Guest Contributor:Henry Balani, Managing Director at BankersAccuity’s Risk and Compliance Group
In an era of enhanced scrutiny, larger fines and the ongoing internationalization of anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-bribery regulations, organizations are facing increased risk and numerous challenges in achieving and maintaining compliance. For any organization, successfully complying with AML and anti-bribery and corruption regulations comes down to two related but separate requirements: information and context. Firms must have both quality information and the appropriate context for the data in order to effectively screen and minimize false positives.
Organizations today are faced with increasing data volumes and mounting false positives, impacting screening efficiency. For example, ineffective screening processes may flag Cuba, New York rather than the country of Cuba – creating unnecessary transaction delays.
BankersAccuity recently released a new white paper titled “A 360-Degree Spin Around Screening” that addresses how institutions can minimize false positives and ensure full anti-bribery and anti-money laundering compliance.
Six steps to better anti-bribery and AML screening for institutions include:
- Screen separate data separately – Group data so that only like items, such as names, are matched to names to avoid false matches for sanctioned city or vessel names on individuals.
- Screen only what you must – Use other data types, such as SWIFT data to add further context.
- Exclude local place names – Domestic place names should be excluded since they are only applicable to country sanctions programs.
- Use unscreened data in rules – Supplementary unscreened data such as record type and dates of births can be a powerful tool to exclude matches before the data is run through a match filter or screening rules.
- Break down SWIFT data – SWIFT data can be used to minimize false positives.
- Find risk profile-supported patterns – Establish what constitutes a risk-based screening approach to create logical rules that minimize patterns of false matches.
Institutions today can be quickly overwhelmed with AML screening inefficiencies. Without a proper AML solution, process and training, firms often deal with the mounting number of false positives with manual review, which incurs more resources and paperwork. Organizations must have a 360° screening process in place to comply with increasingly stringent regulations. Firms around the world are wise to seek solutions that enable them to tackle their anti-bribery and AML challenges to best ensure compliance and maximize efficiency.
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