In the ever-evolving financial landscape, a small national bank in the Nordics found a trailblazing solution to handle the complex demands of financial crime risk assessments - Acuminor's Risk Assessment Pro. This innovative platform allowed the bank to achieve an impressive cost saving of €800K annually, previously spent on consultancy fees, while significantly speeding up the risk assessment process and creating quality actionable outcomes to implement across their financial crime controls. For example, using the outputs of the risk assessment to refresh their transaction monitoring scenarios.
Delving Deeper into the Impact of Risk Assessment Pro
By implementing Risk Assessment Pro, the bank was able to construct and sustain an accurate financial crime risk assessment. This comprehensive view empowered them to thoroughly understand the manifold threats that could expose the bank to money laundering, terrorist financing, and sanction violations. For the first time they had a map revealing where their highest risks were, assessing the performance of their controls and pointing out vulnerabilities.
In a financial ecosystem where illicit activities continue to grow in complexity, having such an intricate understanding of risks is transformative. It provides financial institutions with the critical intelligence needed to safeguard their operations proactively, mitigate regulatory issues, reduce unnecessary de-risking and fine-tune their controls, whilst upholding their reputation in the market.
Innovating KYC Processes with Tailored Customer Risk Indicators
Risk Assessment Pro’s advanced capabilities extend beyond assessing institutional risks. The platform can also generate tailored customer risk indicators, an enhancement that was leveraged to streamline the bank's Know Your Customer (KYC) process. The automatic generation of these indicators improved the efficiency of customer onboarding and ongoing due diligence, while ensuring an effective risk-based approach, as mandated by regulatory authorities.
Refining Transaction Monitoring with Precision and Relevance
One of the major feats achieved by deploying Risk Assessment Pro was the identification of gaps in the bank’s transaction monitoring setup. This visibility empowered the bank to weed out unnecessary transaction monitoring rules and replace them with precise, relevant transaction risk models.
Such refined transaction monitoring helps in better detection and prevention of suspicious activities, reducing the risk of financial crimes. Plus, it spares the bank from incurring costs related to false positives and the consequent investigations. It also helps the bank communicate effectively with their transaction monitoring tech provider, for the first time they can be clear on the changes and scenarios they would like their provider to implement.
Saving Time and Money
Perhaps one of the most astounding achievements was the platform’s impact on time efficiency. Three major projects – risk assessment, KYC process refinement, and transaction monitoring overhaul – were completed in a matter of weeks. Compared to the original plan of 18 months using consultants and manual processes, this represents an incredible acceleration.
With annual savings of €800,000 and an expedited project timeline, the bank experienced a transformative ROI. It's a testament to the fact that harnessing digital technologies like Acuminor's Risk Assessment Pro can lead to large-scale efficiencies, cost savings, and effective risk management in the banking industry.
This success story is not just about a single bank's transformation. It paints a broader picture of the future of financial crime risk management. It showcases how the integration of innovative technology can revolutionise banking operations, making them more secure, efficient, and in alignment with regulatory demands. Acuminor's Risk Assessment Pro stands at the forefront of this digital transformation, providing valuable insights that enable banks to stay one step ahead in the fight against financial crime.
