ACA Compliance Group (ACA), a leading provider of governance, risk, and compliance advisory services and technology solutions for financial services firms, today announced the launch of its enhanced anti-money laundering (AML) solution. Available now, ACA’s full-service offering provides firms globally with a dedicated solution for meeting their requirements under various Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Identification Program (CIP) regulations. The solution combines ACA’s regulatory technology (RegTech) and managed services to provide firms with faster, more accurate data screening, ongoing monitoring, remediation, and reporting while increasing overall operational efficiencies and cost savings.

Regulatory penalties related to AML have trended upward since 2015, with 2019 seeing over $8B in fines globally. In May 2018, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) Customer Due Diligence Rule (the CDD Rule) came into effect requiring financial institutions to risk assess customers and to identify and verify underlying beneficial owners for certain legal entity customers. Throughout 2020, regulators have remained focused on AML. For example, in September, FinCEN published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) describing its intent to modernize AML regulations.

Carlo Di Florio, Global Chief Services Officer, ACA Compliance Group, said: “With AML in the news and a continued priority for regulators and enforcement authorities around the globe, firms need to ensure their AML program is effective. These increased risks combining with the evolving challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic – a phenomenon ACA calls RiskMutation™ – mean risk and compliance leaders need enhanced capabilities. ACA’s AML KYC/CIP solution provides firms with that enhanced capability while also improving the efficiency, resilience, and scale of their programs.”

ACA’s AML KYC/CIP solution is provided by ACA’s team of experienced technologists and compliance professionals, which includes Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (CAMS). It introduces new functionality in ACA’s ComplianceAlpha RegTech platform powered by ComplyAdvantage’s industry-leading artificial intelligence (AI)-driven financial crime risk data and detection technology. Through ComplianceAlpha, firms can benefit from automated, ongoing monitoring of over 90 sanctions and watchlists, politically exposed persons (PEPs), and more than 300 adverse media sources, as well as advanced name matching algorithms for both individuals and entities. 

Charles Delingpole, Founder and CEO, ComplyAdvantage, said: “We see faulty and incomplete data as one of the largest issues that compliance officers face. By investing in better data, companies can improve operational efficiency and mitigate risk. ComplyAdvantage has taken a fundamentally different approach to AML risk making us the financial industry’s leading source of AI-driven financial crime risk data and detection technology. We are pleased to partner with ACA Compliance Group and look forward to our AML risk data strengthening their new solution.”

Raj Bakhru, Chief Innovation Officer, ACA Compliance Group, said: “ComplianceAlpha’s KYC/CIP monitoring functionality is ACA’s latest RegTech innovation developed in direct response to the evolving risks and challenges our clients are facing as part of RiskMutation. We’re pleased to provide our clients with a solution that can help them protect their business and manage RiskMutation through enhanced data accuracy, ongoing monitoring, increased efficiencies, and a significantly reduced total cost of ownership.”

ACA’s RegTech solutions also include functionality for managing employee compliance, trade surveillance, compliance policies and procedures, marketing reviews, and third-party risk.