The latest compliance news: regulatory developments, punishments, guidance, permissions, new product and service offerings.

Fenergo, FAB
Fenergo, a Dublin-headquartered provider of digital solutions for KYC, transaction monitoring and client lifecycle management (CLM) has announced that First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates, has integrated Fenergo’s software-as-a-service CLM solution to speed up client onboarding and enhance its anti-money laundering compliance processes.

The firm said FAB could start onboarding new small to medium-sized business (SMB) clients within six months of implementing Fenergo’s API and configuration-first solution. In the coming months, FAB will roll out the platform to support corporate and institutional clients.

Fenergo will enable FAB to deliver end-to-end digital client onboarding and risk assessment for sanctions, AML and KYC. This will allow FAB to straight-through-process its low-risk customers, enhancing onboarding efficiency and minimising costs. By deploying Fenergo’s CLM solution, FAB will gain a holistic view across every stage of the client’s life cycle, from initial client onboarding, regulatory compliance, maintenance and off-boarding, Fenergo said. This will help the bank reduce silos, increase transparency and ensure greater cross-functionality between technology, data and operations teams.

Beyond delivering greater operational efficiency and regulatory certainty for the bank, Fenergo’s SaaS solution will enable FAB to stay abreast of the developing needs and expectations of customers.

Fenergo’s SaaS CLM is powered by Amazon Web Services.

Financial Conduct Authority
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has decided to delay issuing the findings of its review into how banks and other financial firms treat politically exposed persons. The FCA said it would be inappropriate to publish the report in the run-up to the 4 July general election in the UK.

The watchdog had been reviewing the PEP system and the way in which firms apply it since Coutts’ de-banked Nigel Farage – now leader of the Reform Party in the UK – causing a political storm in the UK. The saga, which led to the resignations of Coutts CEO Peter Flavel, and NatWest Group CEO Alison Rose, was not just confined to Coutts. Complaints surfaced about the alleged high-handed treatment of other individuals for their political views and connections.

However, with an election only a few days away, the FCA has decided to hold fire on issuing a report. 

“We had been on track to publish the findings from this review in line with the end of June deadline set in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023,” the FCA said in a statement yesterday. “However, we do not think it is appropriate to publish the review during the pre-election period. We will now publish it in July once Parliament has returned.”