Thomson Reuters has launched a new solution to support financial institutions and their clients to increase efficiency and reduce costs in complying with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.

Accelus Org ID was developed in partnership with leading financial institutions, corporations, asset managers and hedge funds and following discussions with nine regulators from key financial markets around the world.

Providing a complete managed service covering the on-boarding of clients, risk categorization and risk screening, Accelus Org ID allows financial institutions to more effectively respond to new and ongoing regulatory requirements around the world, said the company in a statement.

Accelus Org ID acts as a neutral ‘central clearing house’ by creating accurate identity documentation, which works as a globally-recognized KYC ‘passport’, and provides the ability to screen for high money laundering risk characteristics, negative news flow or sanctions issues.

The clients of financial institutions submit a single set of identity documents to Accelus Org ID and can make them available to all of their authorized financial institutions.

According to risk technology research firm Chartis, the impact of KYC due diligence requirements is being widely felt across the financial industry.

“Recent regulations have made the requirements around client information more time-consuming and onerous, with increased burden specifically placed on fund managers, hedge funds and corporate clients for identity documentation,” remarked Peyman Mestchian, the managing partner at Chartis.

“There is a lot of talk in the industry around the need for managed KYC services and given the onus being placed on the end client, their participation in any service is critical,” he added.

Phil Weisberg, the global head of Foreign Exchange at Thomson Reuters said: “As a globally regulated trading business, it is vital that we have absolute faith that we are meeting our KYC regulatory requirements using a secure service.”

"Accelus Org ID is supporting us with all aspects of KYC needed for our 7,000 member entities and this will ease the path for our clients to trade and invest with confidence," he added.

Accelus Org ID service is centrally updated as new regulations come into effect and covers rules and regulations surrounding the AML, FATCA, Dodd-Frank, EMIR and MIFID, supporting KYC compliance in the US, Europe, Asia  and the emerging markets.

The solution is fully secure and easily integrates with financial institutions’ existing internal systems and is available globally in 63 languages.

“Regulators see the health of a firm’s KYC standards and how these are consistently applied across their business as the first step in winning the fight against money laundering and the financing of crime and terrorism,” explained David Craig, the president, Financial & Risk, Thomson Reuters.

“Failures in this area bring both serious financial and reputational cost to firms. Thomson Reuters is working with the industry to improve operational efficiency, enhance the end-client experience and reduce costs for clients and the financial institutions which serve them,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service