{"id":8513,"date":"2021-07-01T13:59:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T13:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iqeq.com\/?p=8513"},"modified":"2023-05-08T14:07:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T14:07:59","slug":"amlkyc-culture-needs-overhaul-how-technology-can-help-you-adapt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iqeq.com\/insights\/amlkyc-culture-needs-overhaul-how-technology-can-help-you-adapt\/","title":{"rendered":"AML\/KYC Culture Needs an Overhaul: How Technology Can Help You Adapt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Every financial services organisation worldwide faces the same challenges: the need to comply with regulatory guidelines, and the fact that those regulations grow more complex every year.<\/p>\n

The stakes of a misstep include reduced revenue, punitive sanctions, or criminal prosecution, so it\u2019s critical to walk this tightrope carefully. But the old methods\u2014reliance on printed documents and tracking data with 20th-century processes like pen, paper, and manual data entry\u2014aren\u2019t keeping pace with the speed of change.<\/p>\n

One problem with this trajectory is that organisations grow resentful of compliance processes, viewing them as a time-consuming box to be ticked rather than what they are: an opportunity to make every transaction safer and more strategic.<\/p>\n

But there is light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n

SaaS (software as a service) technology can completely transform how organisations perform in the face of these challenges, most notably in the realms of anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) compliance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This technology can scan, mine, and ultimately learn from large quantities of data to identify high-risk individuals and transactions, reducing the burden on overwhelmed compliance officers and minimising operational risk.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s already having an impact.\u00a0According to UK Finance<\/a>, banks and card companies prevented \u00a31.6 billion in unauthorised fraud in 2020, a marked improvement over the previous year.<\/p>\n

In this post, we\u2019ll look at current-state AML and KYC practices and identify the key pain points we\u2019ve seen\u00a0technology<\/a>\u00a0alleviate for our customers in recent years.<\/p>\n

AML & KYC in the 20th century<\/h2>\n

If your firm has already begun automating processes, this might seem antiquated. But many firms, particularly in Europe, still rely heavily on 20th-century ways of working: signing physical forms or manually entering customer information into databases.<\/p>\n

The drawbacks and risks involved in manual processes like these are apparent:<\/strong><\/p>\n