iComply Investor Services, a RegTech software company offering global regulatory automation service for blockchain securities, has just announced that Greg Pinn, head of World-Check for information giant Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) has resigned from his post to lead product strategy for iComply.
Since 2009 Mr. Pinn led product development, technology, and strategy for World-Check, both before and after its $530 million acquisition by Thomson Reuters, the organization’s largest acquisition following the acquisition of Reuters at that time. World-Check to this day is a cornerstone of the Thomson Reuters risk business.
World-Check and iComply are both in the KYC space and World-Check was one of the first real leaders in compliance. iComply is playing the same role for the emerging blockchain and crypto market. It is not immediately obvious to most people just how important KYC is for ICOs and cryptocurrency, but it is absolutely crucial. We are building iComply to be the industry standard.” said Greg Pinn, Head of Product Strategy, iComply.
The need for effective KYC tools such as iComply is growing as demand for crypto investments is growing, according to CB Insights, 2017 saw over 5x more capital deployed in ICOs than in equity financings to blockchain startups, and Q4 of 2017 alone saw that number jump to 7x.
Most cryptocurrency exchanges and ICOs on the market today are using ‘lite KYC’ tools that are barely more than a camera-phone app and and many do not comply with even the most basic sanctions requirements. These tools do not meet the regulatory requirements being imposed by governments, such as politically exposed persons screening, nor do they ensure compliance with the ever-changing landscape of global regulations.” said Matthew Unger, CEO and Founder of iComply. “The cryptocurrency market brings unique risks and challenges that existing legacy tools are not equipped to handle. We are working to to raise the standards of compliance so that institutional wealth will be able to participate in the growth of global financial decentralization as well.
iComplyKYC is a one-stop KYC, AML, ATF, and multifactor ID verification product capable of screening and pre-qualifying both investors and company representatives. The product can flag or halt transactions involving non-qualified individuals and includes real-time fake ID monitoring, lost and stolen wallet monitoring, blockchain forensics and wallet risk scoring sanctions, watchlists, PEP (politically exposed persons), USA PATRIOT Act, and FATF best practices.
Most banks spent more than 10% of operating costs on compliance-related expenses, and paid in excess of $42 billion for non-compliance infractions in 2016 alone. According to a 2017 report by Deloitte, operating costs spent on compliance have increased by over 60 percent for retail and corporate banks since the financial crisis.
Contrary to the prevailing wild-west mentality of ICOs, the underlying blockchain technology actually has the ability to provide more robust and effective compliance, transparency, and integrity than traditional tools, at a fraction of the cost. Prefacto™ makes it possible to run all the required checks before a trade is executed, rather than after the fact. As blockchain continues to gain traction in enterprise applications, tools such as iComply’s Compliance LedgerTM will become a backbone for record keeping, reporting, and audit in financial services applications,” concluded Unger.
iComply’s Compliance LedgerTM is a proprietary, standalone ledger documenting compliance, governance, and risk procedures, before a public blockchain executes an immutable trade.