Anti-Money Laundering: New regulatory requirements in Switzerland

Digitalization of Compliance

Integration of new anti-money laundering rules

Switzerland is setting new standards in the fight against money laundering. On 23 September 2021, the financial portal finews.ch reported that bitcoin brokers and crypto platforms will be required to take additional steps to prevent money laundering.

The revised Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) – expected to come into force in mid-2022 – will usher in more changes. Two of the key changes will be:

Verification of ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) information
Regular updates of customer details (KYC)

Brochure: KYC & Customer Due Diligence

The revised agreement on the Swiss banks’ code of conduct with regard to the exercise of due diligence (CDB 20) and the revised FINMA Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance (GwV-FINMA) entered into force on 1 January 2020.

The FATF is one of the reasons for the legislative initiatives. From the outset, the financial sector was focused on the opportunity to leave the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) enhanced follow-up process.

Find out more about which areas are covered by compliance in the financial sector and how companies are employing intelligent software solutions:

Key Features

Improved KYC and better transaction monitoring

The adoption of new regulations means that banks, financial institutions and insurance companies have to instantly review or adapt their systems for identifying compliance risks. These include the documentation required to open an account and customer risk classification.

This is when the MLDS money laundering detection system really comes into its own. Banks and insurance companies have been using this software for many years. There are several reasons for this:

Greater transparency

Rules detect money laundering risks in individuals and uncover anomalies in payment transactions. Machine learning is now being used to reduce false positives.

Improved KYC

Anti-money laundering software helps compliance officers to assess individual risk and improve KYC profiles.

Staying flexible

For banks, it is important to be able to change the rules for monitoring individuals and transactions at short notice and put them into practice. MLDS allows existing rules to be changed or new rules to be added at any time.

WhitePaper – Why successful banks now rely on machine learning in compliance

Learn more about regulatory requirements and SAR trends in Switzerland and find out why successful banks are now turning to machine learning.

Download Whitepaper

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