How effective data management and automation can improve operational efficiency in onboarding and know your customer
Ben Marsh · Journal of securities operations & custody · 2019
This paper discusses the importance of effective data management and automation when onboarding and carrying out KYC (know your customer) on clients, thereby providing a holistic view of the challenges and solutions in the client lifecycle management space. In most firms, KYC remains a largely manual, time-consuming and error-prone process. The lack of competency in this area is reflected in the high level of fines levied by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Last year the UK saw in excess of £229m fines issued for compliance breaches. We will investigate the data management practices and automation required by firms to comply with AML and KYC regulations, covering data completeness, timeliness and quality of data — so companies can demonstrate compliance to the fullest extent with the regulators. The key to success is being able to understand all the strategic implications of data management and how to align the firm’s data strategy with the overall business and compliance strategy to ensure: A good customer experience Flexibility to react to regulatory and market changes Accountability for data ownership Internal commitment to data quality It covers the methodologies used to enable the control and management of end-to-end data — bringing data management, onboarding and KYC operations together to ensure optimum efficiency and regulatory compliance.