Don’t waste time – or risk your business – by doing customer due diligence on the wrong person

Running customer due diligence on potential clients is a legal requirement for US financial firms, but can be hugely time-consuming, which is why it is important not to waste valuable time running checks on the wrong person.

But how can you be sure that the name you are checking and the person in front of you are the same?

The only way to be sure that all your due diligence processes are, firstly, reliable, and secondly, quick, is to use an electronic system. That’s because, when you are completing your checks manually, not only does the process take significantly longer, but it is also open to errors.

It is easy to make mistakes when manually cross-checking names on dozens of lists, and, due to the fact fraudsters are now producing highly sophisticated forged ID documents, these can be hard – if not impossible – to spot.

This means that, if you get it wrong, not only are you spending valuable time cross-checking the 'wrong' person but, if, after running the checks, your manual process doesn’t pick this up, you could be putting your business at serious risk of money laundering.

The easiest, quickest, and most reliable way to run customer due diligence is to use an electronic platform. This will identify and verify the customer straight away, and automatically screen them against worldwide sanctions and watchlists, telling you what you need to know in seconds.

If there is a match, the system will automatically run enhanced due diligence, enabling you to understand exactly what risk – if any – working with them poses to your business.

SmartSearch also uses the latest facial recognition techniques as an extra layer of security. Just scan their photo ID and our system will use OCR to read the data and biometrics to scan the image, and then use liveness detection to compare the 'real person' with the one on the document provided to ensure the information is genuine.

Electronic identification is widely recognized as the most reliable, secure, and efficient source of information for identity solutions which is why so many financial firms across the US are now using systems like ours.

Not only are they are so much quicker and easier to use than running manual checks, but they also record every check you complete, automatically ensuring you have evidence of your AML processes.

Part of the BSA/AML requirements is that you continue to monitor clients; our system can do that for you too. Once you have checked an individual, their details remain in the system and are screened every night against global watchlists to make sure nothing has changed in terms of their sanctions, or status. If there is something you need to be aware of, it will alert you so you can take action.

By using an AML platform like ours, which has a fully integrated app that can be accessed from any device, you can identify and verify your clients anytime, anywhere, making it easier than ever to comply with your KYC requirements and ensuring you are never wasting time or risking your business by running customer due diligence on the wrong person.