With the prospect of greater anti-fraud regulations aimed at U.S. financial institutions, SmartSearch is warning firms against complacency when it comes to protection against fraud. This new office will enable the company to make greater inroads into the U.S. market and protect more firms against fraud.

As the recent leaks from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) papers demonstrates, financial fraud, ID fraud and money laundering are at an all-time high with US financial services firms particularly exposed due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Heading up the SmartSearch Utah office, national sales director Chad Rawlings said they are importing the technology and expertise directly from the UK - the most heavily regulated country in the world - to make this cutting-edge technology available and affordable to protect U.S. businesses.

He said: “We have now redeveloped this technology for the U.S. market and have already started servicing U.S. firms with ‘SmartSearches’ so they can start to enjoy the same business efficiencies as their UK cousins. We have maintained the same high quality and our unique ongoing daily monitoring as standard, so that users automatically receive an alert if a customer’s status changes at any time, which includes screening for sanction and PEP status. We have also automated most of the enhanced due diligence process enabling our clients to focus on running their business.”

SmartSearch makes it simple for firms in sectors such as property, real estate, legal and financial services to onboard new customers. By providing a complete Customer Information Program (CIP) solution it meets all KYC compliance under the Bank Secrecy Act, the Patriot Act and now the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

In the UK, SmartSearch currently serves more than 4,500 client firms and around 40,000 users with national and international compliance checks. Verification of individuals takes less than two seconds and business verification takes a little longer at two to three minutes. All SmartSearch checks include automatic global sanction and PEP screening as well as on-going daily monitoring.

SmartSearch works with principle data partners Experian, Equifax and Dow Jones, taking their raw data to deliver high quality, accurate and reliable outcomes with ‘match and pass rates’ in the region of 95%. This technology saves their clients a huge amount of time and money which has resulted in a significant 98% customer retention rate for SmartSearch.

In addition, SmartSearch has developed a fully integrated app to allow checks to be performed on the go. The app is expected to provide a real competitive advantage for SmartSearch compared to manual document checks, as they do not need to be handled.

Rawlings adds: “We’ve been able to put a new, quality team together drawing from a high calibre pool of candidates from the Lehi area and the wider Silicon Slopes region. Businesses in the US need to protect themselves against the threat of ID fraud and money laundering, because right now the threat is higher than it’s ever been due to Coronavirus.”

“We also fully expect more regulations to be introduced and enforced in the near future. So it’s crucial not to be complacent about this issue and to make sure as a business you’re protected, but also compliant.”

Martin Turvey, SmartSearch’s international development director, adds: “The SmartSearch US team has had a really strong start since coming together in October, and we expect that pace to continue to accelerate as businesses look increasingly at ways to protect themselves. Coronavirus has changed the way we do business and what a lot of folks are realising now is that automated ID and document checks are not only more accurate, but also much safer as it reduces face-to-face meetings or the need to handle documents. By importing the technology we’ve been developing in the UK for almost ten years, we can provide firms in the US with the same level of absolute confidence that their businesses are secure, safe and fully compliant with current regulations at all times.”