Money laundering is one of the biggest threats to the UK economy, with a staggering £88 billion estimated to be laundered in Britain every year. The National Crime Agency puts the cost of this to our economy at $100 billion per year. With such huge sums of ill-gotten gains flowing relatively freely through our economy, the UK government has put strict laws in place to combat this dirty money.
These laws require companies in industries at risk of money laundering to have the necessary defences in place to identify possible money launderers, deny them service and report them. These are not just to protect our economy but also the companies themselves. Anti-money laundering (AML) regulations come with harsh punishments for those found to be in breach and being found to have facilitated money laundering can cause irreversible reputational damage.
AML checks form an important part of any company’s anti-money laundering defences and are one of the most effective tools in the fight against illicit funds. Anti-money laundering software identifies suspicious transactions, confirms customers’ identities are genuine, checks them against international criminal databases and flags questionable customer activity.
The top AML checking platforms also offer more specific enhanced due diligence checks such as for PEPs and sanctions, adverse media and the ultimate beneficial owner of funds (UBO) that allow companies to get a more complete picture of an individual’s money laundering risk.
AML check platforms offer a vital service to UK businesses and the economy as a whole. Below we will look at the top 5 AML check platforms on the market in 2023.
Red Flag Alert
Red Flag Alert is the UK’s only independently owned credit referencing agency. They have twenty-five years of experience in business intelligence, over 9,000 UK business users and a database of over 15M businesses with 180,000+ daily updates.
RFA’s cloud-based business intelligence platform provides an AML solution allowing customers to streamline customer due diligence, efficient onboarding, and improves their ability to fight financial crime. Our AML checks can be performed instantly, optimising the customer experience and ensuring enhanced due diligence to assure regulatory compliance.
Red Flag Alert data comes from market-leading data owners and their own proprietary AI-powered algorithms enrich data and provide unique insights on UK and international companies.
- ✔️UBO Checks
- ✔️ Full company reports
- ✔️ Digital KYC
- ✔️ Enhanced and Bulk AML Check
- ✔️ PEPS and Sanctions Screening
- ✔️ Adverse Media monitoring
- ✔️ Client Portfolio Management
- ✔️ CRM integration
SmartSearch
SmartSearch is an anti-money laundering (AML) compliance solution that helps businesses meet their AML obligations. It is cloud-based and easy to use, and offers a wide range of features for businesses that want to protect themselves from money laundering and other financial crimes.
SmartSearch’s featured tools include:
- ✔️ User-friendly interface
- ✔️Powerful search engine
- ✔️ Wide range of reports
- ✔️Integration with other AML systems
ComplyAdvantage
ComplyAdvantage is a provider of AML compliance solutions to businesses of all sizes, including banks, financial institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges, and other regulated entities.
The platform includes a wide range of features, including:
- ✔️ User-friendly interface
- ✔️Sanctions Screening
- ✔️PEP Screening
- ✔️Transaction Monitoring
- ✔️Adverse Media Screening
Sumsub
Sumsub is a global identity verification platform that helps businesses confirm their customers’ identities and onboard them quickly and securely, allowing customers to meet their compliance obligations and improve the customer onboarding process.
Here are some of the businesses that use Sumsub:
- ✔️Banks
- ✔️Cryptocurrency exchanges
- ✔️Online gaming companies
- ✔️Gig economy platforms
Aplyid
Aplyid is a global identity verification company that provides businesses with a simple, fast, and secure way to verify the identities of their customers. This helps businesses to reduce fraud, comply with AML regulations, and improve the customer experience.
The Aplyid platform can be used to verify a wide range of customer identities, including:
- ✔️Individuals
- ✔️Businesses
- ✔️Non-profit organisations
