Tempest Legal Services, Monaco - Cabinet Conseil Juridique reposted this
I had a wonderful time in Monaco yesterday with the Tempest team. Each time I visit I see how different the culture is to anywhere else I’ve been. The reason I was there is that Monaco was placed on the “grey” list by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) in June this year. For those unfamiliar with the term, being on the "grey list" means Monaco is under increased scrutiny to ensure it improves its defences against money laundering and terrorist financing. This can be very damaging for a financial center, as it often leads to reduced investor confidence, making it a critical issue for many businesses right now.Such as the nuances surrounding PEPS Politically Exposed Persons). In response to this need, Polixis partnered with Tempest Legal Services, Monaco - Cabinet Conseil Juridique to deliver a training session aimed at helping firms understand what they need to do to stay compliant with the evolving AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations. Experts Nathalie Tanzi, Muriel LALLI, and our CEO—former private banking compliance officer—Gagik Sargsyan, led detailed discussions on navigating and interpreting the evolving regulatory landscape. Some of these people have serious power to influence procedings, expecially after they leave their official position, and are under more scrutiny when being onboarded to a private bank. Technology and training are clearly key elements that need to be embraced. Large institutions have long relied on technology to support their compliance efforts, however smaller companies—many of which have traditionally handled due diligence manually—must now adopt technology to keep pace with evolving demands. Take the example of an accountant who previously needed to screen 1500 clients once per year and now needs to do it once per week - this is a massive workload increase unless an automated sanctions screening system is used. To address this need we showcased our CHECKMATE software, used predominantly in private banks, which automates the screening of entire client lists against Sanctions, Indirect Sanctions, PEPs, and watchlists on a daily, weekly, or custom schedule. The software features one of the world’s largest risk data sets, covering over 9 million individuals and entities, which we understand is the largest risk data set in the world, largely due to our knowledge of collateral saction exposure. We achieve this through the mapping of the sanctions data set, with the UBO data set (Ultimate Beneficial Owner). In laymans terms, all companies have meaningful problems if they take on a bad client or supplier, not only in the financial world. Therefore understanding 2nd level sanction exposure, is a smart thing to do for any business. From experience, if you impress the auditor things go more smoothly, a state of the art sophisticated AI based system helps in today’s world #AML#REGtech#Finance#sanctions