The most reliable asset in the compliance team is not who (or what) you think!

“I am confident and incredibly focused on my work. I can guarantee that I will never miss any kind of anomaly or issue within the compliance processes of your company. I will work tirelessly 24 by 7 and no matter how many new subjects you plan on on-boarding in the future, I can take it. I can assure you that I will identify expired documents way in advance, I will calculate the risk of your subjects, as they are being on-boarded, and I will definitely let you know the second something suspicious happens. I will never forget anything; I am your automated KYC system”.

Due diligence is an essential process for any major business. Fundamentally, businesses need to know who they’re buying from or who they are on-boarding as clients. Nowadays with new regulations constantly being introduced, the compliance burden and requirements for any corporation, have increased over time and across the globe, therefore putting a strain on compliance teams who still handle this process, manually.

One of the major quandaries that organisations face daily, is the challenge of how many people should one employ within the compliance department. No matter the size of the company, it seems like a circle of doom. No matter how many people they employ, they can never keep up with the on-going requirements by regulators, without an automated system in place. Adopting such a system eliminates the need to keep employing resources and to keep up with the ever-increasing regulatory burden. 

We see many companies hiring more people to ensure the information submitted is complete and accurate and to help deal with the increasing amount of documentation required to verify customer identities. Adding more employees to do manual work doesn't solve KYC challenges. In fact, it adds to them. The more manual tasks performed, the greater the chance of errors and mistakes in areas such as data entry can lead to non-compliance and hefty KYC fines, besides the fact that manual processes slow down your customer on-boarding.

Having an automated system in place will not only reduce the manual aspects of compliance, allowing the compliance team to focus on more important tasks at hand, but will also reduce the headaches that come with the entire KYC and due diligence processes. Compliance teams will never miss a review that is due or a document that is about to expire. Requesting documents directly through the system means they are seamlessly stored and recorded against your customer. 

Having a system that can be integrated with your third party data providers such as PEPs and Sanctions Screening, will further reduce your risk and gives you the peace of mind that all your subjects are being screened and you will be notified if there is a potential match that needs your attention. The ultimate peace of mind is where data, both for newly on-boarded and previously approved customers, is perfectly in line with internal risk procedures, totally compliant with regulatory requirements, up-to-date at all times and you will be alerted as soon as something needs your attention.

Having an automated KYC system as part of your compliance function and team is indeed the most reliable asset, it allows you to focus more on the important tasks at hand whilst reducing your risk exposure to mere hours instead of weeks or months which is a top priority in the world we are living in right now.