Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait implements anti money laundering solution through Khorafi Business Machines

The solution was deployed by Khorafi Business Machines (KBM), the Kuwait operation of Gulf Business Machines (GBM).

RiskSecure Anti Money Laundering solution is a solution that was first introduced by HLB-NGA International of Johannesburg, South Africa, a KBM/GBM business partner.

The KBM provided solution, which was implemented over a period of three months, is an on-line solution integrating the complete suites and components for Money Laundering detection. These requirements include Online filtering blacklisted names in order to stop any illegal transactions as well as analysing and detecting any suspicious activities based on transactions pattern and doubtful behaviours.

RiskSecure is monitored by an AML Compliance Officer located in the Bank's head office's Risk Management Division. The solution is installed in main banks' departments and within the bank's 15 branches with customized view and authorization settings so that only related suspicious transactions may be viewed and analysed.

If a suspicious transaction is detected or a name is matched with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) or the Central Bank black list, the system sends an on-line alert through email, SMS or a print report based on the type of alert and setting preference. The software can also send automatic periodic weekly or monthly reports to the Central Bank or any audit department.

"Among the benefits of the solution, other than the amount of time it saves by replacing the manual process that has been the norm, is that it seriously reduces risks by detecting and preventing money laundering and frauds activities. It also allows a holistic view and the monitoring of different risks including operational risk, thus meeting Basel II requirements. It has a powerful data integrity module, which helps the bank monitor incomplete or missing information, Invalid ID numbers, same names but different ID, same ID different names, missing nationality, etc. This are some of the problems commonly experienced by the banks that stand in the way of implementing an efficient Anti Money Laundering solution" said Jamal Ahmed, Assistant General Manager of ABK for Risk Management.

"The selection of KBM for this undertaking followed a thorough evaluation of many solutions/vendors. What we found so unique about the RiskSecure solution, is that it hasn't been built and developed by a software company, but by a specialised charted accountants and audit firms which make it specifically tailored to banking audit and risk supervision, as well being very user friendly" added Mr Ahmed.

Meeting the central bank and international financial regulations for Money Laundering detection is the first stage of the project ABK is undertaking. This will be followed by a complete Operational Risk Monitoring that would lead to complete implementation of Basel II Accord through the same solution.