A lot of businesses think that financial crimes or fraud won’t happen to them, but people are getting better and better at targeting weak points in businesses and performing these financial crimes. These are serious issues that no business wants happening to them, especially when there is hard earned money on the line. It is important to keep these funds and financials as safe as possible when dealing with the company’s money and possibly clients’ money too. Here are some actions that you or your company can take to mitigate this risk as much as possible.
Risk Assessments
Conduct risk assessments regularly to see what areas may be more susceptible to financial crimes. Doing them regularly assures that no area of weakness is left unchecked and you can prepare them as needed. You can then implement extra measures to protect more vulnerable clients or parts of your business that are high risk.
Financial Crime Training
Make sure the team is educated on financial crimes, what they are, and how they usually occur. Have a weekly training about how to notice if any suspicious financial activity is happening and how to report it. You could also have one on one meetings with employees to make sure they are adhering to the policies set in place so that there are stronger barriers to keep a financial crime from slipping through the cracks.
Filing Boir
Something that has recently been introduced is filing boir for your company. What this means is that a company must file a report that identifies all beneficial owners, or those who partially or fully own the company. This can majorly help prevent financial crimes because the government will be able to track and identify the real owners, so they will be able to catch anyone trying to launder or commit illegal financial crimes.
Internal Control System
Technology has advanced tremendously in recent years. This can be risky for the reason that those trying to commit financial crimes have access to it, but the good thing is that you will have just as much access to it for your company. You can implement a software system that has to verify users and can help monitor any unusual activity across it.
Invest Where it Matters
Whether that be investing in anti money laundering software, partnerships or your clients, it is worth it and very beneficial to have extra protective measures in place. Always communicate with your clients to make sure their data is accurate and up to date. Partnering up with law enforcement or government entities will provide even more eyes and protection to keep financial crimes from happening.
Conclusion
Even with these preventative measures, it is not 100% guaranteed this will not happen to your company. Humans can mess up and technology can be extremely smart if the user knows how to navigate it. But if you follow these steps and have a plan if something goes wrong, you will be able to recover quickly.