Regulatory technology provider Encompass has unveiled a fully automated Know Your Customer (KYC) solution for banks to facilitate compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism finance (CTF).
The vendor said that its new solution will help banks adhere to The European Union’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The new rule, scheduled to be effective from 26 June 2017, calls for a central register for beneficial owners.
Encompass CEO Wayne Johnson said: “The fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive adds both an extra layer of complexity, and requirement for greater clarity of process and auditing including maintaining accurate and current information on beneficial ownership. It’s something a lot of businesses are struggling to prepare for.
“By automating the process, [building societies] can reduce the risks of failure to comply and also vastly improve efficiency, both at the point of need and, crucially, as and when the information needs to be updated or interrogated in the future.”
Encompass said that its new solution aggregates and cross-refers information in real-time from 12 data providers, and can be customised to suit each bank’s unique regulatory and risk requirements.
The platform has already been trialled, Encompass added, which showed that it is 13 times faster than existing systems, can lower manual costs by up to 80%, as well as can offer a full audit trail including an instant view of beneficial ownership and control.
