A major credit card issuer faced a formidable challenge: the need to rapidly and accurately screen a staggering 375 million records from 14 distinct data sources. Balancing the requirements for fast data processing, precision, and uninterrupted anti-money laundering (AML) operations posed a significant hurdle. To overcome this challenge, the company turned to FinScan, known for its expertise, training, and the ability to refine screening algorithms while promptly addressing any issues that arose.
Challenges and Goals
The credit card issuer encountered several critical challenges and established key goals:
Data source complexity: Consolidating data from 14 sources, including two sources each holding a remarkable 100 million records, presented a complex integration challenge due to varying formats and data quality.
High volume screening: Screening and monitoring 375 million records was essential for smooth operations, demanding a solution with scalable batch processing.
Efficiency enhancement: With a small analyst team, the company aimed to optimize the screening process, reduce false alerts, and improve overall efficiency while maintaining compliance.
Risk mitigation: The company needed to reduce the risk of non-compliance fines and reputational damage by detecting sanctions and politically exposed persons (PEP) alerts.
The Solution
The credit card issuer implemented FinScan’s comprehensive AML compliance solution to provide:
Data standardization: FinScan conducted a tailored data quality assessment on each of the company’s 14 data sources and used the FinScan Enhance application to unify data into standardized formats, streamlining critical data elements such as naming patterns, dates of birth, and country formats. Alerts were set up to trigger notifications for rapid error resolution.
Scalable processing: FinScan’s systems were capable of scaling for high-volume batch processing, enabling the screening of 375 million records overnight while accommodating future data growth.
Customized alert criteria: Using a test file of 5 million records, the issuer customized matching criteria to optimize the balance between reducing alerts and detecting true hits, thus increasing operational efficiency. FinScan also allowed filtering of AML list content and selecting specific risk attributes, minimizing false positives.
Our Impact
The implementation of FinScan yielded remarkable results for the credit card issuer, such as:
Efficiency gains: The company reduced the number of alerts from a staggering 16 million records to a manageable 5.3 million, significantly reducing the time required for case review.
Enhanced compliance: FinScan identified an additional 353 confirmed sanctions and PEP alerts post-implementation, bolstering the issuer’s compliance efforts and reducing the risk of fines and reputational damage.
Training and support: Throughout the implementation process, FinScan provided extensive training and support, fostering a strong client-vendor relationship. Training methods, including in-person sessions and 24/7 access to online videos, were customized and convenient, ensuring the client’s success.
In conclusion, the credit card issuer successfully transformed its compliance process with the implementation of FinScan. By efficiently screening hundreds of millions of records, the company reduced false positives by 67% and achieved a higher level of operational efficiency. The partnership with FinScan provided both advanced technology and strong support, instilling confidence in the new processes and compliance efforts.