Paper Outlines Six Steps for Anti-Bribery and AML Screening

BankersAccuity has released a white paper, entitled ‘A 360-Degree Spin Around Screening’, outlining six steps to better anti-bribery and anti-money laundering (AML) screening for institutions.

The payments efficiency and compliance specialist said that in an era of enhanced scrutiny, larger fines and the on-going internationalisation of AML and anti-bribery regulations, organisations are facing increased risk and numerous challenges in achieving and maintaining compliance. The paper states that for any organisation, successfully complying with AML and anti-bribery and corruption regulations comes down to two related but separate requirements: information and context. Firms must have both quality information and the appropriate context for the data in order to effectively screen and minimise false positives.

Organisations today are faced with increasing data volumes and mounting false positives, impacting screening efficiency. For example, ineffective screening processes may flag Cuba, New York rather than the country of Cuba – creating unnecessary transaction delays.

The BankersAccuity white paper outlines six steps to better screening:

1. Screen separate data separately: Group data so that only like items, such as names,  are matched to names to avoid false matches for sanctioned city or vessel names on individuals.
2. Screen only what you must: Use other data types, such as SWIFT data to add further context.
3. Exclude local place names: Domestic place names should be excluded since they are only applicable to country sanctions programmes.
4. Use unscreened data in rules: Supplementary unscreened data such as record type and dates of births can be a powerful tool to exclude matches before the data is run through a match filter or screening rules.
5. Break down SWIFT data: SWIFT data can be used to minimise false positives.
6. Find risk profile-supported patterns: Establish what constitutes a risk-based screening approach to create logical rules that minimise patterns of false matches.

“Institutions today can be quickly overwhelmed with AML screening inefficiencies,” said Henry Balani, managing director at BankersAccuity’s risk and compliance group. “Without a proper AML solution, process and training, firms often deal with the mounting number of false positives with manual review, which incurs more resources and paperwork.”

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