Surprise: Smaller Firms More Capable of Monitoring Suspicious Transactions

I was just alerted to a new survey that demonstrates that the bigger you are, the harder compliance gets. 

DataFlux, a data management vendor, released the results of a survey of financial services companies that showed large firms lag behind smaller firms in watch list monitoring, or being able to flag suspicious activities in their transaction databases. The study found that 56% of large firms (10,000+ employees) have a process to compare customers and transactions against lists of known criminals and terrorists, compared to 70% of smaller firms (less than 1,000 employees).

A total of 291 financial executives or managers responded to the survey, including readers of Insurance Networking News.

Maybe the data on smaller firms isn't surprising, since they have a lot more to lose if they have a fraudulent account in their midst.

While compliance has been a core part of insurance operations for decades, there's been a surge in requirements within the past decade. Among various compliance regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley is considered the most difficult to deal with, as stated by 48% of respondents. The USA PATRIOT Act was a pain point for 33%. Seventy-seven percent predict regulations will only increase in the near term.

The issues around compliance are made more difficult by all the silos and disparate data that exist across enterprises. Just over half—56%—say they now have an enterprise-view of their data. That's not bad, but it still means 44% of companies are still dealing with silos. And there are many more silos within larger organizations.

Joe McKendrick is an author, consultant, blogger and frequent INN contributor specializing in information technology.

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