Situation
Detecting financial crime is a hot topic for financial institutions which are bound by strict laws and regulations to prevent financial offences, such as money laundering and terrorism financing. Compliance with these laws is closely monitored by regulators. To be compliant, financial institutions perform various (preventive) checks, but due to outdated technology and a high degree of complexity in customer processes, the operational costs for such checks are often high. It is therefore an important goal for major Dutch banks to carry out these checks efficiently and cost-effectively. Valcon offers its expertise in the field of data engineering, data science and cloud engineering to help financial institutions realise this.
Approach
Data platform as a robust foundation for quick detection of financial crime
Valcon has implemented a future-proof and scalable data platform for financial crime at a Dutch bank. The platform allows the bank to execute its financial crime work processes more efficiently by distributing and effectively utilising the workload of the financial checks. This allows risk analysts in the financial crime operation to pick up and assess the right (and often domain-specific) cases quicker. This way, control processes become faster, and the human capital of highly trained risk analysts can be utilised more effectively. The automation also results in fewer operational FTEs performing (repetitive) manual labour. Furthermore, the bank can ensure compliance with laws and regulations regarding financial crime imposed by the regulators.
An integrated approach
The custom data platform, which has been created in close collaboration with various business and IT departments, fits within the enterprise architecture of the organisation. Valcon continues to develop the platform in phases with new functionalities supporting both business and compliance needs. In this process, Valcon was responsible for IT implementation and project management. In addition, Valcon uses its experience in process and change consulting to ensure that the developed IT solution is fully adopted within the existing organisation.
Results
Initially, the data platform was set up to fully automate the semi-manual distribution of financial crime cases. New insights, business and compliance needs have been added along the way with the aim of additional optimisation of the work stock distribution. In future, Valcon will collaborate with the client to realise smarter work stock planning and increase the effectiveness of the financial crime operation. This can, for example, be achieved by implementing suitable machine learning use cases, like an optimal distribution and planning model based on our data science expertise.
This case is an adequate example of projects that Valcon carries out within the financial services industry.
Our blog series about financial crime
You might also be interested in reading our blog series about financial crime written by partner and expert Luke Firmin:
