financial action task force

Sanctions screening and fraud prevention solutions use real-time detection to prevent terrorist financing and financial crime; whereas anti-money laundering (AML) primarily follows an “observe and report” process. Such a process is all that is currently required by many regulators. Increasingly though, international compliance teams are choosing to stop transactions before they are executed – based on suspicions of money laundering activity. More and more, the industry has been asking itself if this approach of rejecting suspicious activity is a more effective strategy to prevent money laundering. This paper explores where and why AML real-time detection might make sense as a new paradigm for global financial institutions.

Global anti-money laundering (AML) standards have long required that understanding beneficial ownership be a part of a financial institution’s AML program. Beneficial ownership outlines the identity of individuals with a controlling interest in a privately held company, enabling a financial institution to understand the ultimate beneficiary of a financial transaction. Identifying beneficial ownership can be a complex process, but it’s one that institutions must conquer if they are to remain in compliance with industry rules and legislation.

Gartner research indicated 72% of organizations are planning to utilize cloud services for financial applications in the next three years.1 Financial organizations of all sizes are opting for cloud-based solutions that streamline business analytics, transactional systems of record, and enterprise business applications. But “moving to the cloud” is no small task and comes with its own set of unique challenges and considerations. As an industry, financial services has found balance by using a cloud strategy that blends both public and private cloud models. Hybrid cloud solutions have been hailed for optimizing efficiencies, cutting costs, and satisfying compliance and regulatory standards. Digital Transformation (DX) has been the driving force behind fastpaced changes in system infrastructure and processes, and financial services organizations have had to keep an open mind. While the prospects sound promising, it’s important to note that hybrid cloud implementation is not without obsta