This podcast was originally published at Leaders in Payments.
John Rayment, CEO of Identitii, recently joined Greg on the Leaders in Payments podcast to talk about changes in the industry and the future of our company. Listen to the podcast below or read on for a summary of the discussion.
How it all started for John
John Rayment has spent over a decade in the financial services industry, beginning his journey into finance at global Foreign Exchange business, Travelex. There he held multiple roles and has worked in Australia, Japan, the United States, and eventually London before returning to Sydney.
Having worked in large institutions, John was ready for a change. He knew he wanted to work in a high-growth early-stage venture, where he could make a real impact, rather than just “chase last year’s numbers”. Of the move to Identitii, he said he was captivated by the opportunity after meeting with the founder, Nick Armstrong, and having a candid conversation about the unique problem Identitii was trying to solve for regulated businesses around the world. John uses a strong people-first approach to drive the company forward and shares Richard Branson’s idea which says that “if you value or focus your energy on your team, and do that first, they will then look after your customers and your business will ultimately be successful.”
The current industry challenges
“One thing is common for regulators around the world: change.”
In the podcast, John discusses many of the pressing issues that financial institutions face today, including ageing technology systems, regulatory scrutiny, and increasing operational burden in the form of highly manual processes across the business.
Legacy technology is a major barrier to digital transformation for institutions. “Many transactions around the world today are being carried out on technology which isn’t new and there is a growing gap between the requirement for more information, and whether or not the underlying technology can deliver it,” said John. The reliance on an outdated patchwork quilt of technology exposes institutions to greater risk and affects their ability to both innovate with products and remain compliant.
John also shared insight into the challenge with current regulatory reporting processes within institutions. A lot of compliance teams process transaction reports manually using spreadsheets and email. Not only does this increase operational burden, but also the likelihood of error and potentially non-compliance.
These issues have made it difficult for financial institutions to meet AML/CTF requirements and, as a result, some have received heavy penalties for non-compliance. “We’ve seen around the world, how government regulators are starting to issue really large fines for financial institutions that aren’t submitting reports that are accurate, timely, or a true reflection of what’s happening in their business,” said John. More than US $10.6 billion in fines were issued in 2020 alone, for reporting breaches and non-compliance.
How is Identitii leading the way in payments?
As John discussed with Greg, Identitii is changing how financial institutions and payment providers handle their compliance reporting. “Identitii recognises that regulators, customers, and central and commercial banks want to see more information about each transaction.”
Identitii helps automate transaction reporting, which significantly reduces operational burden, increases efficiency, and minimises the risk of non-compliance with financial crime reporting regulations. It takes disparate data from multiple places and provides institutions with a single, auditable view of their transactions. As John said, “once the data is complete and accurate it then makes it very easy for the institution to (report) to the regulators.”
To visit the full podcast with Greg at Leaders in Payments, click here.
Identitii’s compliance reporting platform helps you to automate AML/CTF transactions in a fast, safe, and secure way. To learn more about how our platform can assist with your regulatory reporting, click here.
