According to official statistics, 2-5% of global GDP is laundered every year. In financial terms, this equates to up to $2 trillion. While criminals continue to find more sophisticated ways to hide their illegal activities, financial organizations and banks must seek new tools to identify and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illegal actions. This is where AML tools come into play.
The increasing amount of transactions in the financial sector and growing awareness of the importance of AML compliance drive the rise in demand for AML software. The ability to automate AML processes and reduce the risk of human error is also a key factor in the growth of the market. According to Fortune Business Insights, the anti-money laundering software market is expected to grow to $4.31 billion by 2029, up from $1.82 billion in 2022.
To help you get started with your AML initiative and make the most of it, we have created a comprehensive guide. Read on to learn about the existing AML solutions available on the market, how they work, their capabilities, and the features you should consider when creating a custom solution.
How does anti-money laundering software work?
To put it simply, anti-money laundering software helps companies minimize the risks of financial crimes. This is achieved through accurate screening of transitions for detecting suspicious patterns and estimating their compliance with AML regulations, processing customer data, and assessing possible threats. Let’s take a closer look at the specific tasks that AML solutions are capable of to gain a better understanding of how they can be used.
- Data collection. Organizations use AML software to collect and store the personal information of their customers in order to meet compliance requirements.
- Data processing. AML systems process data to verify its accuracy and to check it against PEP and sanction lists.
- Risk assessment and profiling. The software analyzes various factors to estimate the likelihood that a customer is involved in money laundering.
- Transaction monitoring. AML software checks each transaction to detect any suspicious patterns and signs, with a special focus on large transactions conducted within a short period of time.
- Suspicious activity reporting. The system notifies an organization if any signs of illegal activities have been detected in a customer’s behavior.
- Compliance reporting. Modern AML solutions can provide businesses with risk assessments, audit trails, and reports on customer due diligence (CDD).
By having these facets, AML software can help organizations comply with strict AML regulations and prevent financial crimes effectively.
Top 5 anti-money laundering software vendors
Let’s explore some most prominent AML solutions currently available on the market.
AMLCheck
AML Check is a powerful software that helps businesses across various industries comply with anti-money laundering regulations. It identifies Politically Exposed Persons (PEP), individuals on sanction lists, and other databases to mitigate risk and avoid penalties. AMLCheck also estimates risk scores according to European AML and terrorist financing legislation. It provides detailed reports of suspicious activities to support investigations and prevent financial crime.
ComplyAdvantage
ComplyAdvantage is a leading anti-money laundering software vendor which offers multiple tools to help businesses identify and manage AML and fraud risks to remain compliant with regulations. Their user-friendly software allows for easy transaction monitoring, customer screening, and data checks in line with FATF recommendations. ComplyAdvantage’s team of experts provides exceptional customer support to keep businesses ahead of potential risks and threats. In addition to anti money laundering software for banks, the vendor offers risk scoring, analytics, training, and education programs to further enhance organizations’ AML and fraud detection capabilities.
Actico
Actico is a top provider of AML software that detects suspicious behavior and alarming signs in payment operations. It’s an essential tool for analyzing transactions that have high risks, such as those with large sums of money or flagged by regulatory authorities. Actico’s software generates detailed reports on suspicious activity, enabling users to identify potential threats and take appropriate action. It’s a crucial component of any comprehensive risk management strategy and is essential for businesses to protect their assets and reputation.
Feedzai
Feedzai provides ML-powered tools for financial fraud detection, making financial transactions more secure for banks, financial institutions, e-commerce sites, and retail stores. The software seamlessly integrates with these industries to protect customers’ financial information in real-time. By using machine learning algorithms, Feedzai detects and prevents fraudulent activities, ensuring uninterrupted operations and security for businesses and customers alike.
Refinitiv World-Check
Refinitiv World-Check simplifies anti-money laundering compliance with its comprehensive software solution. The product features a regularly updated database of sanctioned individuals and entities. It also enables PEP screening and provides access to global regulatory and law enforcement lists, making it an essential tool for companies working across borders or in highly regulated industries.
Custom AML solution development: step-by-step process
Although there are various off-the-shelf AML solutions available on the market, some companies have unique compliance requirements or face specific anti-money laundering challenges that cannot be addressed by existing software solutions. In this case, custom anti-money laundering software development may be the right choice.
Developing your own AML software allows you to fully customize the solution to your organization’s specific needs, ensuring that you are able to meet regulatory requirements and prevent financial crimes effectively. It also offers greater flexibility, improved security and compliance, better integration with existing systems, and increased scalability
The process of developing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) software is similar to the process of creating any other software product. However, some stages may differ slightly depending on your development team’s approach and your specific business needs. At Itexus, we follow the project realization steps outlined below:
Planning
At this stage, it is crucial for developers to learn as much as they can about your business processes, compliance requirements, and key risks that you want to address with your AML solution. Through the software planning process, they will be able to gain a comprehensive understanding of your organization’s needs and goals, and be able to tailor their approach to ensure the best possible outcome for your business. This may involve conducting stakeholder interviews, reviewing existing documentation, and conducting research into industry best practices.
Once the development team has gathered all the necessary information, they will be able to create a detailed roadmap that outlines all the key stages of the project. This will include setting deadlines for each stage, as well as identifying any potential risks or obstacles that may need to be addressed along the way. By taking a strategic approach to the development process, the team will be able to ensure that the final product meets all your organization’s needs and requirements.
Design
Next, the team must identify suitable design concepts and create prototypes and wireframes that align with the functionality and architecture of the future software. This process involves carefully considering various design options and evaluating them against the project’s goals and requirements. Once the team has developed a range of potential design concepts, they will begin creating detailed sketches and wireframes to help visualize the final product. These sketches and wireframes will be shared with the client for feedback and review to ensure that the chosen design aligns with their vision and meets their expectations. We always discuss all ideas with our clients to ensure that the chosen variants fully meet their expectations and that they are satisfied with the final product.
Development
This stage is associated with a lot of coding work, and it is typically the most time-consuming step in the software development process. At this stage, we create all the features that your software will offer to its users. This includes implementing the user interface, developing the backend infrastructure, and ensuring that the software is secure and reliable. We write and test code for each feature, and make sure that they all work together seamlessly. Despite the challenges, this stage is also the most rewarding, as you see your software taking shape and becoming a functional product that people can use.
Testing
We understand the importance of a smooth integration of your AML solution into your business processes. That is why we employ a rigorous testing process to ensure that the solution is fully functional and reliable. Our testing process includes unit testing, integration testing, and system testing to detect and fix any bugs. Additionally, we conduct performance testing to ensure that the solution meets your organization’s requirements.
Deployment
Once everything is ready, the system can be deployed in the production environment. This will allow for the integration of the AML system into your business processes, ensuring compliance with any relevant regulations and providing an additional layer of security against financial crime.
AML software core features
Anti-money laundering software development services enable organizations to create custom solutions that fully reflect their needs and compliance requirements. Therefore, the feature set will depend entirely on your specific needs. However, a good anti-money laundering prevention solution should include some general features:
Customer identification and verification
It involves gathering and processing various details about the customer, such as their name, place of residence, date of birth, and ID number. Verification features are implemented to check the authenticity of submitted documents and to cross-reference provided information with available databases.
Risk assessment and management
This is a crucial component of an AML solution which should include features for assessing customer and transaction risks. To do this, various factors such as customer location, profile, transaction amount, transaction type, and customer professional activity should be estimated. When the risk score is too high, a compliance solution should send a notification or alert. This helps the organization take timely measures and mitigate AML risks.
Transaction monitoring
This feature typically relies on either set rules or ML-powered algorithms. Based on them, the system can analyze transactions in real-time to detect any suspicious patterns or signs that may indicate fraudulent activities. A good AML system can also adjust the level of transaction monitoring according to the risk profile of each customer.
Suspicious activity reporting and audit trails
In many jurisdictions, authorities require organizations to prepare reports on suspicious and high-risk financial transactions, such as international money transfers and cash operations that include large amounts. Banks also need to submit SARs (Suspicious Activity Reports) and indicate any transactions that can be related to illegal activities.
Record keeping
Record keeping as well as document storage and management are among regulatory requirements in many jurisdictions. That’s why anti-money laundering detection software should provide organizations with easy access to all the stored data. Also, it may be mandatory for financial organizations to keep a comprehensive audit trail that will show all actions conducted on the stored records.
Data analytics and visualization
Advanced AML software may include data analytics and visualization capabilities to gain insights from large volumes of transactional data. This can help identify hidden patterns, trends, or anomalies that may indicate suspicious activities. Data analytics and visualization tools can improve the effectiveness of AML investigations and risk assessments.
Challenges in AML software development
Developing AML software can provide significant benefits to organizations, but it also presents a number of challenges. You should be aware of these challenges beforehand so that you can address them properly.
Data quality and availability
When fraud detection and anti-money laundering software scan data, they need to check it against the latest sanction and PEP lists and verified across different sources. However, limited access to the required databases can make it impossible to conduct proper risk assessments. Therefore, developing AML software requires significant investment in data processing and machine learning capabilities.
Regulatory compliance
Compliance requirements vary by jurisdiction, so companies must thoroughly study all the existing rules before developing and implementing anti-money laundering software. These requirements can also change over time as regulators update them. Therefore, it is necessary to track all updates and adjust AML tools accordingly.
Technical limitations
Developing anti-money laundering (AML) software requires significant expertise in data processing, machine learning, and compliance, which may be difficult for smaller companies to achieve. The software must also be able to handle large volumes of data in real time, which can be a significant technical challenge. Therefore, it is important to choose a reliable and experienced development partner.
Integration with third-parties
Integrating anti-money laundering prevention software with other systems used by an organization can be a time-consuming process. Developers must ensure seamless data exchange between all solutions and verify that all modules function properly.
False positives and false negatives
Issues of this type typically occur when an organization uses rule-based AML software with a limited number of rules for checking, when a solution is outdated, or when it relies on databases that are no longer relevant. The best ways to overcome such issues are to regularly update the existing software and to integrate AI-powered functionality to increase the accuracy of checking procedures.
Choosing AML Software Development Team
When selecting a team for developing AML software, there are several factors to consider.
- First, it is important to identify the specific skills and expertise required for the project. This may include knowledge of programming languages, experience with data analysis and modeling, and familiarity with AML regulations and compliance requirements.
- Another key consideration is the team’s track record of success. Have they worked on similar projects before? What were the outcomes of those projects? It is also important to evaluate their project management skills, including their ability to communicate effectively, manage timelines and budgets, and adapt to changing requirements.
- In addition to technical skills, it is important to consider the team’s cultural fit with your organization. Are their values and work style aligned with yours? Will they be able to work well with your existing team members and stakeholders?
- Finally, it is important to consider the team’s availability and capacity to take on the project. Do they have the bandwidth to take on a new project, and are they able to commit to the required timeline? Taking the time to carefully evaluate these factors can help ensure that you select a team that is well-suited to your needs and can deliver high-quality AML software.
Key Roles in AML Software Development
The composition of a team required to create anti-money laundering prevention software may vary depending on the individual project’s needs. However, as a rule, such a team includes the following specialists:
- Project manager
- Business analyst
- Backend & frontend developers, architect
- UI/UX designer
- QA engineer
Outsourcing vs In-House Development
If you do not have enough in-house resources for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) software development, outsourcing these services can be a more feasible option than hiring an entire in-house team.
By outsourcing the project, you can gain access to a wider range of talent that may not be available locally. This can be especially helpful for organizations that need to develop AML software for complex or niche industries.
Furthermore, outsourcing can provide cost savings by reducing the need for expensive in-house staff, hardware, and infrastructure. Outsourcing companies can often provide these services at a lower cost due to economies of scale and lower overheads.
Another advantage of outsourcing AML software development is that it can help to reduce the risk of fraud and financial crime. By working with experienced and reputable outsourcing companies, you can ensure that your AML software is designed and developed to the highest standards of quality and security.
Overall, outsourcing AML software development can be an effective way to access specialized expertise, reduce costs, and mitigate risks. It is important to carefully evaluate potential outsourcing partners and ensure that they have the necessary expertise and experience to meet your specific needs.
Summary
While it may be impossible to fully prevent financial crimes, reliable AML software can help minimize risks. With AML system integration, you can better protect your business and meet compliance requirements. Developing custom AML software can offer multiple advantages over using a ready-made solution. However, it is still a complex process that requires strong technical skills and a deep understanding of the industry.
At Itexus, we have a wealth of experience in creating AI-based solutions that can effectively monitor transactions and accurately scan customer profiles. We have an in-depth understanding of the nuances involved in building such software and can customize its features to meet the specific needs of your business. Additionally, we are constantly keeping up with the latest developments in technologies to ensure that our solutions remain cutting-edge and effective in today’s rapidly-evolving business landscape.
We are pleased to offer our expertise to help you with your AML project. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us to discuss your needs and how we can be of assistance.