Know Your Business (KYB) Processes

Similar to the identification and monitoring applied to individual accounts, corporate accounts also require know your client (KYC) practices. In this article, we will highlight the logistical challenges organisations face when implementing and conducting KYB on its customers. Though the Know Your Business (KYB) process holds broad comparisons to KYC for individual customers, the details […]
Sanctions and PEP Screening for Challenger Banks and Fintechs

The landscape for banking services has changed beyond recognition in the last few years. The award of the first retail banking license for 100 years to Metro Bank in 2010, opened the flood gates, and since then ever more challenger banks and fintechs are disrupting the market. Many challenger banks are targeting specific customer segments […]
Commonality of Personal Names in Sanctions Screening

Screening for sanctions names is tricky. As well as people trying to hide their identity by using an alias, names can be presented for screening in all sorts of different ways. Matching a name on a sanctions list requires a screening system with complex algorithms that will identify the match without also creating a significant […]
The Sanctions Screening of Long Names

When performing payments screening assurance, we often find issues with the screening of very short and very long names. We expect when testing screening systems that a name from a sanctions list – when placed as an originator or beneficiary in a payments message – will create an alert. However, in practice when we do […]
Cryptocurrency & its uses in Criminal & Terrorist Activities

Cryptocurrency has been on the rise of popularity ever since the invention of Bitcoin in 2009. Following the 2008 financial crisis, it was created to allow people to have full independent control of their money. Meaning the avoidance of all “typical” avenues of financial management, including the reliance of banks and or governments. Cryptocurrencies work […]
PEPs and Adverse Media Screening – Benchmark Survey

At SQA Consulting, we provide assurance and advisory services to many Financial Institutions (FIs) to help them manage their financial crime risk. Focusing on screening and transaction monitoring, our consultants have years of hands-on experience in banks and other FIs. Over the years, we have worked with many of the world’s leading FIs to test […]