This report primarily draws on a survey conducted by Fintelekt and LexisNexis Risk Solutions in 2021, which included participation from over 150 banks across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The findings from the survey have been supplemented by interviews with industry experts and practitioners within the region.
The report highlights the compliance screening challenges faced by banks, with an emphasis on their current trade screening practices. It seeks to understand future compliance screening trends with respect to budgets and technology requirements.
The key finding of the report is that banks are struggling across several areas within compliance screening, with repeated checks, manual processes and high false positives seen as the key challenges.
The survey responses point to the need for greater automation and investments in data and technology to improve the efficiency of screening. This is underscored by 74 per cent survey respondents who indicated that their organisations are forward-thinking on the use of regulatory technology (RegTech) for onboarding and periodic monitoring going forward.
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“Banks need to be prepared to invest more to improve their AML/CFT compliance programs, if they want to overcome some of the challenges that have been highlighted in this study. This is only possible if compliance values are driven from the top, and there is adequate understanding of the AML compliance risks to the bank among the board and senior management.”
– Douglas Wolfson, Director – Market Planning, FCC & Payments, LexisNexis Risk Solutions
