The latest amendment to the 4th European Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD4.1) will increase the frequency with which financial institutions have to conduct due diligence checks on their customers, thereby increasing the already significant cost of compliance.

It will also expose the frailties of many firms’ existing systems, too reliant on manual processes and ill-designed for the modern financial service environment and the use of digital channels. New government-backed eID schemes will provide a means to perform digital checks but in many cases these will not be ready by July 2017, leaving financial services providers to find an alternative technology to bridge the gap.

The message to financial services providers is clear, get this wrong and there will be massive cost to pay. Banks are already spending on average $60m a year on KYC compliance. In the UK alone, the collective cost of financial crime compliance, including enhanced systems and controls and recruitment of staff, exceeds £5 billion a year.

The new directive also introduces more severe penalties for non-compliance, raising the stakes even higher for financial institutions and making the case for the replacement of error-prone manual systems. But there is a much greater potential cost to financial institutions if they are prevented from delivering digital services due to the friction caused by the customer due diligence process.

It is therefore vital that firms explore how mobile technology, present in most modern smartphones, enables firms to address their customer due diligence challenge, ensuring compliance and providing a more efficient and secure on-boarding.

This webcast, hosted by Finextra and Mitek, featured insights from industry experts and explored the questions and challenges posed by the amended AML directive

• What additional measures are introduced by AMLD4.1?
• What type of transactions and institutions are included in the new scope?
• What are the penalties for non-compliance?
• What are the eIDAs and how can they help?
• What role can mobile technology play?
• Why is it important that firms act now?

Speakers included:

• Sarah Clark, General Manager, Identity, Mitek
• Steve Pannifer, COO, Consult Hyperion
• Jonathan Williams, Principal Consultant, Mk2 Consulting
• Elena Elia, Associate Barrister, Pinsent Masons.

Join Finextra and Mitek and a number of leading market participants to listen to the debate and gain business-critical insights into the implications of new AML requirements.