Ria accelerates AML investigations 5x with graph technology

Graph technology is becoming key for more efficient fraud and AML investigations. Read how Ria Money Transfer used cutting-edge software by Linkurious to slash investigation time for complex cases.

Data silos and limitations in existing fraud and AML detection and investigation systems mean criminals are frequently staying one step ahead. But emerging technologies such as AI/machine learning and graph analytics promise to change the paradigm. Ria Money Transfer’s use of Linkurious technology is a perfect example of how graph visualisation and analytics are helping organisations in the financial industry accelerate even the most complex fraud and AML investigations.

Graph technology is powerful. But just a decade ago, it was mostly used by tech-savvy early adopters in forward-thinking organisations, limiting its potential. What if the technology could be used by anyone, enabling them to quickly find relevant information hidden in large and complex datasets?

With the growing adoption of graph databases contributing to breaking down data silos, the answer to that problem was the technology that became Linkurious Enterprise: an investigation software powered by graph analytics with a world-class user interface enabling both technical and non-technical users to easily harness vast amounts of connected data. Today analysts use it to spot suspicious anomalies, analyse sophisticated schemes, and make faster, clearer decisions.

Globalisation and digitisation have created new avenues for bad actors to commit fraud and launder money, often operating in networks. And fraud, compliance, and security departments in financial institutions are under increasing pressure from regulators.

Many anti-financial crime leaders are lacking the big picture they need to quickly identify real suspicious activities and effectively analyse money laundering or fraud schemes. They have a lot of data—but can’t get the insights they require or can’t get them quickly enough.

For financial crime investigation, future-proof solutions leveraging the latest graph technology, like Linkurious Enterprise, provide powerful fact-finding capabilities with a network-first interface that delivers full context at a glance. Graph, along with machine learning, represents the next leap forward for industry leaders to enhance their detection and investigation capabilities. Ria’s use case is a prime example of this.

Historically, Ria’s investigation teams relied on Excel to perform link analysis for their post-transaction analysis. Examining the relationships between senders and recipients in this way was cumbersome and time-consuming—and it was leaving them with blind spots, as the Dutch regulator pointed out.

To ensure they were getting the full picture of fraud and money laundering networks, Ria’s investigation team turned to graph visualisation and analytics tools from Linkurious.

Natively designed to tap into the power of large-scale graph databases, Linkurious Enterprise gives its users a holistic view of the entities relevant to their investigations and their relationships. It’s a great match for teams of analysts and investigators who need to quickly gather information on networks related to fraud or money laundering. And the intuitive visual interface makes it simple to find and understand even the most complex networks, which is where the software brings significant value for Ria analysts.

‘For more complex offenses, investigators need to see the scope of the network around the suspicious activity. When we need to get to the bottom of some business-critical issue, we use Linkurious Enterprise’, says Miguel Aguado, Compliance Director Asia Pacific at Ria Money Transfer.

Graph visualisations are a clear advantage for investigative teams. ‘Visualisation is an added value’, says Norma Otto Martinez, EU Consumer FIU Senior Manager at Ria; ‘having the picture in front of you has a real impact’. She adds that analysts include visualisations in their reports. ‘Compliance officers can see for themselves the network you are detecting, and regulators tell us they appreciate this’.

The results speak for themselves. By adding Linkurious Enterprise to their technology stack, analysts at Ria Money Transfer have significantly reduced investigation time by up to 80%. ‘I’m really pleased with this tool’, says Alejandro Rivas, analyst in the EU Consumer FIU team. ‘It helps us locate unusual activity really quickly. Analysis that would have taken us a full day may now take us 2 hours’.

Adopting Linkurious Enterprise has also fulfilled Ria’s initial objective to better meet regulatory expectations. When repeating prior investigations using Linkurious Enterprise, they are able to uncover more details and hidden connections than they could previously, eliminating blindspots.

‘We are able to identify patterns and ramifications of unusual transactions that were impossible to achieve with a traditional approach’, says Miguel Aguado. ‘With Linkurious you see things from another perspective—things you couldn’t see otherwise’.

Ria’s story is an inspiring testimonial to the power of graph technology for the financial industry. According to projections from Gartner, graph technologies will be used in 80% of data and analytics innovations by 2025. At Linkurious, we believe this is true, and we’re proud to make the power of graph visualisation and analytics more accessible to more organisations.

About Sébastien Heymann

Sébastien Heymann is a co-founder and CEO of Linkurious. He has a longstanding passion for democratising network thinking. Sébastien holds a PhD in computer science. He also co-founded Gephi, the leading open-source software for exploring networks of all kinds in 2008. He has published, written, and talked extensively about the impact of graph visualisation.

About Linkurious

Linkurious is a software company providing technical and non-technical users with the next generation of investigation solutions powered by graph technology. Linkurious offers an intuitive financial crime investigation solution that enables swift and precise detection and investigation of even the most sophisticated criminal networks for optimal risk mitigation. Thousands of investigators in Global 2000 companies, public organisations, governments, and NGOs use Linkurious to harness their complex connected data.