A firm that helps financial service providers meet anti-money laundering requirements came to us with an operational workload that grew with every new client. The regulatory requirement was clear, but the work behind it, collecting files, decrypting them, and analyzing them, was manual and could no longer keep pace.
The starting point: 60 providers, one encrypted file each month
Every financial service provider working with the firm sends a password-protected Excel transaction file to a dedicated inbox each month. The firm has two responsibilities. First, it must make sure every file arrived and is valid. It must then analyze the files to identify activity that may require an unusual activity report, such as splitting amounts or an unusual concentration of cash transactions.
When we measured the starting point together:
- More than sixty clients each sent a separate encrypted monthly file.
- Staff tracked the files manually in a table: who had sent one, who had not, and who needed a reminder. Several files were simply forgotten each month.
- The analysis itself, identifying suspicious patterns across all files, was done by eye in Excel. It was slow, inconsistent, and depended entirely on a person’s availability.
What we built
We created one continuous process that runs by itself in two clear stages:
- Automatic intake and validation. Every incoming email is captured automatically. The system matches the sender against the authorized client list, decrypts the file, checks that its structure is valid, and records which files have arrived for each client that month. A missing file or unrecognized sender is flagged immediately.
- Monitoring and unusual activity detection. Every collected file is converted to a consistent data structure. The system then looks for patterns, including split transactions, unusual cash concentrations, and common ownership between parties that are meant to be separate. Findings are collected in a summary file, together with prepared letter documents for every item requiring attention.
Everything is stored in organized folders and recorded in one central log, giving every file and finding a complete history.
Why we left the decision with the professional
The system identifies patterns and prepares a draft letter, but it does not submit a report to the authority on its own. It also does not decide that an activity is genuinely unusual. That decision requires professional judgment and carries legal significance, so it remains with the person responsible. The system brings forward every case worth reviewing, organized and documented, instead of making the professional search for it across dozens of files.
The results
- File collection became an automatic tracking process. No file is forgotten, and every client has a clear status at any time.
- The initial detection of suspicious activity runs consistently across all files and no longer depends on whatever time remains at the end of the month.
- The professional receives a prepared list of cases to review instead of a pile of spreadsheets, leaving more time for work that genuinely requires judgment.
Questions we get asked
Does the system submit reports to the anti-money laundering authority? No. It identifies, organizes, and prepares a draft. The decision and reporting remain with the responsible professional.
How are encrypted files containing sensitive information stored? Processing takes place in a controlled environment. Files are kept in organized folders with permissions, and every action is logged. Information security is part of the design, not an optional addition.
How long does it take to add a new client to the system? A new financial service provider is added to the authorized list. From that point, intake is automatic, just as it is for every other client.
The client’s identifying details were removed at their request. The client count and other figures are based on the actual process.
