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While left 2020 behind, we see last year was challenging to fight against financial crime like all the other sectors. COVID-19 has affected many industries. The same challenges will likely occur in 2021 as the virus is still not losing its impact worldwide. Some gaps in AML compatibility emerged in epidemic conditions, and criminals tried to fill those gaps. Therefore, in 2021, regulators such as the FATF and the European Union may increase their regulations to fill these gaps.

As Sanction Scanner, we predict that regulatory pressures will continue and even increase in 2021. We believe that institutions at risk of money laundering should be more concerned with AML compliance. Technology and artificial intelligence can provide significant benefits in ensuring this compatibility, and as a result, 2021 can be called the most effective year of artificial intelligence compared to other years. Also, in 2021, criminals may discover new ways to launder money.

We asked 28 experts from 17 different countries to, “What are your expectations about AML trends in 2021?”. We have compiled the 2021 AML Trends views and received them from experts into a report. You can see possible 2021 AML scenarios in the report.

Report Highlights in Brief:

• Fraud will be the largest trend in AML for 2021. 2021 will be “The Year Of Fraud,” and post 2021 at all major banks, Fraud and AML Functions will be fully combined into one department at all major banks by the end of the year.
• Geopolitical worries will bleed into the AML realm in the form of additional sanctions and related AML activity.
• BSA/AML enforcement actions in the USA will increase based on newly appointed financial regulators who believe in compliance, regulation, and enforcement, replacing those who believe that the market knows best.
• The pace at which virtual assets are picking up pace around the world there is not looking back and only regulating the same will effectively combat the evils of money laundering.
• Digitalizing all processes and products, investing high tech resources and experts will bring super-fast, simple, and customer-oriented solutions.
• The main challenge for all of us in the AML sector will be to update our control processes to monitoring operations with Stablecoins.

You can download the report in here.  LINK- https://sanctionscanner.com/expected-aml-trends-in-2021

About Us: 

Sanction Scanner is an Anti-Money Laundering solutions provider. We aim to provide cost-effective AML solutions that businesses of all sizes can use. Today, we are happy to serve many countries with our solutions, such as global AML Name Screening, AML Transaction Monitoring and Adverse Media.

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By Ulf Herbig, Head of Product at Kneip.

The 2020 market volatility has led to higher spreads and higher transaction volumes. Because of the logic of the slippage methodology and how costs are calculated at individual transaction level, the aggregated transaction costs volatility has significantly gone up and it’s not without consequences.

The initial phase of the global pandemic brought high levels of anxiety amongst investors which translated into market volatility levels being multiple times higher than usual. Even in the months of July, August and September 2020, market volatility remained 50-100% higher than the phase before the pandemic.

For operations and businesses, it means that due to the higher volume of market data you consume from your data provider, you must pay even more attention to the quality of that data, because when the spreads get higher, inaccurate data can have a significant impact on the transaction cost number disclosed to the market.

Increased volatility + increased spreads = increased volatility in transaction costs

Higher fluctuation of prices on the market that typically go along with higher spreads (the difference between bid and ask). Alongside the high market volatility, there has indeed been a significant increase of spreads for major asset classes – January 20 vs. June 20 Equities (39%), Bonds (38%) and Money Market instruments (22%). *Source: AFG (Association Française de la Gestion Financière).

There has been a clear transaction volume increase from March -June 2019 compared to the same period in 2020 by 43% AVG and 19% weighted AVG. If you combine the significant increase in spreads and the significant increase in the number of transactions, the unsurprising result is that the percentage volatility of transaction costs that are disclosed to the market has significantly increased, too.

In that market environment, fund manufacturers are likely to face a 30-40% increase in transaction volume, supporting a significant increase in transaction costs disclosures.

In that context, EMTs are interesting to look at because they contain information used by every distributor in the market to promote the product – including the target market definition and the ex ante / ex post costs. Looking at a sample of 4,000 ISINS published in the market in Q2 2020, compared to their published value to Q2 2019, you can see a percentage change of nearly 80% in the transaction cost.

For a manufacturer, the higher your costs, the more disadvantaged you are at selling your funds successfully, even though there isn’t a hard disclosure requirement to update the number to the market on a monthly basis. For MiFID you need to do this at least on a quarterly basis for the ex-ante cost and on an annual basis for the ex post cost. So you must decide wisely if you should update costs to the market in the interim.

Monitoring thresholds should be updated dynamically, so individual transaction cost results can be validated automatically

The market conditions leading to the increase in transaction volumes and figures disclosed, imply that the thresholds that you define as an organisation (to be able to automatically validate individual transaction cost results) can no longer be maintained at a static level. Where they have been kept at a constant level, not adapted to the current market conditions, it’s noticeable that more trades than usual are likely being flagged as exceptions when using static thresholds. In consequence you need to spend time investigating them, even though there would be no reason to do that if you were to apply a dynamic threshold that is for example, linked to a volatility index.

Automation becomes key because if you are suddenly faced with a 30-40% increase in transaction volume, you could be spending a huge amount of time managing transaction costs in a manual way. The more you trade, the more you must calculate and the more market data you will have to log. And depending on how your contract is designed with your transaction costs and market data provider(s), you might also see a significant increase in the cost of market data needed.

For fund manufacturers, it is therefore vital to have a market accommodating solution that dynamically update thresholds so that they automatically validate transactions. Look for solutions that can automatically validate 90-95% of all transactions meaning so if you have a million transactions, you will only look at 100,000 transactions (ideally fewer!). And if you have static thresholds which no longer apply in this turbulent market, you may suddenly look at 20-30% of exceptions. This translates into 200-300,000 trades that you have to look at for no reason. It is therefore not just about your thresholds at once, so it’s critical that you adapt your threshold to the market conditions for example, by linking it to a volatility index.

The continuous improvement process is the ordered sequence of activities or steps, a change management group or project coordinator undertake to apply incremental change to an existing change in order to facilitate and ensure the project meets its goals and achieves its intended results. As any manager or administrator knows change is inevitable in his/her career. It is a constant flux and each change should be assessed on its own merits. However, there are many factors that impact the success of any change and continuous improvement requires the use of the best change management tools available.

To begin with, a successful management process has a well defined set of goals or targets. The goal or targets should be defined both to achieve short and long term goals and to guide the implementation strategy. In addition, the defined goals influence the way staff and departments interact with each other and how they share information, processes and resources. By setting clearly defined goals, managers can also encourage their employees to focus on the larger picture rather than on minute details.

Another way of describing a management process is to say that it is a system of organizing knowledge and data that has been acquired from various sources to provide a usable solution or deliver a product or service. In other words, it is a process which is the arrangement of all the knowledge and data so that it can provide a usable solution or deliver a product or service to meet a specific requirement. This organized knowledge and data enable managers to make better decisions and it also enables managers to organize employees and departments according to their role and required tasks. Since all these processes interact with each other, they form a complex whole.

Therefore, to improve the organizational structure, managers must implement best practices for management techniques that address the various contributing factors. The best practices should concentrate primarily on identifying the sources of barriers to organizational success, resolving them, removing them, and then making the organization structure work smoothly. In addition, it should be possible to build on these improvements over time so that the improvements do not erode the efficiency of the current organizational structure.

Often business leaders believe that changing an old business procedure is not necessary because no change is ever new or revolutionary. On the contrary, any significant change requires extensive analysis and a discussion with affected employees before it is implemented. This analysis process enables managers to determine the sources of resistance and discover how managers can weaken those areas in the most constructive way. Moreover, managers should be receptive to suggestions from employees as long as they are reasonable and contribute to the strength of the organization. The best change management process will take all these factors into consideration and offer feasible solutions to organizational problems.

The fourth element of the 4 functions of organizing knowledge and data is developing plans to achieve the organization’s goals. It is important for managers to set realistic goals that are both achievable and meaningful. Moreover, it is equally important for managers to define clearly their purpose for undertaking the plan, the steps that will be taken towards achieving this goal, the resources required and other measures that will be taken to ensure that the goal is achieved.

Managers have to make their plans effective by ensuring that all parties involved in the process understand them. Moreover, the success of the plans relies upon the ability of managers to control and coordinate the forces within the organization. The fifth element of the 4 functions of organizing knowledge and data is providing feedback to management and other workers on the progress of the project. This is particularly important for controlling and coordinating the activities of employees.

The best practice for management is to develop a clear understanding of the organization’s framework and objectives and to develop plans accordingly. This requires the consistent use of jargon and terminology, regular meetings with key people and departments, and sharing of information throughout the enterprise. Furthermore, managers need to provide regular updates to the employees on the progress of the projects so that they can measure their own performance. Finally, the creation of good working relationships within the enterprise is crucial to the success of any change because the workers will become more committed if they see that the company is supporting them.

The Employment Security Commission is basically a joint venture between state and federal governments. It was established to address employment-related issues that are important to both private industry and the government as well. Employment Security Commission dates back to the early years of the Great Depression, when Franklin D. Roosevelt served as president of the United States.

The EEC was established so that the government would have a single agency to address employment security-related concerns. In order for the EEC to function properly, it needed to be implemented as quickly as possible. The reason for this is that the Great Depression had resulted in a massive spike in unemployment. Thus, having an employment security insurance program in place helped to alleviate some of the problems associated with the Great Depression.

How to apply for unemployment insurance, however, became the question on many heads. During those days, the idea of how to apply for employment security was not considered urgent or crucial. There was very little guidance available regarding how to prepare for the pre-employment security screenings. Most importantly, those with questions were typically directed toward the frequently asked questions on the form and where to direct their inquiries to. Very little, if any, direction was given as to how to apply for employment security.

Today, the process of how to apply for unemployment insurance has undergone drastic changes. First of all, the government has implemented mandatory participation in the wage report, as mandated by the EEC. The Wage Report, which is available for anyone who wants to review, contains important information regarding both hourly wages and weekly wages paid by the employer. The Wage Report is compiled labor market statistics, showing changes in employment since a previous reporting period. Both the EEC and the Secretary of Labor have released statements regarding how employers will compile and submit the Wage Report to the Department of Labor for inclusion into the Department’s database of domestic employment-related data.

With regard to this important data, the Secretary of Labor has clarified that an employer notice must be posted for three months before the actual beginning of the first regular employment period, if such notice is required by law. Furthermore, the Secretary has instructed that a posting of an “ectomy,” which is a notation that the date of birth of an employee, will now also be required prior to publishing the final wage report. Finally, there will be mandatory submission of a proof of residence statement to the Department of Labor upon the conclusion of each of the employer’s regularly scheduled sessions. The proof of residence statement must be submitted directly to the Department of Labor and must accompany the final wage report. If the statement indicates that the resident has moved since the submission of the form, the employer will now be required to submit an I-9 indicating such move.

Another significant update in how to apply for unemployment benefits is the extension of the unemployment benefit reporting period for all states. Currently, only seven states (Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire) have enacted statutes extending their unemployment reporting periods. These statutes vary significantly in the specific aspects of their reporting requirements. For example, in Kentucky the one-month reporting period applies only to unemployed Kentucky workers. In other states, the one-year reporting period applies to all unemployed workers, including those who have been unemployed on and off throughout a longer period of time.

Even with these updated laws, there is still a great depression among unemployed Kentucky workers and their families. Many people are concerned about the lack of security provided by the unemployment insurance program after the great depression in nineteen eighties. Social Security does provide income for a short time, but the programs for providing long-term unemployment insurance have been unsuccessful. Even with the extensions of unemployment benefits, Kentucky’s work incentives for retraining or re-training workers have remained poor, with too few companies providing training opportunities or paying wages for employees who complete such programs.

A short term contract (often called K-CNS) is another option available for Kentucky residents who have difficulty finding gainful employment. K-CNS contracts specify the amount of income that will be shared between an employee’s widow and the employer. This option allows an employee to keep his or her job while receiving an agreed upon amount of income from a previously unemployed individual, which is often much less than the full unemployment benefits that a typical Kentucky worker would receive. In addition, the unemployment insurance program does not cover the cost of continuing education for K-CNS participants.

Apex Group Ltd. (“Apex”), a global financial services provider, announces today that it will provide its full suite of fund services to Frontera Capital Group Limited (“Frontera”), a well-established Abu Dhabi (UAE), UK and US global frontier markets fixed income investment firm.

Apex will provide Frontera with fund management (AIFM), administration, custody and corporate services. This new partnership will allow Frontera to benefit from Apex’s single-source solution, with a unified point of contact across all aspects and operational demands of the fund, enabling Frontera to focus on their core competencies of deal origination, structuring and investing.

Apex has a long-established presence in the European regulated market, providing an extensive range of locally delivered solutions across banking, depositary, custody, fund administration and corporate solutions. Frontera selected Apex due to their range of relevant solutions, depth of experience and reputation for providing a responsive, flexible and solution-oriented service.

Frontera is currently raising USD$400 million for their new Luxembourg fund from European institutional investors with final close expected towards the end of Q1 2021. The fund aims at delivering superior risk-adjusted returns by leveraging its unique experience in sourcing and structuring frontier market debt.

This news follows the announcement of Apex’s planned acquisition of FundRock. Upon completion of the transaction, Apex will reach close to $1 trillion in combined assets across administration, custody, depositary and under management, further solidifying its global position as one of the world’s largest financial service providers.

David Rhydderch, Global Head of Financial Solutions at Apex Group comments: “Frontera plays a key role in providing international investors with access to, and understanding of, frontier markets. As they raise their new fund, we are excited to provide the range of solutions required to support their fund operations. This is further evidence of our single-source offering presenting a compelling solution for investors looking to achieve efficiency and seamless integration throughout the value chain.”

Dr. Vicente Pons, Managing Director & Shareholder at Frontera Capital adds: “Having all our fund services needs met by one provider with all solutions available under one roof will allow us to focus on the job at hand: raising capital, structuring and deploying it in target frontier markets. Following their appointment, the Apex team has demonstrated exceptional expertise, international capabilities and a deep understanding of our strategy as well as the opportunities and challenges facing our business.”

Half Expect to Introduce RPA and Blockchain Technologies Within Next Two Years

 Fenergo, the leading provider of digital transformation, customer journey and client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions for financial institutions, today announced findings from its global asset management research, which uncovered that while most firms feel that it’s important to have a digital transformation strategy, just over one third have reported completion (37%). Presently 44% are implementing artificial intelligence (AI) into their customer experience and over the next two years, half (53%) of asset managers expect to introduce robotics processing automation (RPA) and blockchain (47%).

The survey highlighted that the majority (84%) of asset managers have lost investors to digital-first disruptive competitors in the previous 12 months. Firms globally reported that an average 26% of investor applications were abandoned during onboarding due to inefficiencies in the previous year. In addition, asset managers (72%) see increased regulation due to the rise in financial crime as the biggest threat to their organization.

A key driver of transformation for most asset managers surveyed (67%) is the need to improve operational efficiencies, especially among those surveyed (82%) in APAC.  The second biggest driver for change amongst firms globally is “increased competition from digital-first firms” (63%). When it comes to barriers towards digital transformation, the research found that asset managers (70%) cite “poor planning and preparation” as the biggest barrier to implementing digital transformation in their organizations. Asset managers also cited a “lack of accountability from the executive team” (67%) and a “resistance to change” (56%) as other barriers too.

Two thirds (60%) of firms globally have not completed their cloud readiness strategy and 58% of firms are prioritizing investment for cloud technology within the next year.

“Our research shows that while asset management firms are committed to digital strategies, they are clearly finding implementation a challenge, largely from a lack of accountability from the top and poor planning. Firms recognize how important it is to provide the optimal customer experience in an extremely competitive marketplace compounded by the pandemic and geopolitical uncertainty,” said Kevin O’Neill, Global Head of Asset Management and Asset Servicing and EMEA Head of Sales, Fenergo.

“Prior to the pandemic, asset managers were already faced with challenges around operational inefficiencies, increased regulatory scrutiny and the lure of digital-first competitors to younger investors. The research highlights that asset managers are losing investors and revenue opportunities due to inefficiencies. In today’s trading environment where operations mostly take place remotely, the need to digitally transform and streamline investor and product onboarding is critical. In this past year it has become clear that the adoption of innovative technology will increase efficiencies, streamline regulatory compliance while enhancing the investor experience. For the firms that fall behind the future looks ominous.”

The research, which was conducted by global business advisory firm FTI Consulting, surveyed the opinions of 174 senior decision makers at Asset Management firms across the EMEA, North America and APAC.

Global Payments Incorporated is an international business offering global financial services to clients all over the world. Located in Atlanta, it is a member of the Dow Jones Index. In order to become a member of the company, investors must first put up collateral in the form of shares of the company. The shares will be sold at a pre-determined price and the company will make a profit from the difference between the selling price and the amount of capital raised.

Global Payments is one of the largest companies in the world when it comes to global banking and financial services. It serves clients in all of North America, Europe and Japan. Its headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia.

The global payment system is built on the premise that you can send money to almost any location in the world. In order to send funds, consumers will need to have a bank account or a checking account in the country where they are making their transactions. This system allows the consumer to transfer money between countries via wire transfer. This will allow them to make multiple transactions at the same time. There is also the option of making one transaction through a credit card terminal, which will be processed much the same as a wire transfer.

Consumer fees associated with this service are usually very low, which means that it is more cost effective than other types of services. Consumers pay very little for the service, which means that the amount of revenue generated by Global Payments each year is pretty small. It is also one of the most efficient means of moving money to various locations.

The reason why Global Payments is such a popular company to work with is because the company makes its money in the United States of America. This means that the profits generated from the company will flow right back into the United States economy. This is good for the United States economy because the profits generated from the corporation’s sales will go directly back into the economy.

It is interesting to note that Global Payments was established over fifty years ago, so it has been around long enough to have some experience. in the area of financial services. The company continues to make use of the latest advancements in technology and is always looking for new ways to make its services more efficient and effective.

Global Payments is not only focused on the United States but is also looking to expand its reach into different parts of the world. In order to do so, it needs to attract a variety of customers. The international clients, who will be able to pay lower transaction costs and to make their transactions in multiple locations.

Global Payments has also expanded into the electronic market. This is due to the fact that many people these days use online banking services. It is possible for the company to offer the services of an international branch if it wants to.

The payment processing that is available at these locations is very efficient and user friendly. Many people will be familiar with the way in which these services work and will be able to operate them without problems. They also work on all kinds of electronic forms of currency and will accept all kinds of bank accounts.

When it comes to choosing the International branch of Global Payments, consumers should think about the quality of the employees who are running the business. This can be done easily by reviewing the employees’ resume and references.

This will give the company an idea of how well the company operates and how well they handle the business. It is possible to choose a branch based on location, or even based on the amount of knowledge in the field that they are operating in. The more knowledge a company has in this area, the better it is for the consumers to deal with them.

There are many other things that consumers can expect when dealing with this company. The company is willing to work with the consumer and their needs and wants. This includes taking care of any questions or concerns that they may have regarding the process of making payments, the way in which payments are processed, and even the processing of returns and payments.

Beta is a measurement of how fast an investment asset moves when the stock market rises or falls. As such, beta measures the impact of an asset on the risk of an entire portfolio when it is put in a small amount.

Beta is very useful for traders because it helps them gauge the risks and rewards that they can get by investing in particular financial instruments. If you are not familiar with beta, then just know that it is the measurement used to rate the profit potential and risk level of different securities. It can be found in a number of forms. For example, there is the CAPM (Curve-APR) or the MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) which is used to rate the volatility of certain securities and the beta measure is used as a standard.

Beta can also be derived from other factors like the MACD and the CAPM, which are considered more stable. However, the MACD has a large effect on market prices, which is why it should be treated as a more stable indicator.

When choosing between two different models to predict the value of a portfolio or financial instrument, a trader has to look at the amount of time that it will take the investment risk to offset itself before the investment is made. The longer it takes to offset the risk, then the lower the investment risk will be.

The MACD is used to make a chart that shows the changes in the rate of change of market prices over time and the difference in the change of beta between the two charts. To get a better understanding of what beta can mean, let’s consider the chart of CAPM and how to interpret this chart for traders.

The difference in the values of beta between the charts of CAPM and the other two charts are the slope of the line. This is one of the things that traders look at in order to determine whether they should invest in the asset or not.

As you may not know, beta basically affects the price volatility of an investment. And the higher the beta, the lower the volatility of the value of that investment.

There are different types of investments and these are called different risks. One type of risk is called beta and the other is the beta premium. Since the price of an asset increases when the market price volatility is high and decreases when the volatility is low, traders have to analyze the risk in order to choose whether to invest or not in that asset or not.

The risk that investors have to take is called the beta. By analyzing the volatility, traders can make their decisions on whether to nvest or not in certain assets or instruments.

It is important for traders to compare these different types of risk so that they can easily make a decision on whether they should invest or not. This way, traders can avoid getting stuck in investing in a portfolio that they do not fully understand.

For example, let’s say that an investor invests in an index, he/she will have a chance of earning a small amount of return if the market price volatility increases. but if the market price falls the trader loses the amount that was invested. because the risk is too great.

For this reason, traders must learn to understand all the risks that are involved so that they can properly assess the risk and make an intelligent investment. When trading, traders have to learn about every type of risk because they are different.

When looking into a particular stock or portfolio, traders have to learn about all the risk that they are taking. Learning about these risk factors is very important in order to make a proper investment.

Global Banking & Finance Review launched its e-learning platform called eLearning Classes offering on-demand online courses across various streams like Business, Finance, Trading, Marketing, Technology & more. Education is known as a never-ending journey that helps individuals expand their knowledge and learn new skills to stay competitive in today’s market. eLearningClasses.com grants its members access to an array of interactive and fully online courses comprised of different subjects, guaranteeing them a leg up on the competition. eLearningClasses.com is an innovative online academy powered by artificial intelligence and real human instructors, offering students an exclusive interactive educational system with access to resourceful videos, e-books, quizzes, and certificates that will help them achieve their educational goals. Through the eLearningClasses.com students will be able to learn as many skills they want with eLearningClasses.com unlimited course program. This program allows subscribers to enjoy unlimited access to all courses at a monthly flat rate with no risks. Subscribers can choose as many courses as they want to enroll in, obtain all course materials at no extra cost, and learn at their own pace. eLearningClasses.com uses state-of-the-art educational tools that are powered by artificial intelligence to make world-class education affordable and accessible to students across the globe. For a subscription fee of $18.99 /month, students get access to all the online courses, lectures, worksheets, assessments, eBooks, Audio Books and more. Paid subscribers also get their questions answered by trained instructors and experts from Global Banking & Finance Review & have access to social discussions on their platform’s forums. The e-learning platform launched with over 100 courses and offers a few free online courses as an introductory offer. To Top it off, eLearningClasses.com is also offering a 25% discount on their monthly subscription fee of $18.99 which would bring the subscription fee to below $15 a month. If you wish to avail this discount, use the coupon code off25 when checking out.

Global Banking & Finance Review is a leading brand name in Banking & Finance. A media powerhouse with its own print & digital magazine and website portal with a combined readership of over 3 million readers annually. Global Banking & Finance Review has been a leader for the past decade providing analysis, opinion, reviews, news & interviews covering various topics. The initiative of launching its own e-learning platform is to make quality education accessible and affordable.

View all the free online courses by following this link on eLearning Classes

“Our Mission is to ensure quality education reaches those who need it the most and at a price which can be affordable by all” said Wanda Rich who is the Editor of Global Banking & Finance Review. She also commented that “ Learning is a continuous process and it takes more than few courses to get a deeper understanding of a subject, this is the main reason why we decided to launch an unlimited learning experience at a monthly fee of $18.99”