Whilst the FCA’s Dear CEO letter and fines have so far been directed at retail banks, the issues identified with AML failings are equally applicable to a much broader audience. Many UK Financial Services organisations will be keen to ensure that they have everything in order when it comes to carrying out and documenting regular reviews of their AML/CTF risk and the detection processes used to manage that risk.
From our experience at Jade Thirdeye, customers often come to us following such a review because they are not confident that their existing system can meet all the requirements of their AML programme and mitigate the company’s risk, or, their existing system is outdated and can’t serve their needs efficiently anymore. A common need is for a solution that gives them the flexibility they want to quickly and efficiently manage rapidly changing risks themselves with support and updates that come without the burden of extra costs.
However, before our customers can get their hands on their dream AML/CTF solution there is still one hurdle to overcome, presenting their case to senior executives, who will ultimately have to approve the purchase.
Making a compelling case:
AML Compliance is often viewed as a cost to the business; while ensuring compliance and avoiding fines is paramount, it is not all that should feature in a compelling business case, there are other benefits and efficiencies that an upgrade can bring to the table, for example: only driver
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Using and maintaining outdated or manual systems can be costly not just because of the additional time or people that it takes, but because time can be spent on low value, repetitive tasks and not investigating suspicious activity in-depth, meaning some types of financial crime may slip through the net and vulnerable customers may not be protected.
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Using an AML/CTF product that can be used to detect fraud as well as for AML/CTF compliance can also bring cost savings. Having a solution flexible enough to address multiple requirements offers the benefits of dealing with a single, known vendor without the need for retraining or the use of multiple interfaces. (find out more in our recent blog Working smarter to detect Money Laundering and Fraud)
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Moving from an in-house system to a software as a service (SaaS) model means updates and support are all part of the service and there are no surprises when it comes to the yearly compliance budgeting.
Further tips for building a complete business case for upgrading your AML/CTF system can be found in our blog Making the Case for AML: Talking to your C-levels
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