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<div class="content-wrap text-center"><div class="sub-title m-b-10">LATEST ARTICLES</div><h5 class="title">What's in the news</h5></div>

<p><i>The rapid rate of digitalization that defined business practice during the Covid-19 pandemic opened new opportunities for criminals to exploit vulnerabilities and defraud companies, leading to a shocking rise in a new form of economic crime: platform fraud. PwC’s 2022 Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey sheds light on the trends of platform fraud and allows businesses to understand what risks they may be exposing themselves to, thereby empowering businesses to create effective risk mitigation strategies built around the use of digital tools for identity verification and data validation.</i></p>
<h2><b>What is Platform Fraud and Why is it a Threat?</b></h2>
<p>Platform fraud can very simply be defined as fraud that is committed on a digital platform, such as a social media platform, a contactless payment platform, or a remote work platform. In the financial services industry, platform fraud was included under the broad category of “financial crime”, but the rapid growth of platform fraud has led PwC to define it under its own standalone category.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a very short amount of time, platform fraud has grown to represent a significant portion of the total reported incidents of economic crime recorded in PwC’s survey. Of the surveyed companies, 39% of the reported incidents of economic crime were platform fraud. Furthermore, of these respondents, 51% reported having fallen victim to platform fraud, which is a four percentage-point increase compared to 2020’s statistics and marks the highest incidence rate in 20 years of PwC’s bi-annual reporting on economic crime.&nbsp;</p>
<h2><b>The Rise of Organised Crime – New Perpetrators Bring Greater Challenges&nbsp;</b></h2>
<p>A worrying trend in the financial crime landscape has been the entrance and rapid proliferation of organised crime networks. Compared to the nature of financial crime before the Covid-19 pandemic, the post-pandemic threat landscape has seen various forms of economic crime become organised and professional – platform fraud is no exception.&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
“Platform fraud has become a criminal enterprise – reinforcing the imperative for organisational resilience and the right tools to reduce your risk.”</blockquote>
<p>As of 2022, organised crime was responsible for committing 28% of all incidents, making it the greatest perpetrator of platform fraud. Attacks that are conducted by organised criminal groups are also more advanced and typically lead to significantly higher financial losses compared to attacks not conducted by organised criminal groups. Furthermore, the dominance of organised crime in platform fraud has been lightning fast: prior to 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic, organised crime played a negligible role in the proliferation of platform fraud.&nbsp;</p>
<p>After organised crime, the second greatest perpetrator of platform fraud are customers, who account for 25% of all incidents.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The third greatest perpetrators of platform fraud are vendors, who account for 19% of all incidents.&nbsp;</p>
<h2><b>Who Are the Victims? Large Financial Institutions (FIs) vs Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)</b></h2>
<p>When ranked by the number of instances in which they featured in incidents of platform fraud, the industries most affected by platform fraud are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Technology, Media and Communications (TMC): 62% &nbsp;</li>
<li>Financial Services (FI): 58% &nbsp;</li>
<li>Health: 49%&nbsp;</li>
<li>Retail and Consumer: 48%&nbsp;</li>
<li>Government and Public Services: 46%&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<p>This ranking reflects the general trends of victimisation that hold true for other specific types of externally perpetrated economic crime, such as customer fraud and business partner fraud. Larger, more technologically reliant industries with immense revenues have and will likely remain the greatest victims of economic crime, at least when ranked by incidence rate.</p>
<h2><b>Technology, Media and Communications and Financial Services – Forever Targeted, yet Experienced and Well Resourced</b> &nbsp;</h2>
<p>The financial services (FI) industry maintains some of the highest exposure to fraud risk of all industries across the world. The FI industry consistently ranks near or at the top of all measurements of financial crime, both for incidence rates and associated financial losses. Furthermore, outside of the FI industry, financial platforms within other industries remain the greatest target for platform fraud.&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
“Almost half of all fraud cases take place on financial platforms – the most vulnerable model, particularly those involving funds transfers. But financial impact is just the beginning. Brand damage can be devastating. The undoing of customer loyalty and trust – catastrophic.”</blockquote>
<p>However, although the TMC and FI industries are generally far more experienced in dealing with risks associated with economic crime, the industry nevertheless remains at high risk of attack – a fact demonstrated by the reality that perpetrators continue to successfully carry out attacks despite advanced security measures.&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
“Perpetrators have become more sophisticated. The stakes are high. But still, our survey shows too many business leaders, both providers and users, aren’t fully aware of their exposure.”</blockquote>
<p>The TMC and FI industries must leverage their experience and immense resources to <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/risk-assessment" target="_blank">identify and mitigate risks</a>. Not all industries have the same degree of expertise and capital that can be leveraged to their advantage.&nbsp;</p>
<h2><b>Under Threat – The Heightened Risk Exposure to New Entrants and SMEs</b></h2>
<p>In their report, PwC made an important note of the fact that the level of risk posed by platform fraud will arguably be substantially higher for SMEs and new entrants into the world of digital platforms.&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
“Well-established platform players have likely long been equipped with the proper security and controls to manage risk. But for newer entrants to the platform environment, there is dangerous potential for mushrooming risk.”</blockquote>
<p>Not only do SMEs and new entrants likely have far less experience in mitigating digital risks – such as those posed by platform fraud – but they also stand to lose far more in the event of an attack. SMEs and new entrants typically have substantially less capital that can be used to absorb losses in an incident of platform fraud. In this context, the comprehensive identification of weaknesses and exposure to risks – coupled with their active mitigation – is crucial in order to avoid potentially devastating losses. &nbsp;</p>
<h2><b>Tools for Risk Mitigation – Identity Verification and Data Validation Services for South Africa&nbsp;</b></h2>
<p>The changing economic crime threat landscape calls for a detailed analysis of risks and the rapid adoption of digital tools that empower businesses to secure their perimeters and mitigate the risks of economic crime.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As South Africa’s leading provider of world-class due diligence and remote-onboarding solutions, ThisIsMe is proud to be at the forefront of a trust-based and privacy-compliant digital world. To experience how our full suite of advanced due diligence services can serve your business, book a demonstration by contacting our team <a href="https://thisisme.com/contact-us" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;</p>

As new forms of economic crime emerge – such as platform fraud – industries need to quickly understand new threats and learn how to mitigate them.

Top 5 Industries Most Exposed to the Risk of Platform Fraud - Analysis

<p><i>After the FATF released its mutual evaluation report on South Africa’s AML/CFT legislation one year ago, the country has failed to sufficiently address the FATF’s concerns. As a result, South Africa now risks being greylisted by the FATF – a decision that has the potential to greatly affect how financial institutions across the world are obligated to conduct business in the country.&nbsp;</i></p><h2><b>What is the FATF</b></h2><p>The Financial Action Task Force is a leading intergovernmental organization founded to develop policies to combat money laundering. These policies are known as the <a href="https://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/fatfrecommendations/documents/fatf-recommendations.html" target="_blank">FATF 40 Recommendations</a> and are widely regarded as the global standard for anti-money laundering policy.&nbsp;</p><p>South Africa has been a FATF member since 2003. Recently, in October 2021, the FATF released its <a href="https://www.fatf-gafi.org/countries/s-t/southafrica/documents/mer-south-africa-2021.html" target="_blank">Mutual Evaluation Report</a>. The report evaluated South Africa’s AML/CFT practices, analyzed South Africa’s compliance with the FATF 40 Recommendations, criticized shortcomings and inconstancies, and provided valuable recommendations regarding how the country’s current systems can be strengthened.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>What is Greylisting?</b></h2><p>When a country is greylisted by the FATF, that country is subjected to increased monitoring of its anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism system. This is done to account for the increased risk of money laundering posed by that country, most often due to notable deficiencies in the design and/or application of its <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/AML-CFT-Regulations" target="_blank">AML/CFT regulatory framework</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>The FATF describes increased monitoring and greylisting as the following:&nbsp;</p><blockquote>“Jurisdictions under increased monitoring are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring. This list is often externally referred to as the greylist.” – FATF.</blockquote><p>The FATF maintains a list of countries that are greylisted, which can be found <a href="https://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/high-risk-and-other-monitored-jurisdictions/documents/increased-monitoring-october-2022.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Should South Africa be placed on this list, the country will appear alongside other greylisted jurisdictions that include Syria, Cambodia, Mali, South Sudan and Yemen. As a comparatively strong African economy with a mature financial system, South Africa will be an abnormal candidate for a greylisted status.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>Why South Africa Might be Greylisted&nbsp;</b></h2><p>As a global watchdog for money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the FATF routinely assesses the AML/CFT policies of countries around the world. Countries periodically undergo enhanced assessments conducted by the FATF, after which the FATF releases a Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) that covers the findings and recommendations for the AML/CFT legislation of a particular jurisdiction, such as South Africa.&nbsp;</p><p>One year ago, the FATF released its MER on South Africa. This MER report assessed South Africa’s AML/CFT legislation and highlighted several key deficiencies that needed to be urgently addressed in order for South Africa to avoid being greylisted. The majority of these shortcomings and strategic deficiencies were related to the State Capture saga that saw institutionalized corruption severely undermine South Africa’s criminal justice system and cripple the economy.&nbsp;</p><p>The FATF gave South Africa one year in which to demonstrate that the country was making a concerted effort to address these deficiencies, during which time the FATF placed South Africa under increased monitoring to assess its progress.&nbsp;</p><p>Now, more than one year after the start of the period of increased monitoring, South Africa has largely failed to show the FATF that it has taken the recommendations seriously and made concerted efforts to address the dire shortcomings in its AML/CFT system.&nbsp;</p><p>As a result, analysts predict that there is an 85% chance that the FATF will greylist South Africa near the start of 2023.&nbsp;</p><h2><b><font color="#000000">Impact of Greylisting on Businesses and Financial Institutions&nbsp;</font></b></h2><p>Intellidex has released a <a href="https://hub.blsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/BLSA-FATF-Intellidex-Report.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> evaluating South Africa’s chances of being greylisted and the potential fallout from such an outcome. As noted by Intellidex, one of the most significant effects of South Africa being greylisted will be increased transactional costs associated with requirements for greater due diligence.&nbsp;</p><blockquote>“The primary economic impact will arise from increased transaction costs related to enhanced due diligence applied to most South Africans’ client relationships with foreign service providers. This will increase the cost of capital and generally reduce overall foreign investment in South Africa. There will also be greater costs in the primary issuance of debt and equity particularly to international investors stemming from reputational effects and due diligence costs by book builders.” – Intellidex.&nbsp;</blockquote><p>The new requirements for <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/enhanced-due-diligence" target="_blank">enhanced due diligence</a> will most badly affect South African banks, who will be obligated to report on AML/CFT risks on an annual basis instead of every three years, while senior management will have to directly report to clients. These costs will be felt most badly by South African businesses and individuals that trade internationally and have bank accounts or investment accounts abroad. Costs will increase particularly for South African banks concerning the management of correspondence, banking relationships and relationships with global infrastructure providers such as payment systems.&nbsp;</p><p>Furthermore, according to Intellidex, capital markets will not be significantly affected in the short run as there are no automatic reactions to a greylisted status and operators are already cognisant of the risks associated with South Africa. However, ESG funds that use greylisting as a proxy for governance will likely down-weigh South African exposure. &nbsp;</p><h2><b>Impact of Greylisting on South Africa’s Economy</b>&nbsp;</h2><p>The heightened requirements for due diligence have the potential to severely undermine and stifle South African economic growth. For instance, heightened transactional costs may lead to a withdrawal of some businesses from South Africa due to declining profitability caused by increased transactional costs.&nbsp;</p><p>Furthermore, some institutions may choose to de-risk their portfolios by terminating business with South African clients, as well as opting to not start any new business dealings within South Africa or with South African clients.&nbsp;</p><p>Effects such as these have the potential to severely undermine South Africa’s economic growth.&nbsp;</p><p>At its worst, greylisting could wipe out up to 3% of SA’s GDP; in the best-case scenario, these estimates are less than 1% of GDP. &nbsp;</p><p>Nonetheless, the FATF has yet to announce its decision as to whether or not South Africa will be greylisted. Even if South Africa is greylisted, the severity of the greylisting will depend on how seriously South Africa addressed the FATF’s concerns – a serious investment of political, social and economic capital into addressing the FATF’s concerns can mean that SA’s period of being greylisted will be short-lived, whereas perceived inactivity will heighten the losses associated with a greylisted status.&nbsp;</p><p>Accordingly, should South Africa be greylisted, the exact effects of such a decision remain to be seen and depend on South Africa’s commitment to addressing the FATF’s concerns as quickly and comprehensively as possible.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>AML/CFT Compliance Solutions for South Africa&nbsp;</b></h2><p>Although there are universally recognized guidelines for AML/CFT regulations, every country typically has their own set of regulatory requirements that govern how businesses, institutions and organizations in that specific country must conduct business with their customers.&nbsp;</p><p>When doing business in a country and ensuring compliance with its complex financial regulations, it is important to employ experts in the relevant country who are best equipped to operate within the nexus of legislation, law enforcement and economic realities while delivering high-quality and cost-effective services. &nbsp;</p><h2><b>Enhanced Due Diligence, Risk Assessment and Identity Verification Services for South Africa</b>&nbsp;</h2><p>As South Africa’s leading provider of world-class due diligence and remote-onboarding solutions, ThisIsMe is proud to be at the forefront of a trust-based and privacy-compliant digital world. To experience our full suite of advanced due diligence services, book a demonstration by contacting our team <a href="https://thisisme.com/contact-us" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;</p>

How the risk of South Africa being greylisted by the FATF will affect AML/CFT regulatory compliance obligations within and outside the country

Greylisting - Impact on SA's Enhanced Due Diligence Compliance Obligations

<p><i>Today, businesses must grapple with a rapidly changing economic crime threat landscape, ensure strict regulatory compliance, and provide a world-class digital customer experience. In the context of these demands, how might a business strike a balance between security protocols like KYC and the desire to not subject customers to admin that risks annoying customers or, at worst, losing them altogether?&nbsp;</i></p><h2><b>A Novel Threat – The Rise of Customer Fraud</b>&nbsp;</h2><p>Today, businesses face a rapidly evolving economic crime landscape. The nature of existing threats is changing, with a greater emphasis than ever on the threat posed by external perpetrators of economic crime, especially customers.&nbsp;</p><p>PwC’s Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey tracks the trends that define the economic crime threat landscape. In the survey’s various categories of fraud, the category of “customer fraud” was only introduced in 2018, due to its historically minimal threat to businesses.&nbsp;</p><p></p><p>However, in 2022, customer fraud has exploded and now ranks as the second most common type of economic crime – its incidence rate is three percentage points higher than in 2020. Notably, for companies with annual global revenues of more than $10 billion, customer fraud was the number one type of fraud experienced. For all companies with annual revenues of less than $10 billion, customer fraud was the second most common type of fraud experienced, behind cybercrime.</p><p>The growth of customer fraud represents a global trend in the increased threat posed by external perpetrators of economic crime. In total, 69% of all the fraud experienced involved an external perpetrator. The threat posed by customer fraud – and the broader threat posed by external perpetrators of economic crime – necessitates that businesses implement KYC protocols to secure business perimeters and their transactions with customers and business partners alike.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>Striking the Balance – KYC, Without Compromising Customer Experience&nbsp;</b></h2><p>Today, businesses operate in a rapidly changing world – threats of economic crime, regulatory compliance obligations, and customer expectations have all seen significant changes over the course of only the last several years. Seismic events such as the Covid-19 pandemic have accelerated the rate of change.&nbsp;</p><blockquote>“Partly as a result of the pandemic, customer expectations are expanding beyond companies delivering high-quality products and services to them ensuring data privacy [and] providing a world-class digital experience to customers.” – Deloitte.</blockquote><p>Growing consumer demand for world-class digital customer experiences pose a unique challenge for businesses. On the one hand, the pervasive threat of customer fraud necessitates the implementation of KYC protocols. On the other hand, businesses cannot afford to let these protocols worsen the customer experience.</p><blockquote>“CDD procedures are among the main sources of dissatisfaction for customers. The process of collecting and verifying information is often difficult and strenuous, filled with endless requests for documents and additional in-person periodic evidence submissions.” – FATF.</blockquote><p>However, the emergence of new technologies has transformed CCD/KYC procedures. In 2017, ThisIsMe transformed the South African RegTech industry by cutting FICA compliance down from two weeks down to three minutes – an achievement that got the company featured as one of the Emerging 50 Rising Stars on the 2018 FINTECH100 list.</p><p>The transformation of FICA compliance – enabled by new digital technologies – allowed businesses to save time and money and ensure the highest levels of AML/CFT compliance, while consumers benefited from easier documentation provision and near-instantaneous personal information validation. Today, this innovation continues in the provision of excellent KYC services that can ensure security without compromising on customer experience.</p><h2><b>Optimising Compliance – Tailored KYC Solutions to Fit Every Demand&nbsp;</b></h2><p>Every business has its own unique set of requirements for security and KYC optimisation and service provision. Adapting digital security protocols to a business’s unique requirements is key to ensuring maximum effectiveness, minimizing costs, and ensuring the best possible customer experience.&nbsp;</p><blockquote>“Be too passive and the organisation risks missing a fraudulent transaction, with all the financial and reputational fallout that follows. But be too proactive, and they risk alienating, or even losing, their customer base.” – PwC.&nbsp;</blockquote><p>South Africa’s application of a <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/risk-based-approach" target="_blank">Risk-Based Approach (RBA)</a> means that every <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/Accountable-Institution" target="_blank">Accountable Institution (AI)</a> has to design and implement a framework of security protocols that are to be deemed sufficient by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC). By using a tailored approach to risk, businesses can reduce <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/enhanced-due-diligence" target="_blank">due diligence</a> requirements for individuals that are identified as being low-risk. Discussing the utility of revolutionary new technologies for enhancing the customer experience, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) commented that…</p><blockquote>“Innovative technology-based solutions – both digital ID and AML compliance transaction monitoring tools - can facilitate more accurate and up-to-date risk assessments at an optimised cost and provide greater confidence in the conclusions of that risk assessment, enabling greater use of simplified due diligence where appropriate.” – FATF.&nbsp;</blockquote><p>Greater detail and accuracy in <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/risk-assessment" target="_blank">risk assessments</a> save time and money by allowing businesses to conduct due diligence that is appropriate to the level of risk posed by an individual. This not only saves the business time and money but also provides a better customer experience.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>KYC and Customer Experience – Have Your Cake and Eat it Too</b></h2><p>Today, the availability of transformative technological solutions to ensure security and compliance – all of which can be tailored to the demands of a specific business – mean that organizations can strike a balance between security and un-intrusive administration, therein upholding the highest standards for security and regulatory compliance while simultaneously providing an excellent customer experience. &nbsp;</p><p>As South Africa’s leading provider of world-class due diligence and remote-onboarding solutions, ThisIsMe is proud to be at the forefront of a trust-based and privacy-compliant digital world. To experience how our full suite of advanced due diligence services can serve your business and its customers, book a demonstration by contacting our team <a href="https://thisisme.com/contact-us" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;</p><div><br></div>

Understand how new KYC solutions allow businesses to conduct comprehensive identity verification within a seamless, world-class customer experience.

Does KYC worsen the customer experience? Not anymore.

<p><i>Over the last decade, the FinTech and RegTech industries have revolutionized the effectiveness, cost, useability, availability and overall nature of AML/CFT regulatory compliance. Today, a wide selection of services empowers businesses to easily secure their transactions and ensure regulatory compliance, all without compromising customer experience – a contribution so significant that it has been recognized in a report by the global leader in AML/CFT legislation: the FATF.</i></p><h2><b>A Pervasive Threat – Money Laundering and Economic Crime&nbsp;</b></h2><p><a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/Anti-Money-Laundering" target="_blank">Money laundering</a> – the “cleaning” of criminal revenue to disguise its illegal source and facilitate its use in legitimate, everyday activities – has become a major concern for the vitality of our global financial system. A 2020 report by Deloitte estimated that money laundering makes up 2-5% of the global GDP, as much as $2 trillion. Pieter Alberts, senior operations manager at the Financial Intelligence Centre, said that South Africa is losing between $10 billion and $25 billion annually in illicit financial flows.&nbsp;</p><p>Although combating money laundering is a clear and urgent task, doing so in a way that does not undermine or harm businesses is equally important. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – an intergovernmental organization and global leader in AML policy – published a report titled <a href="https://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/fatfrecommendations/documents/opportunities-challenges-new-technologies-for-aml-cft.html" target="_blank">Opportunities and Challenges of New Technologies for AML/CFT</a>. By discussing the opportunities for revolutionary AML/CFT programs offered by new technologies, the FATF’s report examines how the Fintech, Regtech and Suptech industries are driving revolutionary new approaches to <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/AML-CFT-Regulations" target="_blank">AML/CFT compliance</a>.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>Boosting AML/CFT Compliance Effectiveness &nbsp;</b></h2><p>The FATF’s report included a survey that examined how new technologies are being developed and deployed for AML/CFT. Commenting on the results of their Digital Transformation questionnaire, the FAFT noted that…</p><blockquote>“85% of respondents agree that AML/CFT effectiveness in general is the most significant benefit of the use of new technologies…Respondents declared speed, flexibility, capability and better governance as the outcomes of new technologies contributing to greater AML/CFT effectiveness.”</blockquote><p>Respondents also noted that new technologies can significantly reduce the costs associated with effective AML/CFT programs – a factor that greatly increases AML/CFT effectiveness by providing stakeholders with better, more accessible tools for less money.</p><p>For developing economies in which businesses typically have less capital to devote to security and regulatory compliance (like in South Africa), reduced costs are vital for enabling the widespread adoption of effective AML/CFT programs. Since 2009, South Africa’s incident rate for economic crime has been, on average, 27 percentage points higher than the global average.<sup>1</sup> In 2020, South Africa was tied with China for the country with the highest reported incident rate of economic crime. &nbsp;To secure South Africa’s economy, the widespread adoption of AML/CFT programs is essential.&nbsp;</p><p>However, in 2020, the FATF released a <a href="https://thisisme.com/insights/SA-AML-Policy-is-Deficient-Financial-Action-Task-Force" target="_blank">report evaluating South Africa’s AML/CFT regulatory system</a>. The report identified several critical weaknesses, one of which was a discrepant focus on AML controls. Although many of SA’s larger Financial Institutions (FIs) were focused on creating and maintaining effective AML/CFT regimes, many smaller FIs were only focused on meeting the minimum requirements for regulatory compliance. Although this is understandable because smaller FIs do not have the same resources as major banks, innovation and the creation of new cost-effective technologies will continue to close this resource gap. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p><blockquote>“New technologies have the potential to make anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing measures (CFT) faster, cheaper, and more effective. They can improve the implementation of FATF Standards to advance global AML/CFT efforts, ensure financial inclusion and avoid unintended consequences such as financial exclusion.”</blockquote><p>As South Africa’s economy grows and becomes increasingly digitalized, innovation from the RegTech, Fintech and Suptech industries will be central in provisioning more accessible AML/CFT services and promoting their widespread adoption. &nbsp;</p><h2><b>The Transformation of FICA Compliance&nbsp;</b></h2><p>Efforts to combat economic crime and close the net on money laundering have led to a web of compliance obligations, many of which negatively affected customer experience. South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Center Amendment Act (FICA) is a perfect example. Although necessary to help secure South Africa’s economy and protect businesses and consumers from economic crime, FICA compliance quickly became a notoriously laborious process.&nbsp;</p><p>Initially, FICA compliance cost businesses time and money by forcing them to engage in inefficient and lengthy administration that consumed human resources. The labour-intensive process of ensuring compliance also contained many moving parts that rendered it vulnerable to non-compliance or fraud. For customers, FICA compliance entailed complex paperwork and time wasted standing in a bank queue.&nbsp;</p><p>In 2017, ThisIsMe transformed the South African RegTech industry by cutting FICA compliance down from two weeks down to three minutes – an achievement that got the company featured as one of the Emerging 50 Rising Stars on 2018’s FINTECH100 list.&nbsp;</p><p>The transformation of FICA compliance – enabled by new technologies – allowed businesses to save time and money and ensure the highest levels of AML/CFT compliance, while consumers benefited from easier documentation provision and near-instantaneous <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/identity-verification" target="_blank">identity verification</a>.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>Streamlining Compliance, Boosting Efficiency and Optimising Data Analysis Using APIs</b></h2><p>An <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/application-programming-interface" target="_blank">Application Programming Interface (API)</a> is a type of software that allows different applications to connect and communicate. APIs have immense utility within AML/CFT programs, due mainly to their immense flexibility. APIs can be used to streamline compliance routines by connecting customer identification software to monitoring tools, or integrate <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/risk-assessment" target="_blank">risk assessment</a> tools with customer risk profiles to quickly generate risk profiles.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>“Respondents to the Digital Transformation questionnaire mentioned APIs among the most used and relevant solutions to the identified money laundering and terrorist financing problems.”</p></blockquote><p>Tasks that require the processing of large data sets – such as <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/risk-assessment" target="_blank">risk assessments and analysis</a>, <a href="https://thisisme.com/resources/customer-due-diligence-ccd" target="_blank">customer due diligence</a>, and transaction monitoring – can all benefit significantly from new AML/CFT technologies like APIs. &nbsp;</p><blockquote>“APIs allow integration to happen much more quickly and with much larger datasets. This is particularly relevant as one of the most difficult challenges for many financial institutions is the integration of many different and often incompatible systems, including legacy technologies and specialised tools, created by different developers.”</blockquote><p>By streamlining administration and freeing up human resources, technologies like APIs have addressed the labour-intensive process of regulatory compliance that originally plagued FICA compliance.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>The Road Forward – Public and Private Sector Cooperation&nbsp;</b></h2><p>Cooperation has thus far paved the way for widespread innovation and the transformation of AML/CFT compliance.&nbsp;</p><blockquote>“Increased communication and cooperation between the public and private sector, informed by the type of information and analysis provided by this report, together with an emphasis on responsible adoption of new technologies and effectiveness, in particular with regard to data protection regulations, will be key to overcoming these challenges and fully realizing the promise of responsible innovation to strengthen the effectiveness of AML/CFT measures."</blockquote><p>By combining public sector legislation with private sector technological innovation, South Africa has been able to modernize its economy and actively move towards a secure economy based on transactional security. Today, businesses no longer have to choose between lower costs, improved efficiency, and world-class customer experience. When ensuring regulatory compliance, businesses can have their cake and eat it too.&nbsp;</p><h2><b>Enhanced Due Diligence, KYC and Identity Verification Services South Africa</b></h2><p><meta charset="utf-8"></p><p>As South Africa’s leading provider of world-class due diligence and remote-onboarding solutions, ThisIsMe is proud to be at the forefront of a trust-based and privacy-compliant digital world. To experience how our full suite of advanced due diligence services can serve your business, book a demonstration by contacting our team <a href="https://thisisme.com/contact-us" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><i>Citations&nbsp;</i></p><ol><li><span lang="EN-US">PwC. Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey. 2020.</span><span></span><i><br></i></li></ol>

Understand how and why private sector innovation has transformed and continues to enrich AML/CFT regulatory compliance for businesses.

Why the RegTech and FinTech Industries are Fundamental to AML/CFT

<div class="sub-title m-b-10">Trusted by the Best</div><h5 class="title">Our Customers Love Us</h5>

<h5 class="title">ThisIsMe API</h5><blockquote>Integrate today to seamlessly automate and scale your key processes with our standards-based API</blockquote><p class="w-80 w-m-100">Essential verification tasks need not be a drain on resources. By integrating your key processes directly with our API, you ensure compliance, reduce risk and deliver a swift experience your customers will love.</p><a class="btn btn-small btn-olivine-green cms-btn" href="https://ct-live-api.thisisme.com/" target="_blank">Documentation</a>

<h5 class="title">Hosted Verifications</h5><blockquote>Our Partners Platform empowers hundreds of users with the tools they need to validate and verify information every day</blockquote><p class="w-80">When direct integration is not required, our hosted solution, the Partners Platform, can execute any service available via API integration, right in the web. The Partners Platform can be customised to fit branding requirements and company permissions are strictly followed, putting you in control of who sees what.</p><a class="btn btn-small btn-olivine-green cms-btn" href="/#Demo-Form">Request Demo</a>

<div classname="sub-title m-b-10">INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS</div>
<h5 classname="title">Solutions to real problems</h5>

<p>Accountable and Reporting Institutions (AI’s and RI’s) are all too familiar with the headache surrounding FICA requirements of verifying customers. Thankfully, the risk-based approach adopted with the 2017 Amendments to FICA puts the power in the hands of AIs and RIs.&nbsp;</p><p>Our suite of products and services provide confirmation of an individual’s identity, most probable address, contact number, and employer information in real time, allowing our clients to corroborate information and documents they’ve been supplied with.&nbsp;</p><p>When riskier transactions present themselves, elevated risk checks supporting enhanced due diligence exercises can easily be performed via the same platform.</p>

ThisIsMe combines access to golden-source data with world-class technology allowing for seamless KYC regulatory compliance

Know Your Customer

<p>When getting onboarded, clients, customers and staff are often subjected to cumbersome procedures that fail to adequately reduce the inherent associated risk for the organisation.</p><p>Simplify your customers’ journey and optimise internal resources by replacing legacy procedures with ThisIsMe’s state-of-the-art onboarding solutions. Our leading digital onboarding services are designed to satisfy all onboarding requirement and range from simple CID (Customer Identification) transactions to enhanced customer due diligence exercises. ThisIsMe also offers bespoke onboarding solutions for clients whose complex set of demands require an approach that is tailored to their specific business requirements and risk determination strategies.&nbsp;<br></p><p>Our services can be consumed via Mobile SDK (Android and iOS) and through API microservices, thereby giving you the flexibility to inject smart validation into all stages of the onboarding process.<br></p>

Sign up new customers, staff or suppliers seamlessly with ThisIsMe’s onboarding solutions

Automated Digital Onboarding

<p>ThisIsMe provides direct, real-time identity verification services by utilising the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) database – a system that provides multiple solutions for the verification of an individual’s national identity and deceased status.&nbsp;</p><p>The rapidly increasing demand for real-time application processing has made identity verification a critical component of any business’s engagement strategy.&nbsp;<br></p><p>ThisIsMe’s identity verification services empower businesses to mitigate risk associated with identity fraud by quickly and accurately verifying a client’s identity, all while maintaining the highest standards for data security, confidentiality, and customer experience.&nbsp;<br></p>

Perform real-time identity verification and mitigate fraud risks prevalent in today’s digital lifecycles

Identity Verification Solutions

<p>By using a photograph or captured selfie to cross-check and verify identity, ThisIsMe’s Biometric Verification Solution offers the highest degree of real-time risk mitigation for businesses engaging with clients in a digital or face-to-face environment. </p><p>The service scans a photograph or captured selfie and transforms facial features into digital biometric information. The information is then used to cross-check the photograph against a provided Identity Document or Passport, thereby confirming or invalidating the individual’s provided identity information.</p><p>For South African citizens, ThisIsMe offers an enhanced service that crosschecks a photograph and a given identity document against the digital image held by the DHA on the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS).</p><p>A detailed report is generated confirming the matching results between the various images including those retrieved from the HANIS database.</p>

Determine the validity of an individual’s identity with our facial recognition solutions

Facial Biometric Verification

<p>ThisIsMe’s risk assessment services help to ensure regulatory compliance by complimenting an effectively implemented risk-based approach.&nbsp;</p><p>Our Anti-Money Laundering protocols, Politically Exposed Persons checks, and Sanction Screening solutions provide a detailed and timeous identification of potential risk, thereby allowing businesses to properly execute their risk mitigation procedures and ensure regulatory compliance.&nbsp;<br></p><p>ThisIsMe offers multiple additional tools for the further investigation into potential risk, including risk related to mobile telephone numbers, email addresses, or credit-risk specifically. Our Credit Risk Assessment solutions range from a simple Credit Score and Summative Credit Profiles, all the way through to a Complete Consumer Credit Report.<br></p>

Screen  your customers to protect your business from associating with financial criminal activity or politically exposed individuals

Risk Assessment Services

<p>ThisIsMe’s Information Validation Services allow for the quick and efficient validation of documents and information. Our services allow businesses to reduce costs and streamline cumbersome administrative tasks such as client onboarding or the management of a customer base, while still maintaining the highest standards for data accuracy, security, and customer experience. &nbsp;</p><p>ThisIsMe offers a range of solutions that provide access to data sources covering Contact Information, Address Data, Employer Information, Property Ownership, CIPC Business Principal Statuses, Trusts, and Marital Status Information. &nbsp;Access to this information is provided in multiple forms, via multiple channels, thus ensuring the most appropriate solution to each of our clients’ unique business requirements and existing workflows.<br></p>

Access secure, compliant solutions, utilising multiple trusted data sources for the validation of information