Since the global assets under management is expected to increase to $145 trillion in 2025, the wealth and asst management sectors will be subject to increased regulatory scrutiny. Firms will therefore be under pressure to demonstrate that they have robust compliance frameworks in place to meet regional and global regulatory requirements. As a result, firms are looking for more effective ways of protection against global financial crimes.

Specific target market

Wealth managers’ customer base generally consists of High-Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) and corporate entities.This means that dealing with high-net worth customers, from an Anti- Money Laundering(AML) perspective, could be complicated because there tend to be quite complex and blended financial needs which are frequently multi-jurisdictional for example family trusts and other difficult structures. Hence, without a comprehensive AML programme in place, the management of wealth linked to HNWIs can pose a serious risk to accountable institutions especially when it comes to identifying the source of wealth. This could explain why AML, Know your Customer (KYC) and sanctions compliance continue to be a key focus area for wealth managers.

The KYC remediation process is conducted to confirm that each client’s AML risks are assessed, in a timely manner, and that the assigned risk rating is updated regularly based on the changes in KYC compliance regulations.

Remediation can therefore be defined as the process through which firms gather information from their clients through KYC, conduct risk assessments, and create KYC customer profiles. It highlights the highest risk elements associated with each client. Once the initial data is collected, client profiles need to be updated or refreshed periodically to ensure that changes, which are relevant to customer risk assessments, are recorded accurately.

Since Lysis has helped many global firms with AML requirements, specifically aimed at high-net worth customers and corporate entities, we are perfectly positioned to assist wealth management firms in this regard, especially in assigning appropriate levels of risk to various customers and corporate entities, based on the identified risk factors,which will determine the level of Customer Due Diligence (CDD) required.

Diversification and onboarding

Another aspect to consider with regard to high-net worth customers and corporate entities is the types of investment vehicles which are preferred including diversified financial portfolios which could consist of crypto assets, unit trusts, government bond setc. The Lysis Group has extensive experience of applying AML best practices to an array of global financial product types spanning different jurisdictions.

Furthermore, we have been, and continues to be, successful in assisting firms with complex and contentious regulatory aspects relating to the crypto landscape. This includes supporting crypto asset firms to obtain registration in various jurisdictions and assisting Virtual Asset Service Providers(VASPs) to prepare for a regulatory registration application. In addition to regulatory registration preparation, Lysis has the expertise to assist crypto asset firms to establish the financial crime (FC) frame work needed to remain compliant during their operations as well as to provide the necessary hands-on training required to support high-net worth customers and corporate entities.

When a customer invests their wealth with a wealth manager, the wealth manager needs to onboard that customer and any corporate entity which the customer chooses to conduct business with e.g.,the customer might have a family trust set up and there might be a family office involved as well as a diversified financial portfolio. Therefore, the wealth manager would have to onboard all the various elements in order to comply with regional and global AML regulatory requirements.

Wealth managers and investment managers alike, also utilise various business models which could include third parties such as brokers and fund managers. In order to comply with AML requirements, the third parties should also be subject to KYC and sanctions requirements.

This concept is something that Lysis is very familiar with since we have supported a number of global firms in thisregard. We are therefore uniquely qualified to assist wealth managers with all their AML requirements for customers as well as their market counter-parties which also include customer on-boarding and screening for investment funds, both on-shore or off-shore, as well as the management of the funds itself with regards to regulatory requirements.

Regulatory compliance

Wealth managers are investment management experts, not compliance administrators but there has been a growing need for wealth managers to be compliant with a wide range of constantly changing regulations. Lysis Group helps to remove the unknown and equip firms with the framework and structure to face global regulatory challenge without concern. In our experience, firms desperately want to know what new regulations will be introduced, going forward and how this will impact their business operations hence the need for regulatory mapping.

Since the purpose of regulatory mapping is to enable firms to understand what regulatory compliance measures must be in place and by when, regulatory mapping can help firms to stay on top of regulatory changes and how these changes can be implemented in a cost-effective manner,especially when it comes to the complex and blended financial needs of HNWIs. This empowers firms to have a proactive approach which could result in substantial cost savings and increased efficiency.

We can specifically help wealth managers by:

·       Examining each piece of applicable legislation in relation to your firm and the type of regulated activity being carried out and meticulously map allthe applicable rules and regulations to your firm’s operations and governance frameworks.

·       Streamline and optimise the customer on-boarding process by reducing friction points.

·       Review and optimise financial crime controls across the entire Client Lifecycle Management(CLM) process because we focus on the overall chain of client activities.

·       Work with third parties to ensure that they comply with AML/CFT requirements in line with the required KYC and CDD standards set by regulators if reliance is placed on the third-party to conduct thorough KYC and CDD checks. If this is the case,there must be a clear procedure in place to manage this process.

·       Address the core problems of the firm’s financial crime framework by conducting health checks and maturity assessments in a cost-effective manner.

·       We can standardise capabilities to deliver a scalable solution to balance experience, team size and structures. This can build a high performing team which could maximise effectiveness with a positive impact on the bottom line.

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