Swift sanctions solution addresses needs of large financial institutions in the critical area of regulatory compliance
Brussels, 8 October 2012 - Swift, the financial messaging provider for more than 10,000 financial institutions and corporations in 212 countries and territories, announced today its Sanctions Testing service went live. Developed in partnership with Omnicision, Sanctions Testing helps large financial institutions tune their filters in line with their risk appetite, and prove its effectiveness and efficiency.
Regulators increasingly demand that financial institutions monitor and report on the efficacy of their sanctions screening solutions. Evaluating such solutions encompasses the configuration of transactions to be screened, attributes to be considered, flexibility of the solution to change as sanctions lists are updated daily and markets evolve.
"Swift's solution addresses each of these considerations," says Nancy Atkinson, Senior Analyst, Aite Group. "With its focus on the global community of financial institutions, Swift is uniquely positioned to create utility solutions that many banks can utilize, reducing the cost per bank and the overall costs to the industry of providing such capabilities".
A number of top institutions have already expressed their interest in this solution. Dr Andreas Burger, Compliance Manager at Commerzbank, the first bank to have signed on for the service, confirms, "Effectiveness and efficiency of our sanctions filtering is of paramount importance. The new Swift service helps us with constantly testing and improving our systems and processes in order to develop a best-in-class solution."
Atkinson adds, "Sanctions Testing can do more than evaluate financial institutions' screening capabilities; it can guide financial institutions in configuring their screening processes to optimize the results".
Sanctions Testing enables banks to:
- Fully automate the creation and maintenance of test data and results analysis;
- Measure the effectiveness of systems and reduce the number of false positives;
- Produce performance reports down to the smallest detail; and
- Obtain real-time alerts and navigation on changes to sanctions lists.
"We at Commerzbank have a high level of trust in the new service and we are convinced to have Swift as a strong and experienced partner by our side", says Burger.
Earlier this year, Swift launched Sanctions Screening, a centralised service for small- and medium-sized financial institutions.
About Swift
Swift is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,000 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 212 countries and territories. Swift enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. Swift also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.
For more information, please refer to our website http://www.swift.com/ or contact:
Swift
Press Office
Tel: +32 2 655 3377
pressoffice@swift.com
