As the UK Government faces up to the growing threat of international money laundering, regulators are set to get tougher on businesses who fail to satisfy Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. 

“The critical importance of the financial sector to the UK’s economy means that money laundering can threaten national security and prosperity, and undermine the integrity of the UK's financial system and international reputation,” says the National Crime Agency (NCA). The cost to the UK is not just reputational. The NCA believes this is part of a financial crime wave that could be costing the UK economy as much as £24bn a year.

“There is now an urgent need to tackle money laundering through KYC,” says Simon Wadey, Group Compliance Director at EQ. “Where this doesn’t take place, regulators are likely to take swift punitive action. Expectations have changed and it’s a threat that no one can afford to be complacent about.”

With many businesses already facing a long list of challenges as we emerge from the post-pandemic world, finding the capacity for this kind of project is a big ask. And it’s particularly daunting for organisations such as banks, building societies and insurance companies with numerous corporate clients on their books.

“There is also a great deal of consolidation among financial services companies at the moment,” adds Simon. “That means that the acquisitive company needs to clean the data of the purchased company to bring it into line with its own KYC standards and processes of KYC. That can be a big project.”

Recent research from the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, KPMG and SAS shows that UK business is starting to rise to the challenge with a third of finance firms accelerating the use of artificial intelligence to tackle KYC processes.

“We’re at the forefront of applying digital technology,” says Simon. “But there are aspects of KYC that cannot be resolved reliably through automated processes alone. We’re finding a growing demand from clients who want us to use our combination of people and technology to sort out their KYC speedily and reliably. We’re renowned for getting experienced people on the ground quickly to work closely with clients and take the pressure off them.”

EQ Hazell Carr support and provide financial services businesses with vital KYC/AML experience that improve and speed up these processes, as well as ensuring regulatory timeframes are met.

Whether this is working alongside your in house team to increase capacity, or taking on the whole project, we can get moving quickly (within days) to provide your business with specialist skills and international expertise.