FFIEC News

Actimize Unveils First Anti-Money Laundering Customer Due Diligence Solution

(Jan 22, 2008)-- Actimize, provider of transactional risk management software for the financial services industry and a NICE Systems company, announced the Customer Interview Module, a new tool that expands its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Customer Due Diligence (CDD) solution. The Client Interview Module guides bank staff to collect Know Your Customer (KYC) information accurately and efficiently for risk identification and assessment while helping banks meet industry compliance requirements.

KYC information requirements can be confusing for bank employees and burdensome for clients. Up to this point, collecting that information has been labor-intensive, inflexible and intrusive to the customer base. As part of the larger end-to-end Actimize CDD solution, the new Client Interview Module is a risk-based, rules-driven, integrated framework that helps produce individual customer profiles in an interactive, systematic method.

Best practices from the Financial Action Task Force, Basel Committee and Wolfsberg Group recommend the collection of customer information in order to assess money-laundering risk. Regulatory requirements such as those found in the Third EU Money Laundering Directive, and regulatory guidance found in Federal Reserve and FFIEC BSA Examination Manuals strengthen the standards for KYC and advise institutions to adjust their level of customer due diligence on a 'risk-sensitive basis.'

Actimize's risk-based approach allows institutions to focus on true money laundering risks instead of following rigid checklists, lessening the potential inconvenience for customers while increasing efficiency for bank employees. A dynamic interview format varies the amount and type of information collected based on the given customer, product and service profiles involved. This ensures that financial institutions have consistent and accurate information when it comes time to make decisions and/or meet regulatory requirements.

"The information gathered during both client on-boarding and through back-office operations can greatly enhance the compliance, transaction monitoring and customer due diligence processes," says Brian Kloostra, executive with Crowe Chizek and Company LLC and an expert in anti-money laundering compliance. "A growing number of firms using the technology behind the Actimize Client Interview Module are also exploring how to leverage this framework and information to enhance cross-selling opportunities for customer facing personnel."

"Our clients come to us for efficient, cost-effective solutions to mitigate transactional risk," says Amir Orad, CMO at Actimize. "As an industry leader in customer due diligence, Actimize will continue to add features and tools like the Client Interview Module to its platforms and solutions by developing, partnering, or acquiring new technologies."

The technology powering Actimize's Client Interview Module comes from Crowe Chizek, part of the Actimize Alliance network. US and international financial institutions use Crowe Chizek's information collection application to assist in building a sound AML compliance program.

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