Leading anti-money laundering firm SmartSearch expands into financial services

By Bridging Loan Directory 31st January 2018

SmartSearch, the leading anti-money laundering (AML) and RegTech firm, is expanding through the mortgage and financial services industry, just ahead of the ratification of the fifth money laundering directive. SmartSearch’s aim is to make sure that every bank, building society, network or broker can easily and affordably comply with all Money Laundering Regulations.

SmartSearch’s anti-money laundering verification platform helps to prevent fraud and keeps companies safe, with a reach that few other companies have. It conducts both individual and business searches, for the UK and international markets with automatic worldwide sanction and PEP screening, and ongoing monitoring.

Already used by a third of the top 100 accountancy firms and 25% of the top 200 law firms, including three of the top five, SmartSearch intends to expand its reach throughout mortgages and financial services as a whole. In existence since 2011, it has won five awards for technology, is already used by over 3,000 businesses and boasts 99% client retention. It already works with a number of notable financial services firms and intends to build on this solid background to help a wide range of lenders and broker firms.

SmartSearch provides a one-stop shop for AML checks, providing a single solution for multiple problems. It partners with the world’s best data suppliers in order to access a wide reach of data including Experian, Equifax, Dow Jones and Companies House. While it is possible for a firm to check each of these sources individually this would take many hours and relationships with multiple service providers, whereas SmartSearch provides electronic searches of all sources in seconds.

It is the only organisation with the ability to verify both individuals and companies in the UK and internationally – all in a single platform. Companies access this via a browser or API, with full sanction, PEP and adverse media screening and then ongoing monitoring.

SmartSearch’s ability to go beyond just individual searches, to identify and verify beneficial owners or directors of companies, saves firms a considerable amount of time, effort and expense; it also enables them to start client work immediately.

Access to SmartSearch has been made incredibly easy. There are no monthly retainers, instead companies buy blocks of credit or searches, ensuring they never overspend while enabling them to carry out a whole combination of searches. The searches leave only a soft footprint on a client’s credit record, so it also has no impact on a client’s ability to get credit.

Martin Cheek, pictured, CEO of SmartSearch said:

“With fraud on the rise and the fifth money laundering directive now needing to be implemented, there has never been a time when AML services have been in greater demand. We have therefore specialised in making it quick, easy and cost effective for people across financial services to conduct the most robust range of searches in the UK not only on individuals but also on companies too.

“The value of this has been widely recognised across the legal and accountancy professions, while already a number of lenders, networks, IFAs and brokers have sought us out. It therefore made perfect sense at this crucial time, to make our anti-money laundering services available across the whole financial services market.”