Patent Application
20160203488
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the technical field of financial transaction management. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to processes, frameworks and systems for monitoring and managing financial transactions. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to processes, frameworks and systems for monitoring and managing financial transactions to assure compliance with a set of standards. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to processes, frameworks and systems for monitoring and managing financial transactions to assure compliance with anti-money laundering and anti-fraud standards. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to processes, frameworks and systems for monitoring and managing financial transactions to assure compliance with a set of standards, which are customizable. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to processes, frameworks and systems for monitoring and managing financial transactions to assure compliance with a set of standards, which are customizable in terms of type of standards and the degree to which the standards are applied. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to processes, frameworks and systems for managing anti-money laundering compliance alerts using standards, which are customizable in both type and degree.
2. Description of the Related Art
The broad concept of systems that monitor financial transactions are known. These inventions usually involve the mere collection of financial data.
It is also known to use rules to monitor anti-money laundering compliance. However, the rules used in these inventions are immutable or provided by a government or other regulatory organization.
Dynamic anti-money laundering systems are also known. However, these existing inventions do not allow for the customization of rules by both type and degree and often attribute their dynamic nature to the dynamics of a market or the financial system.
It is also known to generate alerts for financial transactions. However, these inventions do not disclose alerts based on dynamic rules, which are customizable in both type and degree.
It is also known to use methods for detecting suspicious activity. However, these inventions usually rely on suspicious activity, which is defined by a government or other regulatory organizations and do not account for internal definitions of suspicious activity, which are customizable in both type and degree.
It is also known to use modules within systems. However, these existing inventions do not use interactive modules that subdivide the analysis of financial transactions to allow for dynamic layers of customized rules in both type and degree.
The broad embodiments of the present invention relates to a process and system for managing anti-money laundering compliance alerts using customizable sets of standards, which comprises a plurality of interactive modules with sets of rules that are customizable by both type and degree.
In the most preferred embodiment, the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Alert Life Cycle Management Process and System invention relates to a process and system for managing anti-money laundering compliance alerts. In the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Alert Life Cycle Management Process and System, financial transactions may be entered through an API, by using files or by manual input. The API implements a web service, which is called by an Internet-connected device when a transaction needs to be reviewed and which gathers the appropriate transaction information for analysis. Alternatively, text files containing transaction records can be loaded into the system through a functionality that allows a user to both select the file to load and define the internal layout of the file. Manual entry of relevant transaction information into the system is also possible. Financial transaction data is first evaluated through the AML Engine, which comprises the Multivariate Dynamic Rules Engine Framework and System and a Sanctions List Engine, which are both described in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62102492 and in U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 14992639 and which are incorporated herein in their entirety, which takes all participants in the transaction and screens their names against several sanctions lists supported by the system using an algorithm that returns approximate matches based on a relevance rating set by the user. If any of the rules for the Multivariate Dynamic Rules Engine Framework and System and/or the Sanctions List Engine is violated, then an exception alert is generated. The Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Alert Life Cycle Management Process and System comprises a plurality of modules, including the AML Engine, the Alerts Dashboard Module, the Investigation Case Management Module, the Regulator Reports Management Module and the Risk Management Module. The Alerts Dashboard Module shows compliance analysts all transactions that violated at least one rule of the Multivariate Dynamic Rules Engine or that at least one of the participants to the transaction was matched against one of the sanctions lists supported by the system. The Alerts Dashboard Module allows an analyst to decide whether a transaction should be released or canceled by using and/or reviewing one or more tools provided by the system including, but not limited to the following: Participants Profiles, which show the complete profile for all transaction participants, including basic information, addresses, phone numbers, accounts, owners, countries, products, IDs, and/or documents; Documents and Files, which show existing transaction-related documents and allows the analyst to add new ones; Document Requests, which allows the analyst to send requests for one or more documents to the FIC and which also allows the analyst to view previously sent requests and control which documents have been received; Manual/Automated Follow-Up Notes, which allow the analyst to enter and/or view notes describing the follow-up actions in response to an exception alert (some of these notes are entered automatically by the system when, for example, a document request is sent out, or a document is received and added to the transaction documents); Data Changes, which allow the analyst to change and/or enter compliance-related transaction data, such as DOBs, ID numbers and occupations; and Compliance Background, which shows the analyst relevant information for each transaction participant, such as all past transactions (with totals and averages for 15, 30, 60, 120 and 180 days), all exception alerts, investigation cases, suspicious activity reports and currency transaction reports in which the participant has been involved. Regardless of whether a transaction is canceled or released, the analyst may escalate the exception alert to an investigation case by creating a new case based on the exception alert or by adding the exception alert to an existing investigation case, which has an open status and which has suspicious matter that is related to the exception alert being reviewed by the analyst. The Investigation Case Management Module allows investigation cases to be created, viewed or modified. As stated above, cases may be created based on an exception alert (from the Alerts Dashboard) or based on an Ad hoc query (from the module). In the Investigation Case Management Module exception alerts and/or query results can be added to existing cases to support the suspicious activity being analyzed. Moreover, the Investigation Case Management Module allows other actions on cases to be entered, including the addition of supporting documents, the editing of the analysis narrative and the change of its status. The analyst may also further escalate a case by generating a suspicious activity report based on the case. Suspicious activity reports can only be created from investigation cases, which contain all the information needed on subjects, FICs and transactions to be able to file the regulator reports in different jurisdictions. The Regulator Reports Management Module allows reports to be modified to remove transactions, subjects and FICs from the final report to file as well as to change the narrative, the documents attached to it, and its status. In addition, other regulator reports, such as current transaction reports, can also be managed in this Regulator Reports Management Module. The Risk Management Module interacts with all other modules of the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Alert Life Cycle Management Process and System. In the Risk Management Module, risk is associated to participants, FICs and Correspondents. The AML Engine retrieves information from the Risk Management Module on the risk associated with transaction participants in order to generate exception alerts when a high-risk participant is part of a transaction. The generation of an exception alert also triggers changes in the risk associated with participants, FICs and Correspondents. The Alerts Dashboard Module retrieves risk information in order to present it to analysts when they are reviewing exception alerts. Also, the escalation of an exception alert to an investigation case triggers changes in the risk associated to participants, FICs and Correspondents. The Investigation Case Management Module retrieves risk information in order to present it to analysts when they are reviewing cases. Also, the escalation of an investigation case to a suspicious activity report or regulator report triggers changes in the risk associated to participants, FICs and Correspondents. In sum, the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Alert Life Cycle Management Process and System invention is a dynamically active tool for aiding analysts in reaching decisions to cancel or release financial transactions so that money laundering and fraud may be easily and efficiently prevented.
Illustrative and preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawings in which:
For the purpose of illustration, the present invention is shown in the most preferred embodiment of a process and system for managing anti-money laundering compliance alerts using customizable sets of standards, which comprises a plurality of interactive modules with sets of rules that are customizable by both type and degree. The most preferred embodiment is intended to run on a computer or mobile device, which accesses the system that facilitates the invention. This embodiment is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
Referring now to the most preferred embodiment of the invention,
In further detail, still referring to the invention of
The construction details of the invention as shown in
The advantages of the present invention include, without limitation, that it provides an efficient and easy-to-use means of managing anti-money laundering compliance alerts using standards, which may be customized in both type and degree.
In broad embodiment, the present invention is a process and system for managing anti-money laundering compliance alerts using customizable sets of standards, which comprises a plurality of interactive modules with sets of rules that are customizable by both type and degree. In sum, the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Alert Life Cycle Management Process and System invention is a dynamically active tool for aiding analysts in reaching decisions to cancel or release financial transactions so that money laundering and fraud may be easily and efficiently prevented.
While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiments, methods, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods that are within the scope and spirit of the invention as claimed.
This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62102512, which was filed on Jan. 12, 2015, and which is incorporated herein in its entirety. Additionally, this application is related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62102492 filed on Jan. 12, 2015, and to U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 14992639 filed on Jan. 11, 2016, which claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62102492.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62102512 | Jan 2015 | US |
