Dow Jones has introduced a structured data feed, aimed at reducing the number of duplicate alerts that will occur with the enhanced international payments formats introduced in September 2009.
Reducing false alerts is of critical importance because of new National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) regulations taking effect on September 18, and changes to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) message formats taking effect November 21. These changes will increase the number of payments classed as international and therefore subject to sanctions regimes and result in a corresponding increase in the number of high-priority alerts requiring immediate investigation.
According to Rupert de Ruig, Managing Director, Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones & Company, Dow Jones Sanction Alert employs a customizable dataset and proprietary technology to help significantly reduce false positives and speed up investigations, allowing businesses to comply with the new international payment regulations without overextending their workforce or budget.
Many financial institutions have to screen a number of different sanction lists from each jurisdiction. These lists, often thousands-strong, include a number of duplicate names, many with only minor changes. Dow Jones is offering to consolidate risk by creating a master list as specified by the client, minimizing the number of alerts received by miss-matching names due to translation or script errors.
Talking to Global Custodian at SIBOS 2009, de Ruig likened the data feed to the introduction of seat belts, a safety feature that should of been introduced far earlier, but its prolonged absence is only surprising after its introduction.