The current pandemic has really changed our expectations around time. It may have passed slowly for some sitting at home under lockdown with fewer time reference points but in business, it’s accelerating customer expectations and the pace of change. The Digital 2025 Strategy has become Digital 2021. As we move back to work, we will find that confidence in and reliance on the world of e-business has taken a huge leap forward. By force of circumstances, we are no longer willing to wait for transactions, payments or deliveries. Our trust in these systems has been tested and accepted. Cash (the crinkly stuff) is no longer king and liquidity is stretched. Along with this go increased risks. More e- transactions mean more opportunities for the e-criminal. In the UK, the FCA has very recently rushed out a consultation paper to tighten up e-money and other AML controls with a deadline of 5 June. The UK is opening shops from 15th June. With all these changes what price that Digital 2025 Strategy now?
There is something we can do that is pretty easy and does not break the bank to avoid being the victims of financial crime while Digital Strategies are updated. It’s using the shield of the new breed of trusted, near real time technology and applications to improve Know Your Customer (KYC or KYB). At Altergaia, this has been our vision from the beginning – developing easy to use, off the shelf applications to protect you and your business BEFORE you become a victim. And as we come out of Lockdown, to make it easier to gain, retain and do business with your type of customer while at the same time meeting your regulatory obligations around Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT). This is not about big banks. They can afford the complex AML systems. It’s about the Small and Medium Enterprises that are the much easier pickings for the e-criminal.
20:20 Hindsight is always the ideal. Sometimes we get lucky. But everything has its time and there is no better time and opportunity to protect yourselves than now as we come out of Lockdown into the New Normal and fast forward your Digital environment.
