A large Latin American-based payment processor was operating in over 15 countries with no centralized data collection methods. As the company grew, the compliance issues posed by operating across multiple jurisdictions grew as well. Various laws and regulations dictated which data must be screened and reported in those regions. Adhering to these requirements was challenging but also necessary to avoid severe repercussions.

Aware of FinScan’s expertise in helping global companies ensure sound AML compliance, they invited the AML vendor to evaluate their current screening program and help them comply with multinational regulations more effectively.

To get an accurate picture of the client’s data challenges, FinScan performed a data quality assessment of all their data sources. The results showed that their global data was not standardized. It had been collected in different languages with regional variations, and differing practices had been used in capturing name order at onboarding. The client’s existing solution relied heavily on inadequate transliteration technology, resulting in matching algorithms that failed to recognize any name variation not correctly translated. Other solutions would set the fuzziness thresholds too wide to tackle this problem, which would lead to a huge number of false positives. However, FinScan’s advanced naming patterns are designed to recognize cultural differences and standardize name order, accurately screening native-to-native names and allowing clients to upload name extensions that are relevant to them. This level of matching quality is what the client needed to ensure that their data was fit for screening.

All the client’s data sources were loaded into FinScan to begin the standardization process. Translation corrections, such as switching s’s for z’s or recognizing differences in name order – particularly common in Spanish and Portuguese languages – were automatically made. FinScan corrected customer data from 15 different countries, addressing regional naming differences that most screening solutions’ naming patterns couldn’t handle and established just the right balance to minimize false positives without missing true hits. This meticulous attention to detail resulted in the identification of 82 sanctioned hits that had previously been undetected, protecting the organization from hefty fines. What’s more, it reduced their false positive rate by an impressive 62%, saving more than 19,000 hours of manual review time. The client can now screen across multiple jurisdictions, assured that they are producing accurate results and helping to protect the organization from fines and reputational damage.

FinScan’s advanced naming patterns can navigate cultural and alphabetical differences in every language, empowering you to confidently manage all your AML tasks from one central hub. Protect your global business from AML risks – choose FinScan for a more intelligent screening experience today.