Are you set up for success when it comes to compliance with the many safety regulations that moderate the finance and banking sectors? If your institution is lagging when it comes to KYC and AML processes, it’s time to invest in proven compliance assets that are designed to protect your bottom line, give your customers peace of mind, and give your business a competitive edge.
Below, we’ll take a closer look at the world of KYC practices, particularly with regards to the banking and finance sectors, and why it’s so crucial to partner with the right solution in your marketplace. Read on to learn more!
Exploring KYC
If you’re in the banking, capital markets, or financial services sectors, you’ve no doubt dealt with some form of KYC protocols. Financial institutions around the world are subject to increasing levels of regulations when it comes to having safeguards in place to accurately identify and verify the individuals and legal entities interacting with an organization. KYC and eKYC (Electronic Know Your Customer) processes and programs are designed to uphold these standards by:
establishing a valid customer identity;
evaluating and vetting a customer/prospect’s activities and associations for alignment concerns (e.g. do they have known ties to terrorist or illicit organizations?); and
assessing a multitude of risks including background details, risk of money laundering, risk of sanctions and judicial orders, previous fraudulent activities, and more.
Electronic KYC technology simplifies compliance procedures and dramatically reduces the risks associated with onboarding new clients and forming partnerships with unknown third parties.
Introducing iComplyKYC
As an essential asset to the banking industry, as well as the finance, employment, and several other markets globally, eKYC platforms like iComplyKYC transform outdated and inefficient manual KYC practices and add multiple additional security features you can trust. iComply’s platform uses edge computing to process sensitive user data before it leaves their device – a game changer for data privacy and protection regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, PPIA, etc..
Using iComplyKYC allows you to dramatically cut the costs of your KYC operations (by up to 80%), reduce client onboarding times, remove the risk of human error, and perform real-time risk assessment that keeps your organization mobile and efficient. iComplyKYC is an intelligent, modular compliance platform that can be set up in minutes, allowing you to configure workflows by jurisdiction for maximum efficiency.
Simply put, if you’re looking to make a strong investment in your security protocols and compliance procedures, iComplyKYC is the all-in-one asset designed to work with your team to guarantee success.
Get to Know iComply Today!
iComply Investor Services is proud to partner with organizations to ensure you have a trustworthy solution when it comes to Knowing Your Customers. Our platform can be set up in minutes, allowing you to configure compliance workflows by jurisdiction and focus on the next stages of development while our tech does the heavy lifting on verification. With multiple layers of KYC algorithms and programs at work within our system, you can screen for risks like AML, conduct Enhanced Due Diligence, and conduct Daily Ongoing Monitoring to minimize your risk, all in one easy platform.
Book a demo with our team today to learn more about iComplyKYC and how our platform can be used for your specific needs and applications.
Sanctions Update: Russia, Ukraine, and Global Uncertainty
The Update: What Happened?
Uncertain relations between Ukraine and Russia continue to affect many countries engaging in trade including Canada, the United States, the European Union, China, Iran, and Russia. Effective DATE, sanctions have been imposed and will continue by the largest countries doing trade with Russia; most significantly, the United States.
The Background: SWIFT Access Sanction – Russia’s Main Banking System
On February 26th, a call to action was imposed by the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US to remove specific banks from the SWIFT (system that facilitates financial transactions and money transfers for banks located around the world) messaging platform. The agreement was imposed to break down Russia’s financial system, a method to further hamper the invasion in Ukraine. Additionally, any other banks will be affected as a German government source reported.
The Solution: How iComply Can Help
iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a global compliance software provider that helps compliance teams reduce the cost and complexity of KYC and AML operations while providing a seamless user experience to their KYC subjects. Compliance teams can configure and monitor KYC portals to securely gather, validate, and encrypt client data and documentation before it leaves their device
Our iComplyKYC solution enables access to the most up-to-date client data available and gain a more comprehensive view of risk related to each entity. It also uses AI and deep data analysis to identify new risks and sanctions within 17 minutes, enables management to visualize the volumes and bottlenecks in KYC and AML operations, and it reduces the operational cost of AML risk screening, record keeping, and reporting.
How can iComplyKYC screening help you enhance your sanctions compliance?
Our solution’s capabilities onboard natural persons, beneficial ownership, and legal entities data, saving your organization time and valuable resources. By using iComply’s platform, you can easily scan sanctioned banks listed by regulatory authorities.
Why is this important to my business/organization?
iComply is working with its clients to ensure they have their bases covered from an AML/KYC compliance perspective.
Improve screening accuracy while minimizing false positives
Stay on top of ever-evolving financial crime activity
Ensures GDPR compliance so your organization does not risk being imposed with hefty financial penalties from regulators
Do all your compliance checks and due diligence for you rather than using your own human resources or having to contract with multiple vendors
Regulatory Actions and Updates from Around the Globe
Enforcement Highlights – October 2021
United States:
The SEC charged CanaFarma Hemp Products Corp. and co-founders with defrauding investors of nearly USD $15 million and misappropriating a majority of investor funds for personal use and unrelated purposes.
The SEC charged former broker and investment adviser Kenneth A. Welsh with misappropriating almost USD $3 million from his clients’ accounts in order to personally purchase gold coins and other precious metals.
The SEC announced that clearing agency Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) will pay USD $8 million in penalties to settle charges that it failed to enact adequate risk management policies within its Government Securities Division.
Credit Suisse Group AG has agreed to pay hundreds of millions in penalties, including nearly USD $100 million to the SEC, for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and misleading investors in a fraudulent loan scheme in Mozambique.
United Kingdom:
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also fined Credit Suisse over £147 million for significant failure to conduct adequate due diligence regarding loans worth over $1.3 billion, which the bank arranged for the Republic of Mozambique.
Hong Kong:
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) fined Ample Capital Limited $5.5 million and suspends its responsible officer for IPO sponsor failures.
This latest update forms part of the FATF’s ongoing monitoring of the virtual assets and VASP sector and provides relevant examples and potential solutions to implementation obstacles. The 2021 Guidance includes updates focusing on updates and additional information in the following six key areas:
Clarification of the definitions of virtual assets and VASPs
How the FATF Standards apply to stablecoins
Related risks and tools available to countries to address money laundering and terrorist financing risks for peer-to-peer transactions
Licensing and registration of VASPs
Public and private sector guidance on the implementation of the “travel rule”
Principles of information-sharing and co-operation amongst VASP Supervisors
The Department of the Treasury and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently released updated statistics on the SARs submitted up to the end of September 2021, showcasing an anticipated record high of over 3,000,000 SARs filed by the end of the year.
The challenge now facing enforcement agencies is to sift through the high volumes of reports to determine quality vs quantity. The AML Act of 2020 has been the biggest proponent of improvement in the quality of meaningful feedback and trends, with the purpose of encouraging higher-quality reporting, not simply higher quantity.
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MIT Exec and Trusted Computing Expert Thomas Hardjono Joins iComply
Hardjono serves as Technical Director of the MIT Trust::Data Consortium and as CTO of MIT Connection Science
Vancouver, B.C. – September 22, 2020 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a global compliance software provider, is announcing that Thomas Hardjono has been appointed to iComply’s advisory board. He is internationally recognized as a leader and innovator in trusted computing, identity, data privacy, applied cryptography, and cybersecurity.
Hardjono is currently the CTO of Connection Science at MIT and technical director of the MIT Trust::Data Consortium. He previously served as executive director of the MIT Kerberos Consortium, where he was instrumental in driving widespread adoption of the Kerberos protocol, which is now the most ubiquitously deployed authentication protocol used for identity management in the world. Over the past two decades, he has held various technical leadership roles including as a distinguished engineer at Bay Networks, and principal scientist at VeriSign PKI.
“Advancement in trusted computing has historically been driven by hardware innovation, but iComply has focused on delivering those same capabilities through software innovation, which can bring unprecedented flexibility to operations requiring secure authentication,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply. “The highest levels of identity assurance used to be limited to specialty hardware, we can now deliver this same confidence, security, and privacy to any mobile or web application.”
iCompyKYC uses edge computing for identity verification, which protects biometric data by allowing the verification to take place on the user’s device, maintaining an unprecedented level of privacy for personal data.
“iComply’s degree of implementation is quite extensive, and the dashboard that they have built is terrific. iComply has a strong and very clear vision. This is one of these linchpin technologies that the industry desperately needs,” said Thomas Hardjono. “The traditional banks, private organizations, and governments need to step up their game and move in this direction. On the horizon, we have central bank digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and decentralized finance (DeFi) that need to manage all of the things that iComply can manage.”
iComply combines edge-computing KYC onboarding portals with enterprise-level controls for AML risk screening and data management to provide a complete solution that processes users’ data securely on their devices. The solution spans know your customer, anti-money laundering, digital identity, and access management.
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About iComply Investor Services Inc. iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a global compliance software provider that helps compliance teams reduce the cost and complexity of KYC and AML operations while providing a seamless user experience to their KYC subjects. Compliance teams can configure and monitor KYC portals to securely gather, validate, and encrypt client data and documentation before it leaves their device. Learn more: www.icomplyis.com
iComply Attracts Top Canadian RegTech Executive Paul Childerhose
Canadian regtech expert Paul Childerhose will serve as a member of iComply Investor Services’ advisory board
Vancouver, B.C. – September 15, 2020 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a global compliance software provider, is announcing that Paul Childerhose, a recognized leader in the Canadian RegTech industry, has been appointed to iComply’s advisory board.
Childerhose has over 20 years of experience in the Canadian financial services sector and serves on the board of the Canadian Regulatory Technology Association (CRTA). He has deep expertise in back-office operations, new product development, client and account management, and regulatory compliance. Previously, he also held senior roles at Royal Bank of Canada, Star Data Systems, CGI Inc., and Scotiabank.
“The iComplyKYC solution is far superior to what I have observed in the current enterprise-wide anti-money laundering programs of large global banks,” said Childerhose. “The core features and controls that have been incorporated into the platform can enhance the current client onboarding and KYC experiences for many institutions.”
iCompyKYC uses edge computing for identity verification, which protects the users’ biometric data by allowing the verification to take place on the user’s device. This means that personal data is authenticated, and encrypted before any of that data leaves the user’s device.
“Edge computing offers a unique approach that drastically improves data privacy and security, and significantly reduces the total cost of KYC and AML operations,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply, “Making user privacy and consent core to client onboarding has been an incredibly complex challenge for the industry. It was important to us to focus on solving this problem, and in doing so we have unlocked new levels of data protection and privacy for our clients.”
The iComplyKYC platform is currently being used by Canadian law enforcement, credit unions, legal, M&A, and accounting firms, and fintech businesses globally. It combines secure KYC onboarding portals with enterprise-level controls for AML risk screening and data management to provide a complete, all-in-one solution spanning know your customer, anti-money laundering, digital identity, and access management.
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About iComply Investor Services Inc. iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a global compliance software provider that helps compliance teams reduce the cost and complexity of KYC and AML operations while providing a seamless user experience to their KYC subjects. Compliance teams can configure and monitor KYC portals to securely gather, validate, and encrypt client data and documentation before it leaves their device. Learn more: www.icomplyis.com
“Chandy,” is a technology and risk expert with executive experience at Boston Consulting Group, Citi, and PwC. With over two decades in financial services, digital transformation, and enterprise risk, he advises iComply on scalable compliance infrastructure for global markets.
Thomas is a global tax and compliance expert with deep specialization in digital assets, blockchain, and tokenization. As a partner at MME Legal | Tax | Compliance, he advises iComply on regulatory strategy, cross-border compliance, and digital finance innovation.
Thomas is a renowned identity and cybersecurity expert, serving as CTO of Connection Science at MIT. With deep expertise in decentralized identity, zero trust, and secure data exchange, he advises iComply on cutting-edge technology and privacy-first compliance architecture.
Rodney is the former President of ADP Canada and international executive with over two decades of leadership in global HR and enterprise technology. He advises iComply with deep expertise in international service delivery, M&A, and scaling high-growth operations across regulated markets.
Praveen is a serial entrepreneur and technology innovator, known for leadership roles at Lucent Bell Labs, ChargePoint, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator. He advises iComply on advanced computing, scalable infrastructure, and the intersection of AI, energy, and compliance tech.
Paul is a Canadian RegTech leader and founder of Maple Peak Group, with extensive experience in financial services compliance, AML, and digital transformation. He advises iComply on regulatory alignment, operational strategy, and scaling compliance programs in complex markets.
John is a seasoned business executive with senior leadership experience at CIBC, UBS, and Accenture. With deep expertise in investment banking, private equity, and digital transformation, he advises iComply on strategic growth, partnerships, and global market expansion.
Jeff is a former CFTC official and globally recognized expert in financial regulation, fintech, and digital assets. As founder of Bandman Advisors, he brings deep insight into regulatory policy, market infrastructure, and innovation to guide iComply’s global compliance strategy.
Greg is a seasoned investment banker with over 35 years of experience, including leadership roles at BMO Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup. Greg brings deep expertise in financial strategy and growth to support iComply's expansion in the RegTech sector.
Deven is the former President of S&P and a globally respected authority in risk, data, and capital markets. With decades of leadership across financial services and tech, he advises iComply on strategic growth, governance, and the future of trusted data in AML compliance.
