Vneuron – Planet Compliance 2021 RegTech Interview

Let start with a brief introduction, what can you tell us about Vneuron and your RegTech offering? 

AML Compliance is Complex. Through our technologies we made it simple and affordable. So far, and less in 3 years since its launch, Reis™ RCS have already screened 10M customers, it monitors and filters $5bn worth of transactions per year, and is used by 10K daily users.

Financial Institutions are not only subject to their jurisdiction’s regulation, but also to regional and international regulations. Deploying a compliant and effective AML policy usually requires FIs to deploy several systems and manage the hassle of integrating them together, in addition to the FI’s Information System including legacy ones.

Reis™ RCS is the one-stop-shop for AML technologies (https://www.vneuron.com/compliance/). Through its integrated capabilities, Reis™ RCS brings an immediate response to financial institutions aiming to deploy a comprehensive, modern and customizable AML solution. Please find below its major modules, features and capabilities:

  • Full KYC lifecycle and on-boarding approval automation
  • PEP/Sanctions Screening with online and batch features with built-in integration to major Compliance content providers (Refinitiv and Dow Jones)
  • Risk-Based Approach engine and automatic customer risk scoring and classification based on a configurable risk matrix
  • Real-time payments and remittance transaction screening
  • AML Transaction monitoring and profiling

In addition to these capabilities, Reis™ RCS is provided with an integration workbench which allows it to connect with a wide span of IS generations: Modern and API-based systems to legacy ones (AS400, HP3000, etc.). You can find through this link an excerpt of the system’s API: https://api.appreis.com/

What are some of the biggest challenges your solutions solve for your clients?

As a result of different surveys conducted on our client base, we found out that our solution reduces by 40% the cost per client acquisition and operations costs.

In addition to  that, one of the most popular challenges our clients face is false positives especially with low-source languages like arabic for instance. The compliance officer might receive thousands of positives when typing a new client name which will take him days of work to investigate the right match. This is where our solution comes in handy with its NLP supported technology. We developed an internal algorithm that helps reduce the false positives with a customizable matching rate making the onboarding process an easy and fast task.

We have also integrated an automatic workflow to help the compliance officer and the senior manager coordinate their investigation in place joining documents and centralizing the exchange of the information just in one place.

Finally, our solution can be adapted to legacy systems relieving our clients from the worry of changing their whole core systems to adapt to the new compliance technologies.

Could you give us a use case of why a client came to you and how they are using your solution to solve their particular challenge? 

We can state the case of one of the leading banks in Africa having branches in 11 countries across Africa and Europe. This client solicited us to find a solution for a recent compliance problem though they were using another renown solution provider. They were using legacy systems but they could not  perform real time transaction monitoring and filtering on new services like the prepaid card or mobile payment. Since our technology can easily adapt to legacy systems we could’ve provided the right solution for our client merging cutting edge solutions with old systems.

How would you describe the differences between your offering from others in your RegTech category?

We can state differences between our offering and others by mentioning our cost-effectiveness and our automated workflows and finally our flexibility regarding legacy systems while still covering all new services, technology and regulations. Basically by choosing us, you don’t have to make compromises for compliance.

What advice would you give to decision makers when choosing a RegTech solution such as the ones you offer?

  1. We can advice the following point for decision makers:
  2. Make sure of the Vocation of the solution:
  3. Opt for a solution specifically designed to meet anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulatory requirements, not a simple module grafted onto a generic risk management system or a business software package designed for transactional purposes
  4. Learn about the effectiveness of its filtering algorithms
  5. Opt for a solution that has an effective filtering algorithm capable of taking into account all typographical, phonetic and linguistic errors, thereby improving the quality of results, reducing false positives, minimizing the processing burden on analysts and reducing compliance costs.
  6. Verify the multidimensionality of the Risk Matrix
  7. Check that the solution allows the integration, parameterization and calibration of a multidimensional risk matrix so that all the 8 How to Choose the right anti-money laundering system client’s KYC data can be analyzed in detail, the client’s risk profile, ideally supported by a rating, can be established and appropriate due diligence measures can be taken

More information on how to choose the best solution provider can be found on our white paper: https://www.vneuron.com/compliance/how-to-choose-your-aml-ft-software/

Due to the global pandemic a lot has changed in the world in the last year. How has your company changed in the last 12 months?

The global pandemic has indeed changed the way businesses operate and we are not excluded from that. We are proud to announce the launch of our cloud-based solutions. We also digitized our customer acquisition process. and finally we are launching our e-kyc application to help our clients comply with the recent and evolving regulations despite the pandemic.

Can you tell us about some of your most recent achievements or milestones you’ve reached?

10/05/2019: First group adopting Vneuron’s Technologies for all its subsidiaries (BH Bank Group for these following subsidiaries: BH Assurances, BH Leasing, BH Equity and BH Real Estate)

08/2019: New module: Real-Time Transaction Screening Module (Reis™ TFS) – Cross-border and Domestic payments

12/2019: Reached great volume milestone: 10M KYC + $5bn worth of transactions screened annually

03/2020: Public publishing of the product’s API documentation: https://api.appreis.com/

10/2020: Closing a deal with a Pan African Banking Group (Atlantic Finance Group: Banque Atlantique Cameroun, Banque Atlantique  Gabon, Banque Atlantique Comoro Islands and Banque Atlantique Mali)

11/2020: Publication of our e-KYC API dedicated to Customer Identification through AI and Face Recognition : https://api.appreis.com/ekyc  

02/2021: listed by Deloitte in its Regtech Universe 2021

03/2021: Won the Most-innovative Anti-Money Laundering solution provider MENA 2021 by the Global banking and financial review group.

What drives you as a company & what is Vneuron long term vision?

We aim to open other branches in Europe and Asia and we have long term goals of penetrating the LATAM and APAC markets.  We are also planning to adopt the cryptocurrency compliance solutions. 

What are some of the important developments you are seeing in the RegTech industry?

We can see that there is a huge digital acceleration in the financial markets as well as the solutions provided to adapt to those changes especially online onboarding, online payment, and the regulations related to it.

More details are stated in our blog articles Top 4 AML/CFT Compliance Trends 2021: https://www.vneuron.com/compliance/top-4-aml-cft-compliance-trends-in-2021/

What’s next for Vneuron?

We are planning to develop our solution to cover anti-fraud and anti-corruption regulations as well as cryptocurrency transaction monitoring.

We also dream of becoming the number one compliance solution provider world-wide with offices and branches in the 4 corners of the world .  

How to remain fully compliant despite an ever-evolving regulatory ecosystem?

Assuringfull compliance despite regulatory evolution and Continuous technology advancement technology enabling new forms of fraud and financial crimes is not an easy task.

Our clients always express their concern about adapting to new regulations and complex contexts. The good news is that our solution is future-proof. In other words, Reis™ RCS systematically adapts to new regulations concerning AML compliance. Our experts in legal compliance and technology made sure that our solution is flexible, customizable, and rich in terms of modules and solutions. Our consultants are there for our clients to help them figure out their needs, fill in their multidimensional risk matrix, and adapt the platform to their context. Therefore, compliance is guaranteed without compromising the customer experience nor the regulatory requirement.

What’s the best way for potential clients or investors to get in touch with you?

They can reach out to us with a simple email at sales@vneuron.com  or call us at +216 54 738 571

Lavanya Rathnam

Lavanya Rathnam is an experienced technology, finance, and compliance writer. She combines her keen understanding of regulatory frameworks and industry best practices with exemplary writing skills to communicate complex concepts of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) in clear and accessible language. Lavanya specializes in creating informative and engaging content that educates and empowers readers to make informed decisions. She also works with different companies in the Web 3.0, blockchain, fintech, and EV industries to assess their products’ compliance with evolving regulations and standards.

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