Resources & Insights

SmartSearch, the UK’s leading provider of anti-money-laundering (AML) and digital compliance software, has partnered with LSEG Risk Intelligence, a foremost global financial markets infrastructure and data provider. SmartSearch’s innovative platform now has access to LSEG’s worldwide data source of more than 40 countries to further enhance its AML and digital compliance solutions - in particular its ability to provide instant verification of international individuals.

For regulated businesses in the UK, remaining compliant is a huge responsibility that requires significant investment. While having the processes in place to fight money laundering is absolutely vital – to both preventing the crime and protecting the business - it is increased regulations, rather than the criminal threats themselves, that are driving up costs. That is because interpreting complex legislation – and keeping up with the constant changes to that legislation- is time-consuming and costly, and far too often, fear of non-compliance leads to an over-cautious approach. This, in turn, leads to the creation of larger compliance teams running higher volumes of checks. And while in theory, a larger team running more and more checks should lead to a more robust process, an over reliance on manual procedures which are open to human error, actually puts the business at higher risk of non-compliance. Digital compliance services not only offer a more reliable solution for regulated firms but can actually reduce costs - and in some cases, even create commercial opportunities for the business. In this whitepaper we look at how data and technology can help businesses across the UK create more efficient and cost-effective compliance processes.

More than a third (36 percent) of people in regulated firms who ‘can’t trust’ electronic ID verification and instead rely on manual checks are leaving their doors open to financial crime, anti-money laundering expert warns. This statistic - from SmartSearch’s 2023 annual survey of 500 compliance stakeholders - has doubled since their 2022 survey, when 18 percent of people said they couldn’t trust the technology.

SmartSearch, the UK’s leading provider of digital compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) technology, has successfully retained its full Great Place To Work accreditation.

More than two-thirds of regulated firms (70%) do not always complete essential identity checks when taking on new individual customers, new survey data can reveal.

Only a quarter (25 percent) of regulated firms always check new customers against sanctions or Politically Exposed Person (PEP) lists, according to new survey data from leading anti-money laundering (AML) and digital compliance firm, SmartSearch.

Money laundering and financial crime is on the rise; according to SmartSearch’s latest report EV Uncovered III -Emerging financial sectors, over the past year, 40 percent of regulated firms have seen a rise in money laundering attempts, while more than a third (36%) have been a victim of financial crime in the past six months. In response to this increased risk, anti-money laundering (AML) regulation is also tightening, meaning that having robust systems in place to identify and mitigate money laundering has never been more important for regulated businesses in the UK. However, many are still not implementing compliance processes and procedures as they should. SmartSearch’s research found just 22% of firms ‘always’ verify new clients, while just 23% ‘always’ screen for sanctions and PEPs. Most firms utilise a third-party solution for their AML checks, which generally means they have their own customer onboarding process and customer database, with a separate system for their AML processes. In practical terms, this means entering client details into two or sometimes three or four separate databases – depending on whether or not they are using multiple vendors for their verification, screening and monitoring. Not only is this time-consuming and resource-heavy, but the duplication of data leaves the firms open to errors which could result in an AML breach.

Leading digital compliance provider SmartSearch has added a new ‘risk assessment’ service to its recently enhanced platform.