AML checks, anti-money laundering checks are one of the important customer due diligence requireents by banks and other financial institutions in ensuring that money laundering and other types of financial crimes are prevented,
Kyc and aml checks can range between basic know-your-customer (KYC) verification to real-time liveness check, business verification, sanctions screening, and customer risk assessment.
AML checks are important as they help businesses from becoming actively or proactively involved in financial crimes. Businesses who fail to comply with these financial regulations are likely to be fined with serious aml fines and penalty.
Money laundering is a major problem that affects our economies and financial institutions all over the world. In 2020, the United Nations estimated that between 2% and 5% of the global GDP, or $800 billion to $2 trillion, gets laundered each year. These numbers show how important Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks are in fighting financial crimes. This article explains what are AML checks and compliance solutions and why they matter.
What Are AML Checks?
AML checks are part of KYC checks.
AML checks are a key part of meeting the basic regulatory requirement for ongoing customer due diligence. They’re all about knowing your customer—making sure they are who they say they are, and understanding any risks that might come with doing business with them.
These checks also play an important role in the best practice of perpetual KYC. Unlike traditional methods, perpetual KYC uses artificial intelligence (AI) to keep an eye on customer behaviour in real time. If it spots any unusual patterns, additional money laundering checks are needed to figure out whether the activity could point to financial crime.
Now, that we know what is aml check, lets look at what aml checks are used for.
Interested read: Anti-money Laundering (AML) Policy
What is the Primary Purposes of AML Checks?
The main goals of AML checks are to:
- Spot Suspicious Transactions by watching and analyzing transactions to catch red flags.
- Verify Customer Identities to ensure that customers are who they say they are.
- Prevent Crime by lowering the risk of criminals using financial systems to fund illegal activities.
- Protect Financial Integrity to ensure financial institutions follow laws and regulations, keeping their operations clean and trustworthy.
What Information Is Required for AML Checks?
For Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks, you typically need to provide:
1. Your full legal name as it appears in your official documents.
2. A photo of you from an official document like a driver's license or passport.
3. Documents like utility bills or lease agreements that show where you live as a proof of your address.
4. Your date of birth to confirm your age and identity.
In some cases, you might also need to provide:
1. Reason you're opening the account and how you plan to use it.
2. Detailed Information about your job or business.
3. Your source of fund to know where your money is coming from.
4. Information about who controls the account and the person's connection to you.
5. Expected Activity: What types of transactions you'll be making.
Benefits of AML Checks for Financial Institutions
1. Risk Reduction helps financial institutions lower the chance of getting involved in money laundering.
2. Compliance with AML regulations keeps financial institutions safe from big fines and legal trouble.
3. Increased Trust by building customer confidence and trust with strong AML measures in place.
4. Protection of business from financial crimes and reputational damage. They help financial institutions spot activities that are suspicious and linked to illegal actions.
When Should You Perform AML Checks?
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) says you should run AML checks when:
1. Opening a new account or beginning a new business relationship.
2. If there's any sign of money laundering or terrorist financing.
3. If there's doubt about the information you've already provided.
4. When a transaction is above USD/EUR 15,000 or for certain wire transfers.
It's good practice to run AML checks for existing customers if their situation changes. FATF recommends using a risk-based approach to decide how much checking is needed.
For specific cases like politically exposed persons or new technologies, FATF suggests extra ongoing monitoring and due diligence.
You might want to read Dealing with Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) in AML Compliance
How Banks Conduct Anti-Money Laundering Checks
Banks use various tools and processes to conduct AML checks and stay compliant, including:
1. Automated Monitoring Systems:
Use software to constantly monitor transactions for suspicious activities.
2. Customer Screening:
Check customers against global watchlists and sanctions lists.
3. Transaction Analysis:
Analyze transaction patterns to spot unusual activities.
AML Check: Step-by-Step Process of AML Checks for Businesses
AML checks involve several steps to manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks:
1. Customer Due Diligence (CDD)
Gather and analyze your customer's information to verify their identity and understand their activities. Use reliable sources to confirm their identity and understand the nature of their business relationship.
2. Risk Assessment
Look at factors like customer location, business type, transaction behavior, and political exposure to determine risks.
3. Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD)
For high-risk customers, do a detailed examination. Verify the source of their funds, scrutinize their transactions, and regularly review your business relationship with them. EDD is especially important for Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
4. Ongoing Monitoring
Continuously monitor your customer's transactions for unusual patterns. Keep their information updated and regularly review their risk levels.
5. Reporting
Report any suspicious activities to the relevant regulatory bodies.
AML Checks in the UK
AML checks in the UK is governed by the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017. These regulations require you to follow strict measures, such as verifying customers and monitoring transactions.
AML checks help institutions comply with the UK's Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Money Laundering Regulations 2017.
The Legal Framework Governing AML Checks in the UK
AML checks in the UK align closely with both local and international laws, which ensure financial institutions combat financial crimes consistently across borders.
Key elements include the EU's Fourth and Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directives and guidelines from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). These rules focus on risk assessment and transparency, covering virtual currencies, prepaid cards, and high-risk countries.
How Youverify's AML Check Solution Helps You Conduct AML Checks
AML systems are key for effective AML checks, making the process faster and reducing errors in gathering and verifying customer information.
1. Transaction Monitoring
Transaction monitoring is vital for spotting financial crimes. It helps you track transactions to find and investigate suspicious behavior.
Youverify's Transaction Monitoring detects suspicious activities with daily monitoring, which gives you accurate evaluations of customer profiles and transactions. You can also easily combine KYC and CDD systems and screening into one solution.
2. Customer Due Diligence
Customer due diligence (CDD) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) systems help you gather and verify customer information. With Youverify's Customer Due Diligence, you get quick access to insights, alerts, red flags, and risk indicators for in-depth customer checks.
Also read Customers Due Diligence (EDD) for KYC Compliance
3. Screening
Screening helps you understand your customer's business relationship and profile. You can use Youverify's Screening to check customers against sanctions lists, PEP/RCA lists, UBO information, and adverse media.
What is a Compliance Solution?
A compliance solution is a set of processes and tools that help your organization follow regulatory, contractual, and legal requirements. These solutions include services and software to ensure your organization meets industry regulations.
Services Rendered by Compliance Solutions
Services Rendered by Compliance Solutions
1. It enables you to manage who can access your data. Therefore, ensuring only authorized people have permission and keeping records of access.
2. It renders tools to detect data breaches in real-time and report them immediately.
3. It helps businesses keep detailed logs of all activities and transactions, stored as compliance reports.
4. Compliance solutions use foundational security tools like antivirus software and event management tools to help organizations prepare for and respond to disruptions.
5. It helps businesses to generate quick compliance reports and document current performance.
6. It helps organizations streamline processes to save time and money, in this way, reducing redundancies, and mitigating breach risks.
7. It enables institutions to summarize risk assessments into corrective actions to quickly identify and resolve issues without disrupting activities.
Further reading How Compliance Solutions Streamline Operations and Improve Efficiency
What Are the Benefits of Compliance Solutions
Investing in a good compliance solution offers several benefits:
1. Reduced Legal Complications:
You are able to ensure full compliance with industry standards, while, reducing financial, legal, and regulatory risks.
2. Ease of Collaboration:
It makes your teamwork becomes easier and less prone to error. You're able to store compliance information securely and reduce data redundancies.
3. Boosts Resiliency:
It enhances your business and operational resilience.
4. Automates Compliance Processes:
It improves your organization’s efficiency and accuracy by automating processes like compliance monitoring and task scheduling.
5. Costs Reduction:
It automates monitoring of compliance to identify and prevent risks. This reduces potential financial impact.
Conclusion
For your organization to fight financial crimes and maintain the integrity of the financial system, effective AML checks and compliance solutions are essential.
You must put strong AML checks in your organization to protect both your customers and your business from the dangers of money laundering.
Youverify offers the tools and services your company need to guarantee security and compliance. Schedule a demo with us today.