Reykjavik, Iceland -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/21/2022 -- Challenger banks face something of an uphill struggle today, especially when it comes to getting the right licences in place to reach target customers. Now, one challenger bank - Bank North - has been forced into winding down operations with immediate effect after it wasn't able to raise the funds to acquire a full banking licence. North Bank, which is based in Manchester, was seeking to become a fully regulated bank able to offer a broad spectrum of banking services in competition with more established high street banks. However, it seems that the neobank was not able to raise the finances to pay for the full banking licence within the set time frame and, as a result, is now winding down.
North Bank was initially created as a lender for small businesses in the UK (in 2018). It had a restricted banking licence, which was issued by the UK Prudential Regulatory Authority in 2021 and had achieved considerable success as a small business lender. However, there were other issues aside from the failure to secure funding for the Bank of England licence. For example, North Bank was not able to successfully launch savings services to UK customers. In the light of the increasing uncertainty in the investment markets alongside a number of previous financing challenges faced by the bank, the decision was made to wind North Bank down. Part of this process will involve selling the North Bank loan book and transferring a large proportion of headcount elsewhere.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance is not the only reason that challenger banks often find themselves struggling these days. As the North Bank case shows there are many other obstacles too. However, there is no doubt that Anti Money Laundering Compliance remains a big mountain for agile neobanks to climb and this can often be too much, leading to fines for non-compliance and other issues. In at least one area, Lucinity is well positioned to help make life easier for challenger banks with a platform that simplifies the process of Anti-Money Laundering Compliance. All the vital elements required for effective Anti-Money Laundering Compliance are there in Lucinity, from transaction monitoring to extensive actor intelligence and the comprehensive SAR manager. Lucinity software is intentionally designed to make it easier for firms of all sizes to achieve Anti Money Laundering Compliance, including challenger banks.
The mission to Make Money Good is at the heart of what Lucinity does and the company uses all the tools at its disposal to achieve this. Key to the agility of the Lucinity platform has been the way that the team has combined all the best elements of artificial intelligence with the most effective parts of human intelligence. This smart approach ensures that Lucinity can support Anti Money Laundering Compliance in the most efficient way. Since the business was begun in 2018, Lucinity has expanded worldwide and today has offices in London, Brussels, Reykjavik and New York.
About Lucinity
Lucinity is an anti-money laundering (AML) software developer on a mission to Make Money Good. Lucinity aims to solve productivity and efficiency issues for financial institutions through the company's 'Human AI' approach, a toolset that combines next-generation AI with human insights and expertise.
By leveraging AI, the AML software learns from every interaction and continues to improve indefinitely, providing fewer false positives and saving time. This is on top of its best-in-class interface and visualizations that put users first. Professionals can experience Lucinity's AML compliance solution, including transaction monitoring, through a free demo environment available on https://www.lucinity.com/signup.
Lucinity operates globally, with headquarters in Reykjavík, and serves customers ranging from Tier-1 banks to FinTechs.
Company Quote
Founder and CEO, Guðmundur Kristjánsson, comments, "Lucinity's unique experience in banking, compliance, regulation, and data science has helped us develop a new approach to tackling money laundering—harnessing the best of human intelligence and augmenting it with advanced AI.
Our simple-to-use systems work with analysts, not against them, complementing their skills and making them superheroes so they can take on financial crime, saving institutions time and money in the process.
We believe that by transforming AML, we can have a tremendous positive impact on society. Money laundering is a crime that fuels crime. That is why we set out on the mission of Making Money Good."
To find out more information Anti Money Laundering Compliance visit https://www.lucinity.com
Lucinity are regular attendees at Anti-Money Laundering and Fin Tech Conventions around the world. To find out about upcoming Lucinity events visit https://www.lucinity.com/events
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- Lucinity is an AML software company, founded in 2018, with offices in Reykjavík, New York, London and Brussels. Using advanced AI systems, we help banks discover money laundering and really know their customers, more efficiently – to stop the funding of serious crime across the world.