Misys has formed an alliance with FircoSoft to help identify and stamp out crime in trade finance transactions.

The new partnership will assist in eliminating any potential misuse of international trade finance and enable banks to address financial crime by tackling issues such as the dangers of dual-use goods and maintaining compliance with sanctions.

David Hennah, head of trade and supply chain finance at Misys, says: “As the complexity and volume of trade transactions continue to grow, trade finance increasingly provides an attractive backdrop for criminal activity.”

More than 200 banks currently use Misys’s FusionBanking Trade Innovation system to manage trade finance operations and by partnering with FircoSoft, a provider of watch list filtering, banks will now be able to screen international trade messages for sanctions purposes.

“International trade finance is in danger of becoming one of the main vehicles for financial crime, disguising the movement of money. Our partnership with FircoSoft allows KYC and compliance to be a key differentiator for trade banks as corporate clients increasingly rely on their banking partners to take care of it,” adds Hennah.

KYC solutions are becoming a more integral part of trade finance processes and Florence Vicentini, head of channels and alliances at FircoSoft, says: “It is essential that banks involved in the business of trade finance deploy adequate systems and controls to prevent breaches from taking place.”

Vicentini adds: “There is no international standard for KYC and the speed of performing KYC and other compliance checks has a major impact on banks’ operational costs. Banks must have adequate due diligence regarding dual-use goods and the illegal movement of money. Our collaboration with Misys plays a major role in developing best-practice processes and the flexibility banks need to keep on top of constant change affecting the trade finance business.”

Misys will deploy the Firco filtering suite as an integrated watch list checking component of its compliance solution for retail, wholesale and corporate banking. The solution provides a comprehensive watch list check on customers, transactions and financial messages against various check lists such as OFAC. Compliance officers can utilise an interactive tool to manage suspect customers and transactions.