Innovation is continuously changing and evolving the face of business in today’s market. As most innovation comes in the development and evolution of products and services, compliance begins to play a role in how risks are managed on all fronts. Enter Regulatory DataCorp (RDC), the world’s leading Anti-Money Laundering, Know Your Customer, and Anti-Bribery & Corruption solutions provider.
RDC is growing rapidly as regulations continue to engulf the global marketplace. Illegitimate activities can take place across all channels – from financial institutions to large multinationals and small technology start ups. It can be difficult for companies to keep up with the myriad of regulations, and the current demand for operational transparency is forcing organizations to either hire in-house regulatory/compliance officers or partner with a company that specializes in risk and compliance management.
The Trust Diligence Company
Regulatory DataCorp, Inc (RDC), was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. They deliver powerful, decision-ready intelligence and world-class risk and compliance protection, allowing global organizations to identify banned/suspect entities, strengthen fraud protection, ensure regulatory compliance, manage supply and distribution risk, and protect their brand equity. With the world’s largest open source risk-relevant database, RDC provides AML/KYC compliance; Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) protection; emerging market intelligence; corruption, fraud and crime protection; and vendor screening and monitoring.
“We integrate the industry’s largest financial crime diligence database into an agile SaaS technology platform that minimizes the number of false positives, provides accurate alerts, and protects our clients from regulatory risks” – Thomas Obermaier, RDC Chief Executive Officer.
In its 14 years of existence, RDC has screened 25 billion news articles and examined over one million websites and 80,000 government lists, creating what Obermaier refers to as a “formidable database.”
That database is GRID, or Global Regulatory Information Database. It is composed of more than 500 global sanctions and watch lists and over 100,000 global sources that are screened for adverse media. Information pulled into GRID is reviewed for accuracy and assigned a risk code and risk stage. By continuously monitoring and updating the information that enters the database, and providing human review, the company is able to significantly reduce the number of false positives.
RDC possesses expertise in key areas such as Anti-Corruption, Aml/Kyc Compliance, Know Your Transactor, Reputational Risk Management, Supply Chain Protection, Sanctions & Export Control, Politically Exposed Persons, False Positives, and Adverse Media, which undisputedly covers the security needs of this era.
The company single-handedly tackles all of these risk areas by:
- screening and monitoring suppliers and third parties against the largest database of foreign officials and other higher risk individuals and entities;
- maximizing due diligence spend with cost-effective, decision ready reports offering the highest levels of accuracy and insight;
- significantly enhancing protection with a full compliance workflow solution, or with tools designed for integration into existing enterprise applications;
- implementing a robust workflow for event monitoring with a rentable technology platform that drives productivity and effectiveness;
- uncovering more of the risks that are relevant to the client with access to the world’s broadest and deepest adverse media database;
- a sophisticated filtering engine allowing for precise screening to client-specific needs to effectively manage false positives.
Leveraging the Changing Scenario
Thomas Obermaier has served as the Chief Executive Officer for RDC for more than five years. During his tenure, RDC’s revenue has grown more than 40 times (40x) through the implementation of the aforementioned industry-leading SaaS platform that delivers solutions tailored around the world’s largest financial crime diligence database.
Prior to joining RDC, Obermaier was Chief Risk Officer for Citigroup’s Global Transaction Services, a wholesale supplier of banking, security, and risk services to financial institutions, governments, and corporate clients worldwide. As CRO, he was responsible for all risks, including credit, market, operations, liquidity, and regulatory.
“We look at the rapid adoption of SaaS as disrupting the Financial Services industry,” says Obermaier. “For the last 15 years, so much of the Financial Services industry has been building their own internal networks and hence, getting the client to change from an on-site or on-premise to a SaaS premise installation has been a challenge for us. But as we are gradually trying, the tide has turned, as the rate of SaaS adoption has increased dramatically.”
When asked how he has changed the company since joining as CEO, Obermaier says that he brings a buyer’s mentality to a seller’s universe. “We structure our solution with the mindset to solve a problem, rather than just build a product.” He shares that their chief competitors are largely transfixed by 20th century infrastructure and their organizations are slow to move, thus facing the need for significant innovations.
“We are driving straight through with a 21st century solution, which is really getting us ahead of the game as the industry moves to a scalable, scorable, structurable screening system. Our solution–combining data processing engines, analytics, and human services–is unique, and becoming protocol for risk management”.
RDC believes that their employees drive the success of the company. With success in mind as the ultimate goal, they strive to create and provide an environment that offers challenging, stimulating, and financially rewarding opportunities. The company provides a work experience where diverse ideas are met with enthusiasm, and where employees can learn and grow to their full potential.
“I look for people who are highly intelligent, who have had significant challenges in their lives, met with both success and failure, and people who have an innovative mindset,” says Obermaier.
Evolution to be Expected in the Future
RDC is invested in providing a cost-effective and efficient solution to the market that will significantly reduce the risk management burden on an organization’s already stretched compliance team, and changing the way compliance work is handled on a global scale.
Obermaier says that for new businesses joining the market, an awareness of risks is essential, including acquiring authentic data of all transactions and encryptions of any type of communication within or outside the company.
“The newcomers in the industry should be prepared to change it, prepare to think 10 years ahead, and encourage everyone to do so.”
Website:- www.rdc.com
