Across the world, policymakers and regulators are targeting financial crime and the funding of terrorism, taking an increasingly hard line with businesses that ignore the rules.

For businesses, failing to address the dangers of dealing with individuals and organisations involved in illegal activities results in a higher risk of commercial and reputational damage.

Penalties for non-compliance will always outweigh the profit any customer generates.

Enhanced customer due diligence / KYC

Know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CTF) are already established regulations in many countries and industries. Even where these checks aren’t a legal requirement, it pays dividends to better understand the risk profile of your customers through enhanced customer due diligence, to protect your business from the potential impact of negative publicity or financial loss.

ESA Risk’s enhanced customer due diligence services go beyond the usual basic assessments to identify links to criminal activity, signs of money laundering, disparities between lifestyle and spending habits, and more. We achieve this through a mix of open-source intelligence gathering and analysis, and machine learning-assisted deep and dark web searches. And what really sets our service apart is the human factor – expert investigators and experienced analysts who examine the data and make further, targeted enquiries to provide you with intelligence of genuine value.

The ESA Risk enhanced due diligence reports offer a cost-effective solution to uncover the legal and reputational issues with both new and existing customers, enabling you to reveal the complete picture and make better-informed decisions on the level of risk involved. This can be done for both the onboarding procedure and on an ongoing basis.

Enhanced due diligence reports – risk factors

Some of the risk indicators we look for include:

• Money laundering concerns.
• Direct or indirect links to criminal activity.
• Insolvency issues.
• Regulatory intervention (pending or historic).
• Suspected fraudulent activity.
• Investment raising concern or risk.
• Disqualification from holding directorship or professional status.
• Tax evasion.
• Financial irregularity.
• Use of multiple identities or names.
• Political exposure.
• Involvement in court proceedings or litigation.
• Mismatch between income and lifestyle.
• Potential links to funding of illegal or terrorist organisations.