Financial institutions paid 50% more in fines in 2022 for failing to comply with AML guidelines and prevent illegal financial activities. And unfortunately, most of these institutions are based in the USA.
Here are some famous examples:
- Danske Bank forfeited $2 billion for defrauding U.S. banks regarding its anti-money laundering controls so its high-risk customers outside of Estonia, including Russia, could access the U.S. financial system.
- Bank Julius Baer paid over $79 million for helping to launder $36 million in bribes to officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and other soccer federations, using the United States.
- Moneygram International forfeited $125 million for failing to strengthen its anti-fraud and AML compliance program, which allowed criminals to launder money and defraud customers.
Here are some of the must-explore anti-fraud trends to watch for in 2024.
AML software helps you avoid such nightmarish situations. These tools help you monitor transactions, quickly flag suspicious activity, and automate the compliance process.
But choosing the perfect one is a hassle for two reasons:
- First, there are several of them.
- Second, they all look similar — both in pricing and features.
Fortunately, using our experience in building AML software for banks, we reviewed all of the tools on the market and narrowed them down to just 6.
- Scanwriter
- Sanction Scanner
- Refinitiv World-check Risk Intelligence
- Abrigo BAM+
- Dow Jones Risk and Compliance
- Ondato
We considered the capability of each software, user experience, accessibility to support, customer reviews, and integration with other AML analysis tools.
Note: Looking to digitize and organize paper documents for analysis? Check out ScanWriter right away.
Pro Tip: You can always combine two or more tools to take advantage of their strengths and weaknesses.
ScanWriter
ScanWriter is a tool created by Personable to automate the investigation of money laundering.
It digitizes, centralizes, organizes, and analyzes data from financial documents like invoices, bank statements, and check images.
AML analysts detect and track fraudulent transactions using this tool within a short period.
6 reasons banks use ScanWriter for investigating fraud cases:
- ScanWriter Automates Data Preparation from Start to Finish
Data preparation consumes 85% of the budget to investigate fraud and financial crimes, per Mckinsey.
You have to hire a team of clerks to manually transcribe data from mountains of paper documents and PDFs into tables or spreadsheets and manually review them for errors.
You may use general-purpose optical character recognition (OCR) tools to speed up the process. But that, too, is a problem.
General-purpose OCRs jumble up the data and capture irrelevant information to the fraud investigation, such as page number, bank name, address, and heading.
Take a look at the data extracted and organized using Adobe:
The table on the right is the data extracted from the bank statement on the left. Notice it’s all jumbled up. Plus, some of the data in the spreadsheet has no relevance to the fraud investigation. So you’ll have to spend extra time reformatting the data into the correct columns and deleting some information.
Fortunately, ScanWriter solves all that.
I’ll tell you how.
It extracts only relevant data from financial documents and organizes them neatly into rows and columns within minutes.
Not just that, ScanWriter automates the complete data preparation process and makes it analytics-ready for anti-fraud professionals.
It takes three simple steps:
- Create a case.
- Upload pictures or pdfs of the bank records and other financial documents.
- Attend to something else while:
- ScanWriter reads through the documents, extracts and organizes the relevant information, like payee, amount, and date, into orderly columns and rows in minutes into Excel sheets.
- ScanWriter also creates data visualizations for financial statements automatically to give analytics ready data to investigators.
You’d spend 90% less time on data preparation.
- It’s Fitted with Excel and Power BI Integrations
ScanWriter integrates with Excel and Power BI. This way, you can easily analyze the organized data to discover patterns or anomalies indicating suspicious activity.
With Excel, you can present your data in a structured format, with each item in separate columns.
But you could go further since Excel spreadsheets tell half the story. And if it’s a litigation case, the judge and jury may find it difficult to read a spreadsheet if it’s not presented clearly and understandably.
For that reason, ScanWriter also integrates with Power BI. With it, you can turn massive amounts of data into graphical visualizations that reveal patterns and connections.
This integration comes with a host of ready-made models, one of which is the flow of funds.
The flow of funds model shows where the money is coming from and going with the help of visual nodes, arrows, and lines. The thickness of each line is directly proportional to the volume of money transferred along it.
Also, read – Asset Tracing: How Technology Can Help Fraud Investigators Follow The Money To Trace Assets?
- Scan Writer Allows You to Verify Every Data It Extracts Easily
In a one-off case, the illegible handwriting or partially masked information used in the original document can make it difficult for ScanWriter to extract the necessary information accurately.
That’s why ScanWriter allows you to verify the accuracy of each piece of data it extracts in three ways without hopping from one platform to another.
ScanWriter places the original document and spreadsheet on each side, using a dual-screen display.
With just a click on any given data item in the spreadsheet, you can instantly pinpoint the corresponding information displayed on the left-hand side of the original document.
Another way to verify the accuracy is to use the “compare data” feature.
This places the spreadsheet entries next to their corresponding document column in the source document.
This way, you can quickly compare the numbers on the same screen. And if you spot an error, no sweat — edit it right there on the spreadsheet!
Finally, “Check Balances” reconciles the data from various financial documents over a day or month.
It adds the cash inflow (credit) to the starting balance and subtracts the outflow (debit), giving you a running balance.
It then compares the running balance with the daily balance on the bank statement, which produces a “difference” column.
When the “difference” column is zero all the way down, your data is accurate.
This ensures every data item ScanWriter extracts is 100% accurate.
- Creates a Complete Audit Trail
Keeping an audit trail is crucial, especially if you need to use the document as evidence in court. This establishes the document’s integrity and authenticity.
With ScanWriter, the image of the financial document is embedded in the Excel sheet alongside the details extracted from it.
You can also use the source link in the Excel sheet to pinpoint where the data came from. Right-click on the data you wish to verify, select the source link on the next screen, and click “Open Source Link.”
This brings up the originating document and highlights the exact place where the data was pulled from.
- ScanWriter accurately reads documents from any financial institution.
The structure and format of the financial documents from financial institutions differ. For example, here’s a check from American Express:
And here’s one from JP Morgan Chase:
Notice the details on each check are structured differently. This can make it difficult to extract relevant data.
To solve this, ScanWriter has developed 15,000+ readers representing the document formats of different financial institutions.
For example, say the bank statement you wish to analyze is from HSBC. You’d select the HSBC reader so the software knows exactly what data to extract and how to tabulate it.
Also, you could contact our team to create a custom reader for any financial institution not captured in our database. You shall have it in less than 48 hours.
- It’s Secure
We understand you place a premium on the safety of the data you process. That’s why we decided to make our software an on-premise solution.
All data processed by ScanWriter remains on your local computer instead of on the cloud, protecting you from data breaches and hacking attempts.
Pricing
We offer $5,495 per license for one workstation user, ten customized readers, and a non-prorated $3,234 annual maintenance fee.
Pros of ScanWriter
- Very responsive support team available 24/7
- Includes various accuracy checks to ensure 100% accuracy of the data extracted
- Recognizes any type of document regardless of structure, handwriting, or font type
- Supports over 21 languages
Cons of ScanWriter
- It currently doesn’t offer real-time transaction monitoring
Sign up for a free demo now to discover how ScanWriter can help you automate your fraud investigation process.
Sanction Scanner
Sanction Scanner is an AI-powered AML software for banks that helps them meet compliance obligations. It offers name screening, transaction monitoring, transaction screening, and real-time customer risk assessment.
Key Features and Pros
- It’s integrated with over 3,000 global sanctions, watchlists, and adverse media data, updated every 15 minutes.
- You can create safelists, localists, blacklists, and special rules to limit false positives. You can also try out and adjust each custom rule using the sandbox testing environment.
- Supports AML name screening.
- Enables transaction monitoring, transaction screening, and adverse Media screening.
- Monitors customers’ transactions — withdrawals, deposits, and money transfers — in real time. Once suspicious activity is discovered, it automatically sets off an alarm and stops the transaction.
- Allows you to create and add your local blacklist and whitelist.
- The API integrates easily with your AML compliance workflow.
Cons of Sanction Scanner
- The reporting dashboard needs to be clearer.
Pricing
It’s available on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Refinitiv World-Check Risk Intelligence
Refinitiv World-Check is a database with information to assist organizations in meeting their KYC and third-party screening obligations.
The data is aggregated from watch lists, government records, adverse media data, and other legitimate public domain sources. This helps banks meet their due diligence obligations and prevent financial crimes before they occur.
You can access this database through purpose-built screening platforms, APIs, and selected partner software.
Key Features and Pros
- Provides accurate data sourced by research analysts and subject matter experts with local public service experience.
- Integrates easily with existing workflows and processes.
- All data is fully structured, aggregated, and de-duplicated.
- There’s additional coverage for Marijuana-related businesses, sanction sets for payment screening, and US SAM.
- The user interface is friendly.
- The data is structured in a way that’s easy to navigate. Additionally, there are hundreds of keywords and 60+ risk topics to filter search results.
- While searching the database, there’s no time lag. The result pops up almost immediately.
- The data is constantly updated from their research centers located across all continents.
- The linking of associated subjects allows you to search for and identify criminal networks and organizations.
- Subject names are provided alongside biographical information such as titles, positions, and passport numbers.
Cons of Refinitiv World-Check Risk Intelligence
- The pricing is not transparent. It would take a demo call and a sales presentation to determine whether the pricing fits your budget.
- You can only upload files in the archaic CSV format.
- The Case Manager can be disorganized and challenging to manage.
- There are no unique identifiers like photographs and date of birth. This poses a challenge when identifying individuals with similar names.
- In-app chat is the only way to contact the support team. And they’re sometimes late to respond due to time zone differences.
Pricing
It’s not publicly available.
Abrigo BAM+
Abrigo BAM+ is an AML software designed specifically for banks and financial institutions. That’s why it’s fondly called a banker’s toolbox.
It has a suite of software solutions that help banks manage various aspects of their operations. This ranges from AML, lending and credit risk, underwriting, stress testing, and data analysis to ALL/ACL calculations.
Key Features and Pros
- The interface is user-friendly.
- You can get help optimizing your AML operation and software from their internal team of experts — financial crime consultants, former bankers, BSA officers, and regulators.
- You can calibrate the software according to your risk appetite, which reduces false positives.
- It allows you to create custom fraud scenarios to detect specific types of fraud.
- Daily creates a visual presentation of your fraud prevention efforts. Displays fraud transaction types, their frequencies, number prevented, and amounts lost and recovered.
- Automates the process of filing SARs and CTRs.
- The customer support staff are responsive and answer promptly.
Cons of Abrigo BAM+
- You can’t create customized alerts.
- Navigation is sometimes clunky.
- Opaque pricing.
Pricing
Not publicly available
Dow Jones Risk & Compliance
Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, like Refinitiv World Check, provides data and applications that help financial institutions meet compliance requirements.
All data is obtained from government directories, official websites, newspaper articles, and other publicly available sources. Subscribers gain access to the database and use it for KYC due diligence and third-party screening.
Key Features and Pros
- Its database is one of the most up-to-date.
- It has a suite of tools for CDD (customer due diligence) and ongoing screening of customers against watch lists and global sanction lists.
- You can screen multiple entities and persons simultaneously with one query. This makes it quicker than its competitors.
- Turnaround time for risk reports is very fast.
Cons of Dow Jones Risk & Compliance
- There are occurrences of server downtimes.
- Opaque pricing.
- There are reported cases of false positives.
Pricing
It’s not publicly available.
Ondato
Ondato is an AML tool that streamlines the entire KYC, KYB, and AML processes. This way, banks can safely onboard clients, perform anti-money laundering screening, and continuously monitor their customers.
Additionally, Ondato is an excellent tool for digital banks and neobanks, who must onboard clients remotely. The reason is that they offer a full suite of solutions for onboarding clients remotely. This includes digital, photo, and live video verification, biometric authentication, e-signature authentication, and case management.
Key Features and Pros
- The support team responds promptly.
- It has five key solutions: KYB, KYC, CDP, CDD, and authentication.
- Continually performs checks on customers after they’ve been onboarded.
- It offers a variety of advanced verification methods — facial recognition, document verification, and biometric verification.
- It integrates with international and local sanction registries and other public and private legitimate data sources.
- Automatically extracts information from government-issued documents using the OCR method.
- The user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate.
- It has a biometric tool for authenticating your clients’ age.
- It is reasonably priced.
- It is integrated with a sandbox environment to test your verification process before going live.
Cons of Ondato
- You can’t create rules specific to your risk appetite and business needs. This leads to false positives.
- Currently operating in only 192 countries.
- Integrating with your core system can prove difficult.
Pricing
Ondato has three pricing tiers for each service. It starts from 59 to 549 Euros per month. But you could contact the sales team to create a custom pricing tier per your needs.
How to choose the best AML software for banks (top features to look at)
Support for Identity Verification
Identity verification is confirming customers’ identities to ensure they’re genuine. This helps you avoid unwittingly facilitating money laundering or other illicit activities.
To verify an individual’s identity, an AML must be capable of collecting customer information and comparing it to legitimate data sources. This way, you can ensure the information isn’t stolen or falsified.
Customer information includes:
- Identity documents such as driver’s license, passport, etc.
- Biometric data like fingerprints or selfies.
- PII (Personal Identifiable Information), such as full name, date of birth, and primary address.
Deployment Model
AML software uses two major types of deployment models: on-premise and cloud. And each has benefits and drawbacks.
On-premise deployment gives you complete control over your data. But that would mean you must spend more money to maintain an in-house IT team and face more regulatory scrutiny.
In contrast, the provider directly controls your AML infrastructure with cloud deployment. In exchange, you face less regulatory scrutiny and spend less on maintenance and security.
Integration With Authoritative Data Sources for Screening.
Integration with authoritative data sources is crucial for AML software for banks and financial institutions. This way, you can avoid inadvertently processing transactions with high-risk entities, which can result in hefty penalties and reputational damage.
When choosing an AML software for your bank, look for vendors that offer integration with a wide range of authoritative data sources. These may include:
- Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) lists
- Sanctions and watchlists
- Law enforcement agencies lists
- Adverse media reports
Automatic Generation of Data for Reporting
Financial institutions are required by law to fill out specific reports once they suspect fraudulent activity by customers to comply with financial regulations. These regulations include the Bank Secrecy Act, The Patriot Act, and FATF (Financial Action Task Force) recommendations.
Some reports, like CTR and SAR, are globally required. Others are country-specific and only required by local financial intelligence units (FIUs).
For example, the United States requires Form 8300 and Foreign Bank and Financial Account Reports (FBARs).
Your AML software should be able to automatically generate the data you need to fill out financial reports. This way, you can reduce the risk of errors while filing out the report.
Guaranteed Security of Processed Data
You have to collect sensitive customer data to comply with AML policies. This includes PII, identification documents such as birth certificates and driving licenses, biometric details, etc.
And privacy laws mandate you protect this data. Else, you run the risk of fines and prosecution.
Any AML software you select must incorporate security measures like multi-factor authentication, data encryption, and third-party audits to protect sensitive information.
Additionally, the software should have industry-standard certifications for data privacy and security. Examples include:
- GDPR
- ISO/IEC 27001
- SOC 2
- California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CPRA)
Audit Trail
When choosing AML software for bank, support for audit trails should be a top consideration because audit trails are essential for establishing the integrity and authenticity of documents.
An AML software with support for audit trails should be able to:
- Capture and record changes made to documents.
- Save the identity of the person who made the changes.
- Record the time the changes were made.
Transaction Monitoring
Banks are bound to record customer transactions as per AML regulations. This helps identify patterns that may indicate money laundering or terrorist financing.
Ensure your AML software has customizable rules and thresholds, can generate alerts for suspicious activity, and can analyze transaction data.
Case Management
Your analysts may need to step in to handle the verification process.
For example, a customer may have a history of fraudulent activity but seem genuine this time. Human intervention will ensure the customer is treated fairly while also protecting the company from risk.
In such cases, having an AML tool with case management ensures analysts have all the data they’d need in one place. Otherwise, they’d have to spend extra time compiling the data manually, delaying resolution.
Final Thoughts: The Best AML Software for Banks
To make it easier for you to make your choice, here’s a table summarizing the differences between Scanwriter, Sanction Scanner, Refinitiv World-check Intelligence, Abrigo BAM+, Dow Jones Risk Compliance, and Ondato.
| Deployment Model | Services available | Languages supported | |
| Scanwriter | On-premise | 1. Digitalization of paper documents 2. Extraction of data from PDFs 3. Built-in checks to verify the accuracy of extracted data 4. Automated data visualizations like flow of funds | 21+ |
| Sanction Scanner | Cloud, Web-based, and On-premise | 1. ML name screening 2. AML transaction monitoring 3. AML transaction screening 4. Adverse media screening 5. Automated daily ongoing monitoring 6. Customer risk assessment | English |
| Refinitiv World-check Intelligence | Cloud, SaaS, Web-based | Data and risk management | 65+ |
| Abrigo BAM+ | Cloud | 1. AML transaction monitoring 2. Watchlist filtering 3. Case management 4. Automated daily ongoing monitoring | English |
| Dow Jones Risk & Compliance | On-premise and Cloud | Data risk management | EnglishFrenchGermanSpanishPortuguese (Brazil)JapaneseKoreanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional) |
| Ondato | Cloud | 1. Identity verification (KYC) 2. Business onboarding (KYB) 3. Customer data platform (CDP) 4. Due-diligence 5. Authentication 6. Remote compliance services | 18 |
Not every AML software will fit your needs. However, you could review the list above and select one with the features your bank needs to fulfill its compliance obligations.
However, if you want to digitize, capture, and organize financial documents related to a fraud investigation in minutes rather than days, contact us now for a live demo of ScanWriter.