Knowledge Center

As the Biden administration prioritizes the recently enacted Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (2020 AMLA), the [..]

As the Internet has come to play an increasingly central role in people’s lives across the globe, the [..]

8 miles off the coast of Britain lies the Principality of Sealand, the world’s smallest self-proclaimed state. [..]

I served as the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Attache to Afghanistan during the eighth, ninth and tenth [..]

€6,500 billion. It is the amount of assets managed by sometimes secretive investment funds in Luxembourg, the [..]

This week, as the Afghan peace deal went into effect, which includes the potential removal of economic [..]

Every year, we highlight predictions for the year.  We are doing so again this year, though it seems ever-more [..]

At first glance, one may not think that NGOs are big players in the anti-money laundering (AML) space. One may [..]

This week, the world was rocked by revelations from the Pandora Papers, the largest leak of records from tax [..]

Every day, millions of articles are published to the Internet across multiple platforms, languages and focal [..]

With the SEC whistleblower program setting new records in 2020 and with a renewed focus on whistleblowers as a [..]

This week, the World Economic Forum kicked off its annual summit with the theme of "A Crucial Year to Rebuild [..]

The world has changed.  

During a recent industry workshop, several leading institutions, including Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Citi, among [..]

This week, the WSJ rightly highlighted that the biggest impediment to the U.S. Treasury’s plans to implement a [..]

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department’s anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Crimes Enforcement [..]

“Two heads are better than one”, as the old saying goes. However, in anti-money laundering and risk review, [..]

This week, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) marked the 5^th anniversary of the [..]

Last month, the U.S. State Department and U.S. The Treasury Department sanctioned Vassil Bojkov, a well-known [..]

We are excited to announce a number of new features that are purpose built for the modern investigator as we [..]

Over the last decade, gender diversity on corporate boards has become one of the most talked about trends and [..]

For years shell companies have been at the heart of both legitimate business activity and money laundering [..]

Last month, David Lewis, the executive secretary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), called for a change [..]

This week, Monzo, an early fintech unicorn, disclosed in its annual report that it is facing a potential civil [..]

This week, the Tax Justice Network, a “group funded by donations and campaigning for transparency,” released the

This week, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global AML/CFT watchdog founded by the G7, published its [..]

It is that time of the year when Transparency International puts out its latest country ratings around the [..]

We are excited to announce a host of new features that significantly improve the experience and ease of use for [..]

Last week, Reuters reported that “as the Biden administration pushes ahead with an effort to combat global [..]

Corruption and money laundering go hand-in-hand.  

This week, German digital bank N26, the country’s highest valued start-up, was fined $5M for AML failings by [..]

We are delighted to announce the release of our upgraded Sigma Open Search capabilities. This release is the [..]

The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) released the ‘ACAMS Compliance [..]

This week, the United States, EU, UK and Canada announced coordinated sanctions against key Chinese officials [..]

So, an ex-banker’s wife walks into a British department store…

One might imagine the surprise a Customs Official has when viewing an invoice for toilet paper imported from [..]

This week, as the United States’ Senate held the confirmation hearings on presidential nominations, Janet [..]

This week, the ICIJ reported on a new study by a group of renowned academics that revealed that, despite past [..]

Earlier this week, cryptocurrency found itself at the center of a heated U.S. Congressional debate over the [..]

This week, the OCCRP reported that an “owner of a swanky Manhattan art gallery, who sold ancient artifacts to [..]

Last week, following its latest plenary, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global AML watchdog, [..]

This week, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released the inaugural national [..]

This week, the European Central Bank, in its push for supervisory technology, stated that “national bank [..]

Last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it added 7 Chinese companies in the supercomputer space to [..]

This month, a new report titled the ‘True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report’ revealed that [..]

This week, the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) released a report outlining [..]

This week, the Basel Institute on Governance published the 10th annual edition of the Basel AML Index for 2021, [..]

Last week, Reuters reported that investor groups have asked for more ESG disclosures from the US Securities and [..]

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition for review from Alpine Securities in its bid to argue [..]

This month, the European Union revealed its plan to set up a new agency, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority [..]

This week, Credit Suisse announced it will exit the hedge fund business as the Swiss bank looks to revamp [..]

Today, we mark the 20^th anniversary of September 11^th, 2001. With 33.2% of the world’s population under the age [..]

This week, the FT reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is preparing to launch a crackdown on corporate [..]

Last week, during the U.S.-led Summit for Democracy, the Biden administration released a new anti-corruption [..]

From a financial crime perspective, financial institutions, fintechs, and others should proactively seek to [..]

Sigma Ratings has reviewed the history of anti-money laundering legislation in the United States and [..]

Sigma releases API to detect and score financial crime risk at scale

Hello Sigma network!

This week, Bloomberg reported that “big banks and the powerful lobbying groups representing them are readying a [..]

Last week, the WSJ reported that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse along with a collection of public-policy groups [..]

Today, we are releasing the following updates to improve the clarity of our insights, transparency of results [..]

While perhaps not having the most pleasant-sounding of names, “dirt strings” are a critical tool in financial [..]

Last month, the Council on Foreign Relations reported that an arrest warrant issued by U.S. law enforcement for [..]

In addition to unrivaled coverage and configurability, Sigma News is now further aligned to recent FATF, [..]

An alert in a bank’s transaction monitoring system notifies that there is a large amount of money being [..]

Last month, the announcement of Germany’s arrest of a businessman suspected of purchasing “sophisticated [..]

This week, from the U.S sanctions against SUEX OTC, the first time the Treasury Department has sanctioned a [..]

The concept of “Ultimate Beneficial Owner” (or UBO) is a critically important one in corporate law and [..]

This week, with the world’s eyes on Kabul, the Group of 7 announced that they agreed on a plan to deal with the [..]

Open-source Intelligence (OSINT) is an incredibly powerful tool for both the public and private sectors alike. [..]

A Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) is a report made by a regulated institution in a variety of finance-related [..]

With the release of the FinCEN Files, what was a common denominator related to an international money [..]

Throughout the last few years, export controls have taken heretofore unseen prominence in news media headlines. [..]

This week, the outgoing U.S. administration has continued its “aggressive use of sanctions” with a flurry of [..]

Sigma expands Address Risk coverage, releases new matching algorithm and improves search speed by 5x

Hello [..]

This week, media reports alleged that both the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI were investigating Danske [..]

In the wake of the FinCEN Files , lawmakers and regulators around the world have reacted to the unprecedented [..]

Not everybody has a glass-half-full kind of mentality, but when it comes to ownership by sanctioned entities, [..]

What if you need the latest about business developments in Mongolia or better continuous monitoring of an [..]

What you should be paying attention to in 2021:

For ease of reading, we divide predictions between highly [..]

Previously, we have discussed the large, though often overlooked, role that trade-based money laundering (TBML) [..]

Last week, following weeks of investigative reporting, The Washington Post compiled their various [..]

In our effort to further enable customers to control their own Sigma platform and data experiences, and to [..]

In recent years, the term “FinTech” has been swirling around media reports and economic discourse with [..]

This week, the share price of Wirecard fell more than 60%, less than 2 years after its debut on the prestigious [..]

On pushing forward broader adoption

Compliance is Missing from the Equation

More than $22 trillion assets are now invested according to ESG [..]

First Fake News, Now Fake People

Alexa Altos operates a web design firm in California, has a number of [..]

Not to be outdone by Goldman Sachs’ AI-generated World Cup predictions (spoiler alert: Goldman Sachs predicts [..]

This week, the Council of the European Union published its latest EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for [..]

Q & A with Mark Batts

Former Managing Director, Financial Institutions Group Head of Enhanced Due Diligence [..]

This week, according to a leaked intelligence bulletin, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation expressed [..]

While KYC stands for “Know Your Customer” and is at the heart of AML efforts, for compliance teams it can be [..]

Mapping financial networks to the edge of the world.

Norvik Banka Achieves BB+ Business Integrity Rating  

Sigma Ratings Inc. announces its first-ever Sigma Rating [..]

Last week, the Basel Institute on Governance released its 2020 edition of the Basel AML Index. And what a [..]

Transparency Does Not Need to Be Hard 

 “To achieve an equitable, inclusive, and more prosperous future for [..]

Early in the pandemic, the FT, in response to the UK regulator sanctioning a digital KYC process, highlighted [..]

Why Sigma Ratings?

A problem with few solutions

According to KPMG, 1 in 3 business leaders don’t trust the information they use to make decisions. How can you [..]

Many of you were so kind as to fill out our poll on risk in the Middle East . As you’ll see below, perception [..]

In 2014 the Financial Stability Board (FSB) set up a standardized way to label and find the legal identity of [..]

This week, reports emerged that JPMorgan, in an internal memo, stated they’re investigating their own employees [..]

Perception vs Data

A New Hub for Money Laundering

Last week the Wall Street Journal highlighted a new, burgeoning money laundering [..]

In a few weeks, it will be the year of the pig, but I’m not so sure that its going to be that generous.  Much [..]

Nothing is more constant than change.

During recent travel in the Middle East, we met with senior executives at leading banks, exchange houses and [..]