Streamlining customer identification with Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions

Executive Summary

This case study explores how a prominent financial services firm leveraged Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions to enhance its customer identification program (CIP) and significantly reduce manual investigation efforts, leading to notable operational efficiency improvements.

Challenge

The financial services firm in question regularly handles a substantial number of business accounts and operates in a highly regulated environment. Compliance with know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations is paramount. Before adopting Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions, the firm’s CIP process involved manual verification of business accounts, which was time consuming and resource intensive.

Approach and solutions

Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions provided the financial services firm with a way to:

1. Verify important information for a large list of businesses all at once
2. Easily assess the level of risk for each business with a calculated risk score

Within two months, the firm’s CIP process became 65% more efficient.

July: A game changer in account verification

In July, the financial services firm received 2,422 business accounts that required verification through its CIP process. These verifications involved confirming the accuracy of business names, addresses, tax identification numbers (TIN), and good-standing status. Thanks to the implementation of Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions, the firm achieved a significant breakthrough:

• Automatic processing. Out of the 2,422 accounts received, a remarkable 1,507 were successfully auto-processed. This feat was achieved by harnessing the results from the bulk search through Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions and combining it with the firm’s own report logic to decide whether to pass or fail an account. 
• Efficiency boost. The ability to automatically process 62% of the accounts translated into substantial time and resource savings. Instead of dedicating significant resources to investigate these accounts manually, the firm's team could focus their efforts on the remaining 38% that required more complex scrutiny.

August: Building on success

The momentum gained in July carried over into August, as the financial services firm received 2,779 accounts. Of these, 1,793 accounts were auto-processed, which equated to a 65% auto-processing rate. This number represented an increase from the previous month and further underlined the efficiency and reliability of Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions.

Key findings and outcomes

1. Efficiency gains. Within two months of utilizing Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions, the financial services firm was able to automate a substantial portion of its CIP process, reducing the need for time-consuming manual verifications. The firm told us, “We were manually reviewing these accounts which was taking over 12 hours per day. Now that we have the batch, we are closer to 4 hours of manual work.” 
2. Resource optimization. With a significant percentage of accounts auto-processed, the firm saved an average of eight hours per day, which it then allocated toward more complex cases and those that required human intervention.
3. Reduced risk. The automated processing ensured that standard checks — such as IRS TIN matching and good-standing status — were consistently applied, reducing the risk of errors and compliance violations.
4. Scalability. The solution's success in July and August demonstrated its scalability and adaptability to handle increasing volumes of business accounts efficiently.
5. Cost savings. By decreasing manual workloads and improving operational efficiency, the firm achieved notable cost savings, both in terms of time and resources. By saving eight hours of work a day, the firm estimated the cost savings were equivalent to a full-time analyst’s salary.