The need for speed in financial crime compliance

The faster financial institutions can onboard new customers, the faster they can start transacting with them, introducing products, and growing the relationship.

However, Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements can slow down that process, and as the risk of financial crime escalates, so does regulatory scrutiny. Companies face compliance challenges related to evolving technologies, increasingly sophisticated threats, cross-border transactions, and expanding layers of interconnection within the financial system.

They also face pressure from customers, who expect fast approval and seamless onboarding for financial services, lest they take their business elsewhere.

In response, progressive financial institutions are transforming their KYC operations, and many are using managed services to do it. They’re working with providers who combine multijurisdictional regulatory knowledge, forensic-grade due diligence, and AI-powered processes to expedite compliance processes and get to revenue faster.

This need for speed reflects a larger trend in managed services. According to recent KPMG research, buyers across industries say their No. 1 goal with the model is faster speed to market for new products and services. It’s also one of their top areas of managed services satisfaction.

In a managed services model, a provider takes responsibility for the end-to-end KYC process — from data acquisition to customer due diligence to ongoing monitoring — and delivers it remotely on a multi-year subscription with predictable costs.

In addition to accelerating customer onboarding, the best KYC managed services bring strategic collaboration to help financial institutions:

• Comply with ever-changing regulations, while increasing regulator trust
• Prevent fines, sanctions, and reputational damage
• Reduce operational costs
• Improve accuracy
• Improve the customer experience
• Avoid costly remediations
• Anticipate and prevent conditions that raise government scrutiny

This model can help financial institutions transform their KYC operations from a compliance obligation to a strategic asset, while staying ahead of regulatory change.