IBM partners with Fenergo to counter financial crimes

IBM has signed an agreement with Irish fintech Fenergo to develop integrated solutions that can help financial institutions in defending themselves against financial crimes.

Under an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement, the two companies will develop solutions that combine Fenergo’s client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions with IBM’s RegTech portfolio of anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-client (KYC) solutions, all built with Watson.

Fenergo is major provider of digital transformation, customer journey and CLM solutions for financial institutions.

The partnership will allow IBM to roll out an artificial intelligence-(AI) based application suite that focuses on risk and compliance and helps its clients fend off financial criminals, while meeting regulatory requirements.

According to Fenergo’s findings on financial institution fines released in January, global penalties reached $36bn for non-compliance with AML, KYC and sanctions regulations since 2008.

IBM RegTech offering management vice president David Marmer said: “At IBM, we understand the challenges that banks and financial institutions face in cost-effectively balancing customer experience with detection and prevention of financial crimes.

“Our agreement with Fenergo will allow us to expand our offering with a more comprehensive CLM solution, providing insertion points for our AI-based anti-financial crimes and regulatory compliance management technologies throughout the client lifecycle.”
Fenegro’s software helps in reduction of false positives in AML and KYC solutions

IBM also intends to assist its clients in integrating its AI-driven insights from its Financial Crimes Insights series of solutions into Fenergo’s CLM solution.

Fenegro has designed its software to help clients further reduce false positives in the AML and KYC solutions. The software will also allow clients to lessen the costs of manual intervention, drive operational efficiencies, and improve overall customer experiences.

The aim of the partnership is to support customers availing Fenergo’s platform through IBM with additional support services including but not limited to IT support, predictive analytics, system developers, augmented reality, multi-vendor processing and a single point of contact interface.

Fenergo partners and alliances head Julian Clarke said: “Financial institutions are grappling with rising costs and fines associated with KYC and AML requirements. Banks and other financial institutions need a CLM system to address regulatory challenges and keep abreast of the changing regulatory landscape.

“Through this relationship, Fenergo will be available as part of IBM’s offering, allowing access to new and existing clients within IBM’s ecosystem which in turn can help reduce procurement burdens associated with enterprise software. We’re very excited and proud to be partnering with industry innovators like IBM, and the journey we have been on so far.”