SAS and anti-money laundering pioneer deliver trade-based solution
Partnership will address compliance requirements within global trade finance industry
Paris and Cary on 25 September 2007
SAS, the leader in business intelligence, has partnered with internationally known trade-based anti-money laundering pioneer Dr. John Zdanowicz to offer a global, trade-based anti-money laundering compliance solution. Zdanowicz’s organization, International Trade Alert Inc., an alliance partner of SAS, will deliver an objective, data driven assessment of regions and products most commonly involved with aberrant trade practices.
International Trade Alert’s application combined with the SAS Anti-Money Laundering solution will allow institutions to automate the process of assessing risks posed by their trade financing activities and take action to mitigate those risks. Zdanowicz is partnering with SAS to create a seamless tool to monitor trade-based activities and detect suspicious pricing and transactions.
Recent intense scrutiny from regulatory agencies has led to a greater focus on money laundering through global trade. Trade-based money laundering is defined as the use of international trade to convert large quantities of illicit or “dirty” cash into less conspicuous assets or commodities. In turn, the assets are then moved across borders and sold in seemingly legitimate transactions.
Zdanowicz is the President of International Trade Alert Inc., an organization that provides international trade data analysis to US government agencies, international agencies, foreign governments and private sector firms. Zdanowicz is a renowned expert in the areas of trade-based money laundering, terrorist financing, income tax evasion, import duty fraud, capital flight and the analysis of international trade data. He is a Professor of Finance at Florida International University.
“SAS Anti-Money Laundering is truly unique in its ability to take immense amounts of data from all areas of an organization, perform a rigorous analysis and return a prioritized set of situations most likely to represent suspicious behavior,” said Zdanowicz. “I am honored to join forces with SAS, a recognized leader in compliance and risk management, to continue to arm organizations with the right tools to efficiently prevent the misuse of the financial system while complying with laws in diverse jurisdictions.”
”In an era of increasing globalization, anti-money laundering compliance in trade finance poses numerous challenges for international banks. Many institutions rely on manual processes to monitor and detect money laundering schemes. The regulatory community has identified trade-based finance as an area of risk, and subsequently the bar is being raised on expectations of financial institutions to provide better processes and controls,” said David Stewart, Director of SAS Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes. “Together with Dr. Zdanowicz, SAS will now provide more effective and efficient techniques to protect institutions from reputation and regulatory risk.”
About Dr. John Zdanowicz and International Trade Alert, Inc
Dr. Zdanowicz, Professor of Finance, earned his Ph.D. in Finance from Michigan State University and was the Director of the Center for Banking and Financial Institutions at Florida International University. He serves on the editorial board of Money Laundering Alert and was a trainer at the Financial Fraud Institute at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Zdanowicz has been engaged in trade pricing research for over 15 years and established International Trade Alert, Inc. to provide international trade data analysis, training and consulting services.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in business intelligence and analytical software and services. Customers at 43,000 sites use SAS software to improve performance through insight from data, resulting in faster, more accurate business decisions; more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; compliance with governmental regulations; research breakthroughs; and better products and processes. Only SAS offers leading data integration, storage, analytics and business intelligence applications within a comprehensive enterprise intelligence platform. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know® .
