Hong Kong-based ZA Bank partners with Accuity to meet regulations

By Edil Corneille

Today, Evanston-based Accuity, a global provider of financial crime screening, payments and counterparty know your customer (KYC) solutions, announced that ZA Bank, said to be Hong Kong’s first virtual bank, has implemented its screening solution to improve customer experiences, and at the same time, meet domestic and international regulatory requirements.

Under Hong Kong’s regulatory and supervisory framework, a bank must regularly demonstrate that it has a robust risk and compliance screening system in place to screen and alert the bank regarding individuals who could be engaged in financial crime, associated with sanctioned regions or entities, or are politically exposed persons (PEPs), to prevent them from using the bank as a conduit for illicit activities.

Rockson Hsu, CEO, ZA Bank said, “While ZA Bank provides around-the-clock, innovative services purely through a mobile application, we have adopted a rigorous compliance and risk management approach like the traditional banks do. Accuity has been a valuable partner in our endeavour to make banking accessible to more people in our community through technology. By handling growing numbers of customers and transactions with high levels of accuracy, their Firco screening solution has not only helped us meet the AML and KYC-related requirements, it has played a key role in upholding our dedication to excellence.”

According to The Future of Digital Banking Report 2020 report by IBS Intelligence, virtual banks do not face legacy technology and outdated processes impediments which are generally the challenges of traditional financial institutions. These neobanks are here to save the day from bloated incumbents who may have taken their customers for granted for way too long.

By turning to the suite of Firco screening solutions, including Firco Continuity, Firco Trust and Firco Global WatchList, ZA Bank has achieved a balance between ensuring rigorous risk management and delivering excellent customer experiences. The solution operationalises automated alert detection, reduction of false positive alerts, and prioritisation of high-risk alerts. This allows ZA Bank to generate an electronic audit trail that acts as retrospective proof of the bank’s compliance policies in action, for sharing with auditors and regulators.

Bharath Vellore, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Accuity said, “The competitive edge for digital banks is primarily through customer experience and lower operational costs. Accuity is proud to be supporting ZA Bank’s innovative business model, as well as Hong Kong’s advancement into the era of smart banking. The success of this implementation is a strong validation of our reliable and flexible solutions to constantly address new industry needs and standards, such as extensive due diligence, preventing financial crime, and enabling fast, scalable, and frictionless user experiences.”