Anti-money laundering (AML) software is a type of computer program used by financial institutions to analyse customer data and detect suspicious transactions. ... The software flags names that have been blacklisted and transactions involving countries that are thought to be hostile to the host nation.

AML programs fall into two groups: know your customer (KYC) programs, which require banks to collect client information on a periodic basis, and transaction monitoring, which requires banks to analyse applicable transactions and corresponding activity within an account. Regardless of whether a financial institution employee operates within KYC and/or transaction monitoring, all business processes involved can be broken down into two steps: 1) an analyst will complete the business process, and 2) a senior and/or more experienced employee will perform a follow-up quality assurance check to ensure it is correct and compliant.

When and How to Automate AML Processes

The best time for AML/KYC checks is when a customer is enrolled, or onboarded either online or in-person during the account opening process. This first touchpoint is crucial to the customer experience; they don’t want to go through a hassle, or spend a lot of time creating an account, which is why a frictionless experience is key to customer satisfaction. If the account is of a substantial nature they might accept a more involved process, but for a simple account a convoluted onboarding process can be a deal breaker. In any case, the smoother the identity process, the happier the client is.