Posted on by Nigel Ross-Scott

Press Release

PIMFA & FCI launch the PIMFA-AECIS intelligence sharing platform to help identify & prevent financial crime

29th August 2018

  • In the UK, £193bn lost to Financial Crime in 2017 with over 630,000 reports to the National Crime Agency over 18 months to December 2017
  • Equates to an average of £3,900 per adult with losses occurring at £6,000 per second
  • The PIMFA-AECIS intelligence sharing platform launched to provide effective way for firms to prevent financial crime

In response to the evolving threat and cost of financial crime PIMFA, the UK’s leading wealth management and financial advice association and Financial Crime Intelligence Ltd have launched the ground breaking PIMFA-AECIS intelligence sharing platform. This also follows new UK legislation in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 designed to protect regulated entities when they share information on money laundering suspicions.

Through a controlled and auditable workflow PIMFA-AECIS users can anonymously compare and match against each other’s financial crime data. Where matches arise, organisations can legally go on to share intelligence directly with each other.

Chris Anderson, FCI’s CEO said “the levels of financial crime are truly staggering and are growing at an exponential rate with emerging threats on the immediate horizon.

The PIMFA-AECIS platform is a secure, effective tool for quickly identifying current, specific threats and criminal connections. By comparing and matching information, a greater body of intelligence can be created by investigators leading to improved identification, prevention and prosecutions. This leads to better protection for the public and financial institutions alike.”

Richard Adler, Director of Strategic Partnerships at PIMFA said:

“The PIMFA-AECIS system is designed for reciprocal benefit and creates a level playing field for all users while ensuring auditable control of the intelligence sharing process. Being able to quickly identify repeat offenders to improve prosecution rates, reduce losses and provide targeted fraud prevention advice to vulnerable clients and repeat victims is an important step forward for our profession”.

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Notes for Editors

About PIMFA – the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association

  • PIMFA is the UK’s leading trade association for firms that provide investment management and financial advice to everyone from individuals and families to charities, pension funds, trusts and companies.
  • PIMFA represents both full and associate member firms. Full members provide a range of financial solutions including financial advice, portfolio management, as well as investment and execution services. They assist everyone from individuals and families, to charities and pension funds, all the way to trusts and companies.  Associate members provide professional services to the PIMFA community.
  • PIMFAleads the debate on policy and regulatory recommendations to ensure that the UK remains a global centre of excellence in the wealth management, investment advice and financial planning arena.  Our mission is to create an optimal operating environment so that its member firms can focus on delivering the best service to clients, providing responsible stewardship for their long-term savings and investments.
  • PIMFA was created in 2017 as the outcome of a merger between the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) and the Wealth Management Association (WMA) with a history as a trade association going back for 27 years – read more.
  • pimfa.co.uk

Contact

For further information on this release or other press matters please contact:

About FCI Ltd

FCI was established in 2014 by a management team consisting of highly experienced finance and technology professionals who shared an interest in addressing the alarming level of financial crime.

AECIS is the product of three years of software development, legal counsel validation and industry analysis. FCI is a privately held and funded UK company.

www.fciltd.co.uk

About the PIMFA AECIS System

 PIMFA-AECIS functionality provides users with:

  • The opportunity to create their own trusted intelligence sharing networks;
  • A mechanism for managing investigations and drawing connections to other cases based on involved party data;
  • An Investigation Group mechanism for intelligence sharing exclusively at the discretion of the user;
  • Identity protection for users until they decide to create/join an Investigation Group;
  • Full auditability to enable governance and legal/regulatory compliance.
  • Using PIMFA-AECIS helps organisations to:
  • Maximise investigation and reporting efficiency thereby reducing man hours and associated costs;
  • Quickly identify repeat offenders;
  • Reduce losses, increase asset retrievals and improve prosecution rates;
  • Provide targeted fraud prevention advice to vulnerable clients and repeat victims

Contact
For further information on this release or the PIMFA AECIS System please contact:

 Angus Naismith, FCI Operations Director, angus.naismith@fciltd.co.uk, +44 (0)207 293 0867