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New Thomson Reuters Marketplace Selects iComplyKYC as a Digital Identity and KYC Partner

New Thomson Reuters Marketplace Selects iComplyKYC as a Digital Identity and KYC Partner

by | Apr 27, 2021 | News & Events, Press Releases, Updates

New Thomson Reuters Marketplace Selects iComplyKYC as a Digital Identity and KYC Partner

Thomson Reuters has launched its Marketplace, featuring a curated selection of software solutions for law firms, corporate law offices, and tax and accounting professionals

Vancouver, B.C. – April 27, 2021 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a global compliance software provider, is announcing that the company has partnered with Thomson Reuters to distribute its iComplyKYC platform through the Thomson Reuters Marketplace. 

iComplyKYC gives businesses access to a turnkey, world-class know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), and identity access management (IAM) solution that can be quickly embedded into any digital experience. 

The Thomson Reuters Marketplace is an online store that showcases a wide range of solutions offered by Thomson Reuters, as well as its trusted and tested vendors such as iComply. 

“With the pandemic driving business more online, financial processes that used to require face-to-face interaction are becoming digital,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply. “The internet was developed to transfer information and so the policies of user identification and identity access management have followed internet industry standards. As more banks digitize, new fintechs emerge, and major tech companies enter financial services, these internet standards fall short of the regulatory requirements. iComplyKYC solves this by combining “banking grade” KYC portals with your existing identity access management, single sign-on, or digital identity management solutions.”

Existing digital solutions force users to submit their most personal details into a web form for user identification or authentication, with API-based solutions relaying this information to third-party data processors and sub-processors that are often international and could retain control of the data. Other existing alternatives to these API-based solutions require significant resources to implement and maintain, such as custom software development.

“iComplyKYC helps businesses securely and digitally collect, verify, screen, and maintain data and documents for both natural persons and legal entities,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply Investor Services.

“Unlike existing digital KYC solutions, the platform uses edge computing and artificial intelligence to process sensitive user data locally, before it leaves the user’s device, which helps organizations comply with local data privacy laws across jurisdictions.”

iComplyKYC is a next-generation, web3 ready, KYC solution that is built from the ground up to support true data privacy and can be deployed within minutes. All of this is designed to save clients money on implementation and ongoing maintenance while allowing operations teams to gain a 360-degree view of identity resolution, KYC and AML compliance, and ongoing access management.

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About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a global compliance software provider that helps businesses reduce the cost and complexity of user authentication KYC and AML operations while providing a seamless experience to their users. iComplyKYC allows operations teams to centrally control how each KYC portal will securely gather, validate, and encrypt client data and documentation before it leaves their device. By partnering with multinational technology vendors such as Microsoft, DocuSign, Thomson Reuters, and Refinitiv, iComply is bringing compliance teams into the digital age. Learn more: www.icomplyis.com

New Thomson Reuters Marketplace Selects iComplyKYC as a Digital Identity and KYC Partner

iComply Launches Digital Compliance Administration Platform for $181 Billion KYC and AML Market

by | Dec 15, 2020 | News & Events, Press Releases, Updates

iComply Launches Digital Compliance Administration Platform for the $181 Billion KYC and AML market

The updated iComplyKYC platform leverages edge computing and AI to support onboarding and identify verification for legal entities and natural persons

Vancouver, B.C. – December 15, 2020 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a global compliance software provider, is announcing that it is launching an updated version of its iComplyKYC platform for digital compliance administration that now supports the onboarding and authentication of legal entities and natural persons as a part of its all-in-one compliance solution.

Unlike existing electronic identification (e-ID) solutions that require tools from multiple vendors and manual processing for B2C and B2B customer due diligence, iComplyKYC offers a standalone system to manage the full lifecycle of KYC and AML administration for each client.

Globally, AML spend by financial services providers grew to over $181B USD a year in 2019, according to a 2020 report from Compliance Week.

“The latest directives from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have broadened AML requirements to include law firms, accounting, eCommerce, luxury sales and M&A transactions,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply. “Further, new requirements for work-from-home have complicated the day-to-day compliance operations of most of the market, and ‘digital first’ is no longer a nice-to-have, but a necessity.”

Remote workforces and lockdowns have forced businesses to implement digital solutions for client onboarding, identification, and AML risk management.  iComplyKYC can service law firms, accounting firms, eCommerce platforms, mortgage brokers, and other industries regulated by the AML-5 directive. iComply estimates the global AML spend will exceed $300B USD by 2022.

The platform leverages edge computing for GDPR, PIPA, PPIA, and CCPA risk management. This means that the updated iComplyKYC platform enables companies to gather, authenticate, and encrypt user data via dynamic KYC Portals before that data leaves the user’s device. 

KYC services on the platform also include AI-enabled identity verification, biometric authentication, DUNS, and GLEI validation, supporting document workflows, and AML screening across 150 million daily sources. Compliance teams can access all results in a single dashboard to make better decisions, quickly manage issues, and generate reports.

“Integrating edge computing and artificial intelligence into the KYC portal reduces the total cost of compliance and improves user privacy, cybersecurity, and straight-through processing capabilities,” added Unger. “Businesses can no longer afford to mess with half a dozen onboarding tools and APIS, the market needs a banking grade digital identity and risk management solution that can be set up in hours.”

About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a Regtech company that provides fully-digital KYC and AML compliance solutions for non-face-to-face financial and legal interactions. iComply enables financial services providers to reduce costs, risk, and complexity and improve staff capacity, effectiveness, and customer experience. By partnering with multinational technology vendors such as Microsoft, DocuSign, Thomson Reuters, and Refinitiv, iComply is bringing compliance teams into the digital age. Learn more: www.icomplyis.com

iComply Now Listed in the FINRA Compliance Vendor Directory

iComply Now Listed in the FINRA Compliance Vendor Directory

by | Jul 28, 2020 | News & Events, Press Releases, Updates

Vancouver, B.C. – July 28, 2020 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a leading regtech software provider, is pleased to announce its listing in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Compliance Vendor Directory, which features vendors offering products, solutions, and services to firms overseen by the US regulator. 

“iComply is dedicated to making the financial markets more robust, secure, and efficient,” said Matthew Unger, CEO and Founder of iComply Investor Services. “This listing in the FINRA Compliance Vendor Directory is an exciting moment in the company’s history as we continue to expand our client base and work with US firms to digitize their back office.”

iComply’s compliance management solutions offer institutional-grade identification and risk mitigation tools that support the complete AML compliance lifecycle for clients in industries ranging from professional services to online banking, capital markets, payment processing, trading platforms, virtual assets, as well as government and enterprise.

FINRA is an independent, government-authorized, not-for-profit organization that oversees U.S. broker-dealers. FINRA works under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and writes and enforces rules, examines firms for compliance, fosters market transparency, and educates investors.

The Compliance Vendor Directory features companies specializing in: compliance consulting, cybersecurity, data management, information archiving, exam prep & firm CE, insurance brokers, monitoring & surveillance, PCAOB registered accountants, and registration services.

About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a Regtech company that provides fully-digital KYC and AML compliance solutions for non-face-to-face financial and legal interactions. iComply enables financial services providers to reduce costs, risk, and complexity and improve staff capacity, effectiveness, and customer experience. By partnering with multinational technology vendors such as Microsoft, DocuSign, Thomson Reuters, and Refinitiv, iComply is bringing compliance teams into the digital age. Learn more: www.icomplyis.com

iComply and Quantoz to Power Stablecoin Blockchain Applications for Financial Service Providers

iComply and Quantoz to Power Stablecoin Blockchain Applications for Financial Service Providers

by | Apr 20, 2020 | News & Events, Press Releases, Updates

iComply and Quantoz to Power Stablecoin Blockchain Applications for Financial Service Providers

Partnership enables organisations to launch compliant business processes on public blockchains without the need for technical knowledge of digital wallets or blockchain technology

Vancouver, B.C., and Utrecht, NL – April 20, 2020 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a regtech leader in compliance for financial services providers, and Quantoz N.V., the provider of NEXUS, a SaaS platform that enables compliant fiat-to-virtual asset transfers, are announcing their shared solution to address the technical and compliance challenges that regulated firms face when using public blockchains.

Stablecoins – digital assets that are secured by real-world assets such as fiat currency – are being explored by central banks in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union as one of the most promising applications for blockchain technology in finance. Compared to physical currency, stablecoins provide lower operating costs, increased transparency, and real-time reconciliation capabilities as a new form of contactless cash.

While hundreds of new ventures have launched blockchain solutions, most struggle with maintaining their accounting, reporting, and compliance to an institutional standard. This results in many innovative projects failing, due in large part to their failure to meet regulatory requirements.

Henri de Jong, Co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer of Quantoz, said: “Companies operating in the blockchain space, are increasingly subject to regulation. Cooperation with iComply helps our NEXUS customers to dynamically comply with regulatory rules and procedures across multiple jurisdictions.”

Integration of the NEXUS platform with iComply’s intelligent AML management solution will allow financial services providers to mitigate compliance risk while using public blockchains. This compliance-by-design methodology enables firms to identify risk, automate transaction monitoring, and scale back-office operations.

“In order to successfully manage a stablecoin, the issuer needs to manage complicated technical, regulatory, and compliance requirements,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply. “By integrating NEXUS with iComply we can help private banks, corporations, and central banks to easily test and deploy digitally native assets.”

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About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a Regtech company that provides fully-digital KYC and AML compliance solutions for non face-to-face financial and legal interactions. iComply enables financial services providers to reduce costs, risk, and complexity and improve staff capacity, effectiveness, and customer experience. By partnering with multinational technology vendors such as Microsoft, DocuSign, Thomson Reuters and Refinitiv, iComply is bringing compliance teams into the digital age. Learn more: www.icomplyis.com

About Quantoz:
Quantoz enables its clients to easily integrate tokens into their business with NEXUS, a SaaS solution that connects traditional financial “fiat money” with public blockchains.

 

iComply Contact Info:
Matthew Unger, CEO [email protected]
Vancouver, Canada

Quantoz Contact Info:
Nick Haasnoot, CEO [email protected]
Utrecht, Netherlands

Improving Business Resilience with Intelligent Compliance Automation

Improving Business Resilience with Intelligent Compliance Automation

by | Apr 16, 2020 | iComply Insights, News & Events, Updates

Improving Business Resilience with Intelligent Compliance Automation

How financial services providers can take advantage of the new contactless culture

With new measures in place that require remote work and social distancing, the broader finance industry is set to look very different going forward. For board executives, management teams, and compliance officers, now is the time to rethink the most basic aspects of how financial services work.

Distribution channels that previously relied on branches or face-to-face meetings are becoming increasingly redundant. Strains on personal and business finances means financial service providers have to act quickly and with conviction when disbursing new capital. With both channels, financial services providers will still have to maintain compliance requirements, even when these core business operations were not designed to work digitally. 

Financial services providers could use this time to fundamentally overhaul the relationship with their customers while maintaining business and operational resilience. Businesses that successfully implement digital services for a new contactless culture will be rewarded in the long-run.

So what does the future look like for financial service providers? And where are the opportunities to improve internal operations and the overall customer experience?

In this post, we answer the above questions focusing on retail and commercial banking verticals. This article can be used as a checklist for compliance teams, boards, and product managers who are looking for ways to reduce costs, risk, and complexity or to improve staff capacity, effectiveness, and customer experiences.

 

Comparing Today to the Future

Most people are familiar with the process of opening a personal and/or business bank account. Will that familiar process be used in the months and years ahead? Likely not. While much of the client experience in financial services today is digital, there are a few core business processes that remain manual or require face-to-face business. 

Here are some key processes that we see boards and management teams reevaluating as they compare the old landscape with the new.

 

Client Onboarding

This is the first step of the process where financial service providers gather information on their clients. 

 

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Client must attend branch or meet agent in person
  • Physical and operational security measures in place and abided by
  • Data protection, privacy, governance, and cybersecurity measures in place and abided by
  • Training for frontline staff to validate client eligibility
  • Internal procedures for enhanced due diligence when needed, usually by email or additional in-person meetings

Non Face-to-face

  • Client goes to secure website or mobile application 
  • Data protection, privacy, governance, and cybersecurity measures are in place to prevent manipulation from bad actors
  • Onboarding logic includes validation and segmentation for additional KYC requirements—in real-time while the client is still in the onboarding process
  • Enhanced due diligence requests can be automated, reducing onboarding time and costs

Identity Verification

Financial service providers, through their “Agents”, must verify and document the identity of the client for KYC and AML requirements.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Agent views ID documents, signs attestation of authenticity, and visually confirms identity match
  • Documents need to be transported and stored securely
  • Client information is processed manually or via batch refresh
  • Agents require document authentication training and typically can only authenticate local documents
  • Document authentication processes include manually viewing templates or using document authentication software
  • Identities can be verified in 5 minutes, when a qualified agent is available

 Non Face-to-face

  • User documents are validated using machine vision
  • Address and identity are confirmed by qualified third-party data sources
  • Secure client-side verification enables user data to be processed without leaving the user’s device
  • Compliance managers configure controls in online identity verification services to support documents from over 200 jurisdictions
  • Automated document verification detects fraud, low image quality, and user errors before the document leaves the user’s device
  • Identities can be verified in under 20 seconds

Risk Screening

Once the client’s identity information is verified, financial service providers search for potential risks such as adverse media mentions, sanctions, watchlists, relations to politically exposed persons, and more.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Compliance teams log in to back-office systems to conduct searches and manage cases. Searches must be thorough, as names such as “John” can have varied spelling and homonyms: “Johnathon, Jon, Johan, Juan, etc.”
  • Each search must be documented for future audit and reporting. Any search result must be analyzed according to the firm’s policies to determine whether it is a True or False positive
  • True Positives will be calculated against the firm’s risk assessment program in preparation for Risk Classification
  • Data sources are reviewed and updated periodically (typically every 1-3 years) by risk analysts

Non Face-to-face

  • Client information is passed directly through artificial intelligence (AI) processing systems to analyze the results of thousands of searches simultaneously; any potential results are escalated to the compliance teams for analysis 
  • False positives are reduced using fuzzy matching and Levenshtein distance algorithms, and escalated for analyst review
  • True Positives are used to update Risk Classification in real-time
  • Documentation of all functions are generated autonomously. Data sources and profiles are reviewed and updated every night via AI; potential matches are escalated to risk analysts for final review

Risk Classification

Clients are assigned a risk rating and risk score, and segmented based on “red flags” such as jurisdiction, industry, risk screening results, and internal data sets.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Compliance teams review the client case, any risk identified, and classify the risk level of the client
  • Quality assurance is conducted after the fact, usually during annual or periodic reviews

 Non Face-to-face

  • Scoring systems and automation thresholds automatically update risk scores, rating, classification
  • Quality assurance triggers create escalations for compliance teams to review

Low-Risk Clients

The client profile is reviewed for completeness and red flags before final approval.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Compliance or account teams review the client profile.
  • Missing information may require additional client meetings or trigger enhanced due diligence procedures 
  • Account is opened manually or via API

 Non Face-to-face

  • Client profile has already been validated for completeness with onboarding controls 
  • Account is opened manually or via API

High-Risk Clients

Red flags may require enhanced due diligence, risk assessment, and potential reporting.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Manual procedures include data management, additional risk screening, physical document processing, and reporting for SARs and filings
  • Account managers are notified of additional requirements from the client
  • Materials are typically submitted physically or via unsecure email
  • Fragmented or legacy technology solutions do not support remote staff or client operations
  • Total decision time per case: 48-72 hours
  • Account is opened or declined

 Non Face-to-face

  • Automated data processing and AI in risk screening enable unique search profiles to reduce errors due to manual procedures
  • Account managers and clients can be notified through push or email notification
  • Materials are submitted through secure and encrypted client portals
  • Intelligent AML solutions support remote operations, automate configurable workflows, and generate SARs and reports for filings
  • Account is opened or declined

Transaction Monitoring

Each transaction must be screened across multiple factors such as country, industry, beneficiary name, volume, and value of transactions.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Threshold-specific procedures are maintained in company manuals and training sessions
  • Periodic reviews identify risk after the fact and increase remediation costs

 Non Face-to-face

  • Threshold-specific workflows trigger unique due diligence requirements, screening profiles, and generate reporting documents
  • Compliance teams can focus on exceptions, not data entry

Ongoing Monitoring

Risk screening data must be updated, not only to onboard new users but also to rescreen your existing clients for new risk.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Risk data updates are done manually, often without re-screening of existing clients
  • Re-screening procedures face the same challenges as the initial risk screening

Non Face-to-face

  • Risk data is refreshed each night
  • Re-screening procedures identify net new risk for every client in your KYC software, reducing noise and improving productivity for compliance teams

KYC Data Refresh

Knowing your customer requires that you maintain accurate and current records. Clients may change their name, address, citizenship, or need to update KYC documents on file.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • KYC document templates require version control and physical document destruction for stale documents
  • Clients send sensitive personal information over mail, courier, or unsecured email
  • Expired data may require face-to-face meetings with licensed agents and transaction freezes, which increases client frustration

 Non Face-to-face

  • KYC document template versions are managed by system admins and pushed into client workflows in real-time
  • Clients submit personal information securely through an encrypted KYC portal in your website or mobile app
  • Data expiry dates trigger refresh requests to clients through email or push notifications in your website or mobile app

Ongoing Access Management

Verifying a user’s password only ensures the user has access to your client’s password.

Standard Operating Procedures

  • Online access security questions can be bypassed if hackers or thieves have enough of your client’s information
  • Face-to-face meetings with tellers or agents include manual identity verification
  • E-signature fraud creates risk, liability, and requires additional identity assurance in material agreements

 Non Face-to-face

  • Live face matching quickly enables the user to easily perform biometric authentication more securely than security questions
  • Identity verification processes can be witnessed during video meetings to enable contactless meetings
  • Biometric authentication enables “Smile to sign”, live face matching, and fraud monitoring to ensure strong client authentication at all times

In Closing

Most financial services providers spend over 10% of their gross annual revenues to complete their standard operating procedures. As we have seen, there is ample opportunity to apply new regulatory technologies to name screening, risk scoring, portfolio risk assessment, and AML reporting. Client data management enables financial services providers to reduce cost, risk, and complexity while improving staff capacity, effectiveness, and customer experience.

Migrating customer onboarding and compliance workflows to digital-first channels can be challenging. Costs have mushroomed and complexity increases with each additional jurisdiction you serve. Customer expectations on user experience, contactless availability, and KYC friction are changing rapidly. 

Compliance teams, boards, and product managers should regularly re-evaluate their KYC and AML systems to identify weaknesses, better manage risk, improve staff capacity, reduce vendors, cut costs, and improve their client’s KYC user experience. We hope this article can serve as a valuable resource for your business. 

 

Thanks for reading!

The iComply Team

About iComply

iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a regtech company that provides automated KYC and AML compliance solutions for non face-to-face financial and legal interactions. iComply enables financial services providers to reduce costs, risk, and complexity and improve staff capacity, effectiveness, and customer experience.

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Microsoft Partners with iComply to Enable Remote KYC and AML Verification

Microsoft Partners with iComply to Enable Remote KYC and AML Verification

by | Apr 14, 2020 | News & Events, Press Releases, Updates

Microsoft Partners with iComply to Enable Remote KYC and AML Verification

Partnership provides financial service providers, financial planners, law firms, mortgage brokers and insurance agents with a full suite of tools to serve clients without face-to-face meetings

Vancouver, B.C. – April 14, 2020 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a leading regtech software provider, is announcing it has partnered with Microsoft to offer its intelligent KYC and AML services through over 64,000 Microsoft solutions providers worldwide. This enables financial services providers to fast track their digital transition and enable a contactless customer journey.

Now available through Microsoft’s Appsource and the Azure Marketplace, iComply’s KYC Essentials solution enables businesses to quickly deploy banking-grade identity verification and AML screening tools directly into their website, mobile app, or client portal. 

“Businesses that rely on face-to-face interactions for client onboarding and identity verification need help to close these gaps in their digital operations,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply. “iComply enables businesses to securely deploy unique compliance workflows with clicks, not code, reducing cost and manual processes.”

iComply’s compliance tools can be set up within days and do not require developers or downloadable apps. By verifying the user’s identity “client-side,” iComply ensures personal data is protected and never has to leave the device to be authenticated. This innovation in privacy reduces liability, cost, and helps to identify fraud early. 

“It’s common for digital onboarding services to send user’s data into unknown jurisdictions or employ hundreds of people to review photos manually for face matching. Conversely, our verification tool uses artificial intelligence for verification and facilitates unique AML workflows by jurisdiction to improve compliance, scalability, accuracy, cyber-security, and unit economics,” added Unger.

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Learn more about iComplyKYC

 

About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (“iComply”) is a Regtech company that provides fully-digital KYC and AML compliance solutions for non-face-to-face financial and legal interactions. iComply enables financial services providers to reduce costs, risk, and complexity and improve staff capacity, effectiveness, and customer experience. By partnering with multinational technology vendors such as Microsoft, DocuSign, Thomson Reuters, and Refinitiv, iComply is bringing compliance teams into the digital age. Learn more: www.icomplyis.com