Case study
CLEAR powers faster, more reliable compliance at Western Alliance Bank
Western Alliance Bank accelerates customer verification, strengthens compliance controls, and resolves time-critical investigations faster by using CLEAR to access reliable, centralized information
Introduction
When Western Alliance Bank was setting up its Financial Crimes Compliance Program, it needed trustworthy tools to check customer details, verify identities, and conduct investigations — so it chose CLEAR, part of the Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions suite. The Phoenix-headquartered bank is a specialist provider of commercial banking services across Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California, and operates personal banking for customers nationwide. CLEAR is now embedded in Western Alliance’s day-to-day compliance operations, empowering it to carry out efficient, accurate searches. Having this reliable information all in one place means better decisions about potential customers and transactions, faster.
Seconds
Search results delivered instantly
100%
Consistent operational reliability
The opportunity: Building a centralized financial crimes department
It was clear that as Western Alliance Bank established its new Financial Crimes Compliance Program, it needed a better way to check the information provided by customers, verify their identities, and carry out deeper research required by Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules. Using open-source information provided by Google or the white pages was time‑consuming and not guaranteed to yield accurate results — prompting the need for a reputable, efficient solution. Without fast, accurate data, wires, mortgages, payroll and inventory purchases could be delayed, harming customer outcomes and experience.
“When you’re using sources like Google, it can take a very long time to find the information you’re looking for — if you can find it at all,” says Eugenia Shraga, Global Sanctions Director, who heads up the bank’s sanctions compliance activities. “We needed additional tools that would make our searches more efficient, with reliable data from verified sources provided by a reputable company. The reliability factor is a big one.”
The solution: Concise, reliable information — all in one place
Western Alliance Bank purchased CLEAR — which provides in-depth public records searches — as an enhanced investigative tool, capable of both simple information searches and deeper-dive inquiries. The bank’s compliance teams use CLEAR almost every day to verify information, find missing or additional details, and check data that seems incorrect, doesn’t match other data, or appears suspicious.
Shraga says, “Verifying someone’s information is simple to do. If we are given some information that doesn’t match, such as a Social Security number and a name and address, that prompts a quick investigation to see what’s going on. Was there just a typo or are we looking at ID theft or something else more serious?”
She goes on to explain that, for example, when an OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) alert comes in, or if a Section 314 search is made, the bank may need more details. “If we have a name and an address, but no date of birth, or maybe we have a name and Social Security number but no address, we can go into CLEAR and find it and augment the information that we have for somebody,” she adds.
Western Alliance also deploys CLEAR to conduct more advanced searches, such as:
- KYC checks to ensure the information provided is genuine and that people or businesses are who they claim to be
- Politically Exposed Person (PEP) screenings to see if an individual is a heightened risk of money laundering or terrorist financing
- Look up titles of other assets to see if the source of funds is likely to be legitimate
- Undertake reverse phone number checks as another indicator of identity
- Carry out “associate analytics” research about customers’ family members or business associates
- Uncover relevant negative media reports
“I can pick almost any data point and conduct a search from that. CLEAR gives me the thread I need to pull to find out a little bit more and unravel certain things,” says Shraga.
CLEAR is part of the trusted Thomson Reuters brand, which was a major plus. It has become such an important part of Western Alliance’s compliance armory that the bank is now embedding it fully into its workflows.
“The fact that we want to take that step to integrate CLEAR into our day-to-day operations, so it’s not a standalone system anymore, speaks to the reliance and trust we have built up over the years with Thomson Reuters,”
Shraga
Global Sanctions Director,
Western Alliance Bank
The outcome: Protecting customers and communities
Shraga and her colleagues have seen significant time savings in using CLEAR compared to the bank’s previous ways of working, as search results can be accessed in seconds, all from one place — among many other benefits. This speed and efficiency enabled the bank to resolve time-critical wire holds quickly, helping customers close mortgages, buy inventory, and meet payroll without costly delays. CLEAR’s consistent operational reliability and unlimited licensing supported a growing team, while planned integration into the bank’s financial crimes suite will further streamline workflows
For Shraga, CLEAR creates real-world business wins, in an area where time is often of the essence.
“CLEAR is a continuous success story.”
Eugenia Shraga
Global Sanctions Director,
Western Alliance Bank
Once we’ve made the necessary checks, we can wire people the money they need to get on with their lives — whether it’s for a home, a business, or payroll. If we didn’t have CLEAR, it would slow things down, and they might not be able to lock in a good mortgage interest rate, or they may miss out on the best price for some inventory. So, there’s a wider implication for the customers we serve: behind every payment, there’s somebody’s hopes and dreams,” she says.
“The same goes for detecting and preventing crime. If we are able to stop a perpetrator committing money laundering or not take on a ‘customer’ who has stolen someone’s identity, that’s a huge success.”
Shraga shared, “I don’t know what other product would give us the same granularity of results. CLEAR has always been there when we’ve needed it — I’ve never seen it go down. It gives us results quickly, and I know it’s reliable because it has Thomson Reuters behind it,” she adds. “It has so much information. It’s a powerful tool for good.”
Contact a representative to learn more about how Thomson Reuters can transform your Compliance Program.
At a glance
Industry
Banking and financial services
HQ region
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Solutions
CLEAR
Year founded
1994
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