Changing Anti-Money Laundering Regulation

The globalisation of financial markets has made money laundering easier and made it a worldwide concern. As a result regulation for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) means increased scrutiny. Financial Services Institutions are now:

• Required to conduct extensive Customer Due Diligence (CDD)
• Required to monitor, investigate and report transactions and activities of a suspicious nature
• Encouraged to adopt a risk-based approach which concentrates resources on “high-risk” customers. This does not mean “low-risk” customers can be ignored. Institutions will need to define (and be able to justify to regulators) the AML(Anti-Money Laundering) risk categories and the strategy adopted for customers in each category.

Our Approach to AML and CFT

Quadrant has developed a comprehensive range of consulting and systems solutions to help Financial Services Institutions support their anti-money laundering processes and to:

• Be as proactive as possible in the detection of potential money launderers
• Manage and streamline the investigation of suspect and confirmed money laundering cases as well as the supporting case management activities
• Gather and analyse intelligence to help understand money laundering migration and its evolution
• Evidence compliance as required by regulators

The AML/CFT Approach can incorporate any of the following:

• AML/CFT “top-down” risk assessment framework based on key aspects of the business in question such as customers’ profiles and product sets, and capturing sufficient data to support regular review of the framework
• Definition of the set of rules and assessment criteria that define potentially suspicious behaviour, relevant for the business and based on the defined risk assessment framework
• Transaction analysis engine for automatically interpreting the rules based on available data
• Definition of the type of financial transaction data that is needed in order to feed the system for AML/CFT monitoring purposes. This would be based on the Quadrant risk and compliance data model which enables a fast-track approach to specifying data requirements;
• Interfaces with external negative lists such as OFAC, Bank of England, etc.
• Case management component to manage an alert from “case” status to closure. The action records around the workflow provide useful investigative information and supporting evidence to regulators. They also provide supporting information that will enable you to focus on high-risk cases
• Senior management dashboards to support them in being pro-active in their AML/CFT responsibilities.

Benefit from Secure AML/CFT Defences

An AML/CFT solution based on the approach outlined, coupled with the necessary compliance policy and processes, will enable Financial Services Institutions to:

• Evidence compliance to regulators
• Direct limited compliance resources to where they are most needed
• Maintain full control over their investigation and the determination of the parameters for disclosure
• Reduce risk exposure through earlier proactive detection
• Achieve greater process consistency and efficiency
• Minimise impact on normal day-to-day business operations
• Detect related behaviour such as fraud and other forms of abuse
• Add to the overall knowledge of the customer base