Fighting Financial Crime in Eastern Europe

With financial crime on the rise, it’s worth noting the firms that are succeeding in the fight. One of these is Belgazprombank, a leading lender in Belarus, which implemented a system from FICO that screens financial transactions and customers in order to prevent financial crime in Eastern Europe. FICO^® TONBELLER^® Siron^® Embargo checks banking applicants and individual transactions to ensure that the bank and its customers do not do business with individuals on restricted lists, such as those who are involved in terrorist activities, and manages the risk of working with politically exposed persons.

The system enables Belgazprombank to comply with regulations on financial crime in Eastern Europe by blocking financial transactions and freezing funds related to persons involved in terrorist activities. The bank will also use the system to manage financial transactions and work with individuals and public officials, in order to comply with international economic sanctions.

The implemented system includes two components, Siron^® Embargo and Siron^® KYC, and performs both online checks and retrospective analysis. Both components are built on a single database and share access to downloaded or created external and internal lists (National Bank lists, Dow Jones database, etc.). Information about high-risk customers is available to more accurately identify and analyze transactions.

"With the help of our partners, RDTEX and FICO, the bank quickly implemented two modules of the Siron suite, which allowed us to manage our work with various restrictive lists — including lists of public officials, sanctions lists, and lists of persons involved in terrorist activities — at a qualitatively different level,” said the executive director of Belgazprombank, Irina Kalechits. “Also, the system allows the bank to manage our own lists. We succeeded in meeting the new requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Belarus in a timely manner, and reduced the risks of non-compliance with international banking practices.”