Accuity has conducted a survey on trade compliance and the specific challenges facing the industry. More than 120 compliance professionals from banks, insurance and fintech firms around the world participated in the survey.

The results reveal differences in how global banks, corporates and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) manage trade compliance according to the risk solutions company and provider of financial crime compliance, payments and financial counterparty know your customer (KYC) solutions.

 Key findings

Trade compliance is not always handled by a dedicated team is one of the key findings of the research.

Banks are managing trade compliance mostly through a dedicated compliance function.  But NBFIs are handling it as part of the KYC process and corporations as part of a central compliance function or general operational team.

 Screening and challenges

Multi-variable screening is mostly limited to banks, with more than 90 per cent of banks screening for five or more data points, including sanctions, goods, vessel names and ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs), compared to only a third of non-banks.

The biggest challenges for banks and corporations are keeping up with rapidly changing regulations and increasing expectations, while NBFIs find document-heavy processes the biggest burden.

Investment and competitive advantage

Sixty per cent of firms revealed that they plan to invest in the integration or interconnectivity of systems, with 74 per cent looking to improve data sharing and transparency.

Competitive advantage is seen as the main benefit of trade compliance. Corporations reported less concern over fines, while prioritising improving the flow of business through smarter licence management.

An infographic showing the results of Accuity’s trade compliance survey can be found here.

Categories: Trade Based Financial crimes News

Tags: data, KYC, NBFIs, survey, UBOs