Italian Bank Deters Money Laundering

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the fourth largest bank in Italy, has licensed anti-money laundering software from Financial Objects, a London-based supplier of banking software.

Banca Monte has installed the IBIS/S2 Financial Sanctions System in its New York office, and plans to roll it out to all its international branches.

The Financial Sanctions System integrates with the IBIS/S2 product suite, which the bank was already using in its branch network. Financial Objects was thus an attractive choice once Banca Monte decided to tighten security throughout its payments process in an efficient, cost-effective manner.

By introducing additional security checks into the payments process, the Financial Sanctions System will enable Banca Monte to automatically check client details and funds transfers against lists of suspected individuals and organizations published by governments and regulatory authorities.

"We are committed to protecting our bank from being used as a channel for illegally obtained funds," according to Enrico Vignoli, manager of the international corporate network group at Banca Monte.

Financial Sanctions System, he added, is a powerful tool in the fight against money laundering.

"Its enterprise-wide transaction monitoring system reduces the risk of money laundering and enables us to comply with international monetary authorities and Bank of Italy regulations," Vignoli said.

Noted Karim Peermohamed, executive director of global sales at Financial Objects, "Banks need to work harder than ever to reduce money laundering...and meet national and international regulatory requirements."