Innovative platform to reduce financial crime and combat de-risking to globally launch in May
Elucidate, a RegTech offering an automated financial crime risk assessment platform, is launching a pilot involving ten banks from a variety of markets, including Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and CIS, to reduce financial crime and combat “de-risking.”
The platform, called the Elucidate FinCrime Index, provides standardised analysis and assessment of financial crime risk, and scores banks and other financial services providers on their vulnerability to crimes such as money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption, trafficking and tax evasion. This is a critical step in enabling emerging markets to overcome barriers to international financial services, which have become pervasive in recent years.
The index enables banks to quantify their risk of financial crime by utilising data, automated algorithms and machine learning. Banks are able to use the analysis to make targeted changes to their controls or operations and to monitor their progress. Institutions can use the platform to share their profile with international financial institutions and use the assessment to factually demonstrate their financial crime risk.
The benefit of this approach is particularly compelling in emerging markets, many of which have seen a substantial decrease in or lack of access to international correspondent banking in recent years. This phenomenon, referred to by the World Bank and others as de-risking, has made financial services less accessible, has raised the cost of international remittances and has increased the complexity of international trading relationships. For markets where remittances and trade represent critical economic inputs, de-risking presents an existential risk to the market.
De-risking is primarily driven by the inability of banks to assess and understand financial crime risk.
The platform provides the only viable means of countering de-risking, by offering a clear, objective and fact-based assessment of financial crime risk. The platform also provides transparency throughout the banking community, so as to enable banks to easily understand and manage financial crime risk, as well as to initiate new relationships with international banks.
“De-risking is a scourge on emerging markets and previous efforts to combat it have failed to produce adequate results,” said Shane Riedel, CEO of Elucidate. “The EFI ensures that financial crime risk is accurately and factually assessed, whilst also enabling banks to receive credit for their efforts to manage risk effectively.”
The platform is to be launched globally in May and will be available to support banks and other financial services providers across all markets to manage their financial crime risk and ensure strong international connectivity for the sake of their customers.
