The problem
Under the Money Laundering Regulations you need a risk assessment and due diligence record for each client, and they go stale. If you have 120 clients, and finding and updating each record in folders and spreadsheets takes 20 minutes a year, that's 2,400 minutes, 40 hours a year.
What the AI does
TaxCalc's AML Centre holds a firm-wide risk assessment and, for each client, know-your-client details, beneficial owners, risk scoring, enhanced due diligence actions and identity evidence. It lets you monitor review dates and compliance activity, and records MLRO/MLCP roles and creates internal SARs with an audit trail. Identity checks through TaxCalc's separate AML Identity Checking Service are extra and priced separately. Your MLRO or MLCP stays responsible for the decisions.
A worked example
A five-person practice in Hull has 120 clients with AML records in a folder structure and a spreadsheet. The MLRO moves them into AML Centre over a quarter and uses its review dates for the annual review.
Before
20 minutes to find and update each record, 120 a year: 40 hours a year
After
About 12 minutes per record: 24 hours a year
What it's worth
About 16 hours a year saved (8 minutes x 120 records = 960 minutes), roughly 1.3 hours a month, worth around £60 a month if staff time is worth £45 an hour. Cost is £239 a year for up to 250 clients, about £20 a month, excluding VAT.
How to set it up
- Ask your MLRO or MLCP to own the move and confirm what your supervisory body expects.
- Start the trial and set up the firm-wide risk assessment first.
- Move five existing clients across and compare with your old records.
- Use the review dates as a prompt, with your MLRO checking and signing off each review.
- Decide whether to pay separately for identity checks, then record how you will use the results.
What goes wrong
- It records and prompts; the risk judgement and any suspicious activity decision remain your MLRO's.
- The vendor's page says it can monitor review dates but doesn't describe automated AML reminders, so keep your own diary of review dates.
- The page doesn't state where AML Centre data is hosted. Ask TaxCalc, and check it for UK GDPR.
- Pricing is by client band, from £110 a year for 24 clients to £239 a year for 250, and ID checks cost extra.