of financial life.

They might offer recommendations as to what individuals should do with their money, such as opening specific tax products or investing in a certain way to meet specific goals, whether that be sending a grandchild to school, helping kids get through university, helping someone get their foot on the property ladder or, probably the most common, helping to provide for a comfortable retirement.

The other customers we serve are at the other end of the spectrum. We serve businesses that want to embrace the force multiplier of technology to democratize access to financial markets. Typically, we would view these as wealthtech or fintech businesses, and the principal problem they’re trying to solve is that markets have traditionally had a relatively high barrier to entry. You’ve got to have a certain amount of wealth to make it worth it. You’ve got to have a certain amount of cash to invest; otherwise, the fees and so on will work against you.

Our biggest innovation, I think, was consolidating those two markets and realizing that both are served by a highly efficient digital experience, one where there is a high level of security for the underlying assets and transparency around what is happening in the platform. Most crucially, we offer a series of open APIs to allow users to connect and work from within their own domains. Instead of building a separate app that you have to log in to, which is super clunky, you can drive the activity straight from the experience that your customers already know and love.

 

That is brilliant. Is your company one that could be directly or indirectly impacted by money laundering and related financial crimes? If so, could you tell us why?

Yes, very seriously. At the end of the day, we receive money from clients. So when we look at financial crime, we look at several areas. 

First, we need to make sure the individuals that use our customers’ services and place their money with us are people we want to do business with. That is, we need to make sure they are who they say they are and that they’re not someone who has perhaps committed crimes of a certain nature abroad and who we don’t want exposure to from a business risk perspective.

Second, we look at how people use our system. Our system, as a custody and trading system, works with clients’ money. When you look at crimes from a money laundering perspective, the activities we watch for include placement and layering. Although the activity may occur outside our system, the impact is felt within our system.

So it’s critical that every firm we work with, firstly, has a rigorous process in place. Secondly, it’s important to have a deep bond of trust between both businesses because, ultimately, the only way you can protect yourself is to align yourself with partners who think like you do. As long as you’re both consumed by making sure that you’re doing the right thing by your customers while keeping them and yourself safe, you’ve got a really strong platform for growth for both businesses.

 

What motivated your team to join the ComplyLaunch program?

There’s the obvious: the value it brings to our customers. But that’s not, in my opinion, where it starts. When you want to build a partnership with any organization, what you’re looking at is: do we think the same way?

ComplyAdvantage’s focus, in my experience, has always been on enabling entrepreneurs to be successful. By nature, every one of our customers is entrepreneurial, so the fit probably couldn’t be better. On top of that, the program is clearly very compelling for firms in that it helps get them over some of the fixed costs that can sometimes act as a barrier.

 

Why do you think it’s important for startups to have free access to programs like ComplyLaunch?

If we look at it as a society, the idea that barriers to entry stifle innovation is a broad-brush answer. The more access that can occur at lower fixed initial costs — for example, the free program you’re launching — the greater the number of people who can bring new ideas to the market. Those new ideas will generate innovation, and those innovations will generate societal and customer benefits.

In terms of the firms themselves, it’s really important because when you’re working for a new startup, you’re making a choice, and that choice is always: what do I do with this pound that I’ve got here? You will do or die by a few key parts.

Protecting your business is critical, but it’s also easy to under-invest in it because it’s not sexy. It won’t help you with your growth metrics when you go and sit in front of that VC. It won’t help you socially sell to your friends. It is often something that doesn’t get thought about until the business is quite successful and in quite a lot of trouble.

A program like this is powerful for startups because it will protect the business before they know they need to be protected.

 

What advice would you give founders who are thinking about building a new fintech or financial service offering?

First, to be bold. There’s so much innovation in the markets that if you follow the trajectory everyone else follows, you’ll get the same outcome, and your ability to innovate will be marginal — maybe you’ll see a 10% or 20% improvement. Boldness in terms of what you’re prepared to change will have a force multiplier effect for you immediately but also over time.

Second, and this goes back to something we talked about before, it’s about trust. You want to work with a partner that thinks like you do because it’s very, very hard as a startup founder, or for any business unless you’re very mature, to anticipate all 10 of the 10 issues that will come your way.

You’ll probably only know about two of them. If the other partner doesn’t think like you, when the other eight come up, it’s going to be your problem. So you’re looking for someone who makes those eight problems a shared problem, because a problem shared is a problem halved; then a problem halved, that’s a problem solved. Ultimately, those partnerships and the trust that you build are probably more important than almost any other ingredient that you can pour into your startup early on.

 

Any last thoughts that you want to share?

We get very excited here at Seccl when we hear about programs such as this one because it’s very, very rare in the market to offer something with no strings attached. It almost always comes with a catch and then a follow-on. But what is interesting here is that this is about driving innovation. It’s about increasing access to financial markets, which, for our customers, is incredibly important. So this isn’t one of those opportunities you want to spend the next three months working out whether or not you want to do it. If you think there’s a fit, just get stuck in.

This interview has been edited and condensed. Learn more about the ComplyLaunch™ program and how you can get involved by clicking here.

The post ComplyLaunch Partner Interview: Daniel Marsh, Head of Customer for Seccl appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> Santander wins “Best Innovation in Product or Service Design for Corporate Digital Onboarding https://complyadvantage.com/insights/santander-wins-best-innovation-in-product-or-service-design-for-corporate-digital-onboarding/ Mon, 10 Dec 2018 11:44:04 +0000 https://complyadvantag.wpengine.com/?p=18608 The London Institute of Banking & Finance awards were on the 6th of December in London, which recognised some of the most innovative companies in the banking and finance sector. This year’s awards had 17 categories including: finance in the […]

The post Santander wins “Best Innovation in Product or Service Design for Corporate Digital Onboarding appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> The London Institute of Banking & Finance awards were on the 6th of December in London, which recognised some of the most innovative companies in the banking and finance sector. This year’s awards had 17 categories including: finance in the communities, technology, and the best financial start-ups.

Congratulations to our client Santander for winning “Best Innovation in Product or Service Design for Corporate Digital Onboarding” –  we’re humbled and proud that our data and technology is part of your award-winning product.

Santander and its partners have introduced a fully automated SME and corporate customer onboarding experience, using consolidated dynamic form functionality covering a wide range of banking products, combined with APIs so that due diligence can be completed accurately, first time and in one go. It includes KYB and KYC screening processes prior to initiating customer-facing onboarding activities. It eliminates duplication and includes a counter-signing process believed to be a UK first.

About London Institute of Banking & Finance

The London Institute of Banking & Finance works to advance banking and finance by providing outstanding education and thinking, tailored to the needs of business, individuals, and society.

At the heart of the sector since 1879, they create connections and build partnerships between people and business that make banking and finance more accessible and understood, and enhance social inclusion through better financial capability.

The post Santander wins “Best Innovation in Product or Service Design for Corporate Digital Onboarding appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> ComplyAdvantage wins RemTech Award https://complyadvantage.com/insights/complyadvantage-wins-remtech-award/ Tue, 20 Jun 2017 13:45:19 +0000 https://complyadvantag.wpengine.com/?p=12301 ComplyAdvantage is proud to announce that it has won the award for Most Innovative Compliance Service at the inaugural RemTech awards. The awards were held at the Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development, GFRID2017 they were organized by the […]

The post ComplyAdvantage wins RemTech Award appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> ComplyAdvantage is proud to announce that it has won the award for Most Innovative Compliance Service at the inaugural RemTech awards. The awards were held at the Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development, GFRID2017 they were organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) in New York City at the United Nations Headquarters. The awards recognise exceptional companies who enable and improve remittance services worldwide.  

“Remittance firms provide a vital service that makes a huge difference to the lives of some of the world’s least fortunate people. Reducing the cost and increasing the availability of remittances whilst ensuring that money does not end up in the hands of terrorists are extremely important tasks. As such, we are extremely proud that ComplyAdvantage’s innovations are recognised and these remittance payments are thus made possible.” – Charles Delingpole, CEO & Founder, ComplyAdvantage

Helping remittance companies safely move money is at the heart of ComplyAdvantage’s story. Our first clients back in 2014 included Somali MSBs who were faced with the threat of de-risking. Today, we use AI-driven risk data and innovative technology to help global remittance firms automate AML/CTF programs, reduce false positives and stay compliant while giving their banking partners the confidence that illicit finance isn’t slipping through the net undetected.

We specialise in helping global Remittance firms:

  • Spot risks more effectively with richer, comprehensive and up-to-date financial crime risk data from structured and unstructured sources
  • Reduce unnecessary false positives by up to 70% with a tailored and fully risk-based approach
  • Maximise straight through processing whilst staying compliant
  • Exceed regulator and banking counterparty expectations
  • Improve efficiency by reducing time-intensive manual work and automating low-level decisions

This means our remittance clients can onboard customers faster, clear funds in minutes and provide a seamless customer experience – allowing them to focus on scaling their business without having to scale their compliance team and, more importantly, avoid doing business with people connected to financial crime.

We would like to congratulate the other award winners Safaricom, Trulioo, EcoCashDisapora, MONEYTIS, AirPocket, Xoom, Bitso, Everex and TransferTo all of whom provide best in class solutions for remittance providers. A special congratulations must be given to our clients Azimo who won the Judges Choices award for Ease of Use and Adoption.

We look forward to the next RemTech awards in 2019 and to seeing how this exciting industry has evolved, improving financial services for those worldwide who rely on remittances everyday.

The post ComplyAdvantage wins RemTech Award appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> ComplyAdvantage Partners With Encompass Corporation To Fight Money Laundering https://complyadvantage.com/insights/complyadvantage-partners-encompass-corporation/ Tue, 11 Apr 2017 11:06:31 +0000 https://complyadvantag.wpengine.com/?p=11285 ComplyAdvantage is proud to announce today that it has partnered with Encompass Corporation to combine AI-driven data with next generation aggregation and automation technology. Encompass Corporation’s unique KYC automation software is used by a wide range of clients in the […]

The post ComplyAdvantage Partners With Encompass Corporation To Fight Money Laundering appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]> ComplyAdvantage is proud to announce today that it has partnered with Encompass Corporation to combine AI-driven data with next generation aggregation and automation technology. Encompass Corporation’s unique KYC automation software is used by a wide range of clients in the financial, legal and accounting sectors. Together we can empower compliance professionals with a more accurate picture of financial crime risk to help combat money laundering.

​Read more in the full Press Announcement below:

Artificial intelligence to combat money laundering

ComplyAdvantage partners with Encompass Corporation

Combining Artificial Intelligence and traditional data sources will be key to combatting money laundering says Encompass Corporation and ComplyAdvantage who have today announced their partnership during Innovate Finance’s Global Summit 2017 being held at Livery Hall in London.

Encompass Corporation is the creator of unique KYC policy automation software, purpose built for onboarding corporate clients, at scale. They provide pre-built access to more KYC data sources than any other AML/CTF compliance solution, including BvD, Equifax, Creditsafe, Trulioo, GBG, Dun & Bradstreet, and Companies House among others.

ComplyAdvantage is the world’s only provider of AI-driven risk data on individuals, organisations and associated entities that pose a financial crime risk. They monitor tens of thousands of structured and unstructured data sources to provide dynamic real-time insight into risk indicators including sanctions, Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), watch lists and adverse media.

The partnership between ComplyAdvantage and Encompass enables traditional data sources to be combined with AI-driven risk data, providing a more accurate picture of the activities of these entities.

This allows businesses to better assess financial crime risks and protect their reputation whilst complying with regulations relating to sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF).

Wayne Johnson CEO from Encompass said: “We are thrilled to integrate with fellow RegTech leaders ComplyAdvantage. People and organisations that set out to launder money are normally keen to hide their identity. By using multiple data sources you can find relevant information on an individual or business that indicates financial risks. But, if you enrich this process with information provided by ComplyAdvantage – such as how the person or business is discussed in the media or online – a more comprehensive picture about who they are and what they are doing emerges, providing more accurate risk assessment.”

Charles Delingpole, Founder & CEO of ComplyAdvantage said: “Criminals are very good at hiding their tracks financially, but often have public face elsewhere. By using the latest technologies, we can provide more accurate, real-time and relevant insight into financial crime risk of an entity you are checking. Combining ComplyAdvantage’s machine learning and AI-driven data with Encompass’ aggregation and automation makes for an ideal match.”

Encompass Corporation and ComplyAdvantage are both members of Innovate Finance and have both been selected to take part in the UK Department of International Trade’s first RegTech Mission to New York from April 24th 2017.
-Ends –

The post ComplyAdvantage Partners With Encompass Corporation To Fight Money Laundering appeared first on ComplyAdvantage.

]]>