SWIFT, a member-owned cooperative for conducting business operations with confidence, has announced an expansion to its financial crime compliance services portfolio with two new services coming in 2016.

Sanctions list management will enable financial institutions to access, manage and customise multiple sanctions list feeds on a secure, SWIFT-hosted platform.

A new payments data quality assurance service will help banks evaluate the quality of originator and beneficiary information in the SWIFT messages they send or receive. In addition, SWIFT will continue to expand its Know Your Customer (KYC) offering.

These new services are part of SWIFT’s strategic roadmap for delivering a portfolio of complementary financial crime compliance solutions using the utility model, which increases standardisation and mutualises cost. Fuelled by SWIFT-led industry collaboration, this approach is enabling financial institutions to increase effectiveness and efficiency and mitigate cost and risk related to financial crime compliance.

Sanctions list management will provide a secure platform for financial institutions of all sizes to access, manage and customise multiple list feeds, including sanctions, politically exposed persons (PEP), negative news and private screening lists. By providing a central point for list standardisation and enrichment, it will enable development of community-based lists of risk information, facilitating industry collaboration on sanctions compliance.

The new Payments data quality service will help financial institutions understand the presence and quality of originator and beneficiary information in their SWIFT messages. The service will verify whether this data meets regulatory requirements in line with FATF Recommendation 16.

Reporting and alerts will help institutions assess and improve the quality of their own data and allow them to take appropriate measures with their counterparties to help ensure compliance objectives are met.

SWIFT will also continue to broaden its Know Your Customer (KYC) offering, building on the success of The KYC Registry. Since its launch in December 2014, more than 1,470 customer institutions from 569 different financial groups in 176 countries have joined the Registry. In 2016, SWIFT will introduce additional value-added KYC services from SWIFT and strategic partners to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ experience for KYC-related requirements.

Luc Meurant, head of financial crime compliance services, SWIFT, said: “Industry needs are driving our development priorities as we expand our financial crime compliance services portfolio. Through our utility model and community-driven approach, we are committed to helping our customers to further increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their financial crime compliance programmes.” – TradeArabia News Service