ThetaRay’s AML Solution for cross-border payments now cloud-based

By Leandra Monteiro

ThetaRay, a provider of AI-based Big Data analytics, today announced that its AML (Anti-Money Laundering) for Cross-Border Payments solution is now available as a cloud-based service. The cloud-agnostic offering protects banks, FinTechs, PSPs and payments infrastructure companies from sophisticated money laundering schemes hidden within cross-border transactions, decreases total cost of ownership (TCO), provides the ability to increase revenues quickly, and shortens time-to-value from 6+ months to days.

Until 2019, most financial institutions had only taken their first tentative steps into cloud computing, and rarely for hosting AML solutions. However, with the onset of COVID-19, cloud-based systems became critical in the pivot to remote working, and the benefits of such solutions became more evident in regard to the AML use case. As a result, ThetaRay has launched a cloud-based service that analyzes SWIFT traffic, risk indicators, and client/payer/payee data to detect anomalies indicating money laundering, terrorism financing and other criminal activities across complex, cross-border transaction paths. It is based on a proprietary type of machine learning called ‘artificial intuition’ that can mimic human intuition and gut feelings, and is available for all public and private clouds, including Azure, Google, AWS, IBM Cloud and more.

Traditional on-premises AML solutions present several challenges that make them a poor fit for cross-border payments. They require 6-12 months to put into production, are incapable of detecting previously unseen criminal schemes, and are inefficient for small and medium sized banks and FinTechs that have limited internal resources. In contrast, ThetaRay’s cloud solution can be up and running within days, detects even the newest and most sophisticated threats, and requires minimal additional resources and no hardware.

“Our customers are increasingly adopting cloud-based solutions due to their stability and security,” said Mark Gazit, CEO of ThetaRay. “Our fully scalable cloud service accelerates time-to-value, reduces the cost of acquisition, and enables companies to increase revenues quickly. It empowers the payments ecosystem to enjoy the long-term operational benefits of secure cross-border transactions without having to worry about the maintenance of additional infrastructure.”