NICE announced the availability of the new Actimize FATCA Compliance solution, further broadening the capabilities of the integrated Actimize Anti-Money Laundering solution suite.

Created to reduce operational costs, the new Actimize solution was designed to allow institutions to get ahead of the upcoming 2013 July compliance deadlines. In developing the new offering, NICE Actimize solicited feedback from its existing client base to understand their needs with respect to this pending legislation.

The solution is designed to help firms establish a structured FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) compliance program that includes simplification of investigation tasks to potentially reduce operational spend and a sophisticated network analytics capability that understands complex ownership structures. NICE Actimize’s analytical models improve the process of beneficial ownership identification, the company says. Additional features include time-to-completion dashboards that simplify operational management, customer data capture, screening of pre-existing and new individual and entity accounts, document management, and IRS reporting. FATCA goes into effect in January 2013.

Recognizing the synergies between FATCA and Anti-Money Laundering/Customer Due Diligence requirements, NICE Actimize developed the FATCA solution with two deployment options: either as a standalone solution or integrated with the Actimize Anti-Money Laundering solution suite, thereby reusing technology resources and helping to reduce operational costs.

Explains Julie Conroy McNelley, Research Director, Aite Group, “FATCA places an onerous compliance obligation on Foreign Financial Institutions, who need to be looking for proven solutions that can help them handle this new customer screening requirement. Solutions need to have the ability to efficiently screen customer data, identify complex data relationships, and facilitate reporting to the IRS, without placing undue burden on compliance staff.”
 
"Given the strong regulatory and industry focus on FATCA, as well as the deep and broad changes to processes and systems that may be required to comply with FATCA in order to meet the extensive data gathering, account classification, owner identification, management and retention requirements, there must be a strong alignment between compliance, technology, legal, and operations to ensure minimal impact and maximal efficiencies of existing systems," says Amir Orad, president and CEO NICE Actimize.

Despite the fact that it is U.S. legislation, FATCA has global implications for all financial institutions. U.S. financial institutions, acting as withholding agents, need to be compliant by January 2013, while financial institutions operating outside of the United States—termed Foreign Financial Institutions—should be compliant by July 2013. Institutions need to adopt procedures, processes, and systems necessary for U.S. account and U.S. owner identification.

http://www.nice.com/nice-actimize-announces-integrated-fatca-compliance-solution-ensures-rapid-deployment-allow-institut

 

 

[This article was posted on June 5, 2012, on the website of ABA Banking Journal, www.ababj.com.]       

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