Evolving regulations require financial institutions to adopt a risk-based approach to every aspect of financial crime and compliance. Whether it’s verifying identities, completing due diligence processes, conducting periodic reviews, or assessing a monetary transaction – all of them require up-to-date, reliable data about the customer and involved entities. This is done by verifying customer supplied data against primary source data which is available via corporate registries.
Not all data has the same value. Data from unconfirmed sources such as search engines and other premium data providers, while helpful, cannot be used as an authoritative source in KYC and financial crime programs. When assessing risk, analysts must leverage primary source data – the information coming from official government corporate registries and filings/documents available from official sources. Over time, even stored copies of this data degrade – companies dissolve, change names or relocate addresses. Hence this is an ongoing process to keep such data from primary sources up-to-date.
The only way to correctly assess risk is with direct, on-demand, access to up-to-date primary source data sourced directly from official government corporate registries. Checking every new customer against those sources as well as monitoring the data for changes is the first, and mandatory, step of every financial crime fighting program.
Client Onboarding & KYC
Collecting & verifying customer supplied data against primary source corporate registry data accounts for a large share of the time and effort in making sure a new prospective customer can be safely onboarded. Automated access to primary source data can shorten the process, as well as help fill gaps in data without having to go back to the customer.
Customer Due Diligence
The core of CDD programs is collecting and cross-referencing enough reliable information to be able to risk rate the customer. Getting up-to-date information from primary source data saves time and results in more accurate risk ratings.
AML Transaction Monitoring
Reviewing suspicious activity requires an understanding of the current and past profiles of the involved parties. Using primary source data can quickly identify risk flags or help lower the risk.
Fraud
Investigation of suspected fraud can be sped up by validating the identity of the involved entities. Using primary source data makes it possible to confirm their identity or raise flags such as new or dissolved companies