Domestic payment filter targets terrorist transactions

Logica is banking on anti-terrorist regulatory compliance with this week’s launch of its automated transaction scanning software.

Dubbed HotScan Plus, the software is expected to prevent funds from being used by terrorists by scrutinising domestic transactions in real-time against configured watch-lists.

The software supports a range of sanctions lists including OFAC, EU, Bank of England and World-Check and automatically puts on hold any questionable transactions.

Using finely-tuned algorithms, the software highlights deliberate attempts to disguise matches such as variations in spelling and word order, abbreviations, synonyms, special charters, acronyms and aliases.

The software also provides a complete audit trail detailing all operations performed on each message.

HotScan Plus is targeted at banks and investment managers, and aims to enable local organisations to comply with reporting requirements to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

According to Michael Wolfe, Managing Director of Financial Services for Logica in Australia, the software could provide a more sophisticated alternative to manual compliance processes to meet growing regulatory demands.

“The market is peaking, given that more organisations outside of retail banks are realising that it is not just a banking problem and that they have to have processes in place,” Wolfe told iTnews.

“[Organisations should] begin to report by the end of this year any high value transactions, whether that is going into retail or investment bank account or funds management investment accounts -- especially those transferred from high risk countries into deemed high risk products,” he said.

While Logica competes with vendors such as NetEconomy, SAS and NorKom in the transaction scanning software market, Wolfe expects HotScan Plus to stand out from its competitors by specialising in watch-list filtering.

The software currently is used by the Bank of England, NAB, ABN Amros, Credit Suisse First Boston, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, The Federal Reserve, and CLS Bank.