Maybe you’re a new fintech who has been told you need a transaction monitoring, anti-money laundering (AML) solution. Or you’re a traditional bank with an outdated legacy system and have been told you need to innovate your compliance program in order to save costs and reduce risk. How do you go about finding a solution? Where do you start? If you’re like most businesses, you will likely start by searching for a case management solution.
But not all case management solutions are created equal. Many are just designed to automate workflows to solve generic business problems. And while this is useful to ensure that when an analyst resolves a case it gets routed to the right person, these solutions lack the tools to help your compliance team resolve business-critical cases in the first place. Let’s explore the key elements you should look for in an AML case management solution to maximize the productivity of your compliance team.
Deep Insights
False positives plague the compliance industry, and your team must be able to easily investigate each case with deep insights into your data so that they can resolve cases quickly and efficiently. It’s not enough to show the suspicious transactions — analysts must be able to quickly identify related parties, transactions, accounts and payment sources to follow the money trail. A powerful investigation management tool explains why the transactions were flagged and helps analysts connect the dots.
Streamlined User Interface
No matter how powerful your tool is, if the workflow is hard to use, it kills productivity. Every extra click slows down investigations, so make sure the tool makes it easy for analysts to see available cases and all the necessary information without having to switch between multiple tabs or lose context when they drill down into the details. A streamlined, intuitive, modern interface will enhance your compliance team’s effectiveness and efficiency.
Documentation Capabilities
AML investigations are complex. As your analysts research a case, they need to be able to add notes that help tell the story of their findings and attach supporting documentation. Make sure the case management solution makes it easy for your analysts to document as they go so they can quickly pick up where they left off or easily pass the case to someone else.
Comprehensive Audit Trail
To keep regulators and your board happy, you must have a comprehensive audit trail. It should be an immutable timeline that shows every change that was made to the case, including who made the change, when and why.
Flexible Data Model
When it comes to investigation management tools, one size does not fit all. Banks, fintechs, marketplaces, securities firms and other regulated industries all have different types of data and different needs. Make sure the tool you choose is flexible and can display the relevant data your analysts need to do their job.
Machine Learning
True alerts are often described as finding a “needle in a stack of needles.” As you work through your cases, your system should learn over time and make recommendations based on past history to find the truly critical alerts. Auto feedback loops via machine learning models from previous investigations can help better streamline workflows and ensure the most critical alerts rise to the top rather than being buried in the haystack.
Regulatory Filing
Once the investigation is complete, it’s time to file a report with the relevant authorities. The ability to auto-populate reports, such as the FinCEN SAR in the U.S., is one of the most critical timesavers available to busy compliance teams. Coupled with flexible narrative description functions, your system should take the guesswork out of filing regulatory reports.
In summary, a fully compliant AML program must have rigorous Know Your Customer, transaction monitoring, investigation and reporting tools at your disposal that help your compliance analysts resolve any red flags. By selecting a flexible investigation management tool that offers powerful insights, lets analysts investigate and close cases quickly and provides an audit trail, you can ensure that your company is compliant while maximizing your team’s efficiency and the value of the solution. The best approach is to choose a purpose-built AML solution like the Jumio Investigation Manager. Contact us for more information on how Jumio can help solve your compliance challenges.
