Changes to Global Financial regulations will force currency exchange providers to better uphold sanctions and PEP screening against customers – or risk heavy fines and reputational damage. To meet that requirement, GTS is now fully integrated with ComplyAdvantage, the world’s only provider of AI-driven AML risk data, allowing for real-time screening of customers against global sanctions and PEP lists. These new features will help Money Service Businesses (MSBs) using GTS meet their statutory obligations and prevent breaches of sanctions.

For example, in the UK, since April 2017, all businesses have a duty to uphold financial sanctions or face financial penalties of up to £1m. The Policing and Crime Act 2017 also makes provisions for jail sentences of between 2 and 7 years in some cases. “The penalties for breaching international financial sanctions are particularly punitive,” said IMX Product Director Marijan Miocic. “The risk of being handed a substantial fine because cashiers cannot access the relevant sanction registers quickly and efficiently is a very real prospect under the new law.”

New integrations within the GTS ComplyAdvantage module allow MSBs to check customer details against 28 different global sanctions and watch lists, e.g. OFAC, HMT, EU, UN, DFAT. Powered by Artificial Intelligence, the ComplyAdvantage database can incorporate all global Sanctions updates within 15 minutes, meaning IMX clients can be sure nothing slips through the net. They can also quickly ensure any customer is not listed on four Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) lists classified according to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organisation formed by the G7 to tackle money laundering.

“By embedding information about sanction listings in GTS, cashiers are empowered to make informed decisions about every transaction,” continued Miocic, “Every search generates a list of matching names, addresses, aliases and dates of birth, allowing the cashier to quickly identify the customer, and whether they are sanctioned from making foreign currency purchases. ComplyAdvantage not only delivers information about financial sanctions, but also provides an easy to use case management system  to record the decision-making process for use in the event of a government investigation. Cashiers can immediately abandon the deal when a customer fails the identity check. Or they can complete the transaction and create an exception note in the system to explain their decision.”

With GTS Retail & ComplyAdvantage, MSBs are able to:

  • Stay compliant with changing Sanctions, AML/CTF regulation including the EU’s Fourth Money Laundering Directive (MLD4)
  • Digitize and automate manual KYC & AML processes
  • Increase efficiency with tailored risk-based screening and monitoring to reduce unnecessary false positives by 60-84%
  • Advance sanctions screening with powerful “fuzzy matching” search capability that allows more accurate screening and reduced false positives
  • Specify value of deal for checks, e.g. only check for deals > $2,000 or check for all deals
  • Specify which sanctions/watch lists to check
  • Audit whether a check was performed against deal
  • Records whether a customer was a positive hit
  • Tailor workflow in event of a positive hit, e.g. block deal, dual authorization for deal to proceed, display warning message
  • Be notified with proactive alerts as soon as changes to sanctions and watchlists are recorded
  • Access a browser based Case Management tool for Compliance Officers in Head Office

The ComplyAdvantage module is a subscription-based service available to any customer using GTS Retail. Fees are based on pre-agreed unique search volumes and include whitelist capabilities.

For further information, visit complyadvantage.com.