Pushing AML beyond the human element – TruNarrative interview

Our parent company, LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, carried out research on the cost of compliance, which looked into this further. They found that over half of AML compliance budgets are spent on routine customer due diligence (CDD). CDD was by far the most costly and time-consuming process in the sample, accounting for 53% of overall AML compliance costs. Together with investigations, it accounted for two-thirds of costs.

One lending bank compared the influence of regulation to ‘turning a super-tanker around’ when embedded processes need to be changed. And we haven’t even mentioned the potential fines yet…

Companies want to implement agile technology to ensure compliance with current and future AML regulation. This includes customer journeys with adaptable processes, making sure their customers are authorised and authenticated appropriately, with an eye to future-proof for longevity, adaptability for quick customisation and swift integration. It’s a big challenge.

Some firms are reportedly taking more than 20 hours to remediate even standard risk customers – which in 90% of cases, turn out to be false positives. This is in line with the findings of our research, which showed a typical KYC remediation case took on average 18 hours across 3.7 staff members to complete.

The headline is ‘balancing the need for a frictionless customer journey with the need for robust customer due diligence.’

Firms are successfully investing in their tech stacks, this having a positive effect on their ability to effectively risk-assess their customers and delivering a better customer experience. Not only that, but there’s a knock-on effect – a reduction in the entire compliance time and cost commitment, enabling compliance teams to manage risk and maintain compliance.

Our orchestration platform allows businesses to build their entire onboarding and transaction monitoring processes onto a single platform, helping balance frictionless customer onboarding. Through a single API integration, our customers get access to 50+ industry-leading data and document providers to enable them to build workflows with fraud protection, customer experience, and regulatory requirements at heart.

The take-home message for us is ‘platforms, software, and machines will never replace humans, but they can certainly support them.’

Following our acquisition by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, we now have access to more data sources and can enhance the experience for our existing customers. With that, we are going through a rebrand, and our platform shall now be known as the LexisNexis® RiskNarrative™ platform. It’s a really exciting time and we’re looking forward to helping more firms, both in the UK and abroad.

Since university, Luke has been involved in helping to grow KYC, AML, and identity technology businesses. Luke heads up TruNarrative's FX, trading, investment, and charity sectors. He cites the best part of his job is meeting new people and businesses that have a real challenge TruNarrative can help with... or rambling about swimming, cycling, and running.