TOOKITAKI Holding Pte Ltd, a private limited company registered in Singapore launched its business in the Philippines last Tuesday. The firm, which sells software monitoring money laundering, has partnered with payment gateway firm PayMongo Philippines Inc.
The firm anchored its launch on a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) report issued last year that the country’s financial system is at “medium risk” of being used for money laundering.
Even if preventive measures are in place to curb risk of dirty money, the country remains on the gray list of global watchdog on money laundering and terror financing Financial Action Task Force as of June.
Tookitaki provides end-to-end financial crime solutions to some of the world’s leading financial institutions (FIs). Some of the largest banks and fintech firms in member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) depend on it to transform their anti-money laundering (AML) compliance requirements, the company said.
“We are deeply committed to empower the banking and financial services sector in the Philippines to fight money laundering in the most effective and efficient manner,” Tookitaki CEO Abhishek Chatterjee said.
Citing the growth of digital banking and e-commerce transactions worldwide, Chatterjee said that the volume of cashless payment internationally is seen to rise by over 80 percent from 2020 to 2025 and cross-border payments are projected to aggregate more than $156 trillion.
“Unfortunately, this vast flow of money crisscrossing the globe provides cover for money laundering and the Philippines is no exception,” Chatterjee added. “As more Filipino consumers become part of the banking ecosystem and financial crime becomes more sophisticated, the financial institutions in the region need to look beyond traditional and “siloed” AML systems to keep pace with growing business and compliance requirements.”
The firm said its product helps strengthen risk coverage and reduce threats by regional financial institutions.
According to the firm, its AML Suite became an “instant hit” with the digital banks and fintechs among member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations due to its “hub and spoke” model for transaction monitoring.
The hub is a collection of intelligence on money laundering patterns. The spoke is a simulation setup and enables local companies to download and test relevant patterns from the hub, detect illicit money trails and stay protected.
Built on Big Data, AMLS uses machine learning for its transaction monitoring, screening and customer risk scoring solutions, the company said. The alerts from all solutions are in an interactive, case manager option that offers firms with alert disposition and regulatory report filing.
Tookitaki said it partnership with PayMongo and an undisclosed money platform provider aims to “rapidly help the country’s growing fintech industry mitigate risk and design a robust AML program in compliance with the standards set out by the local regulator.”
This will offer safer and more secure transactions for the former’s over 10,000 partner merchants and the latter’s more than 47 million users.
Chatterjee said they look forward to partnering with more fintechs and local banks in the region.
Payments firm TTMFS Singapore Pte. Ltd.took a majority stake in Tookitaki earlier this year to accelerate its global business expansion, focusing mainly in Asia Pacific, including the Philippines.