Knowledge Center

Adverse media is increasingly important for financial institutions and global corporates. Google search strings [..]

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

Over the past week, the world has watched the crisis unfolding in Ukraine in disbelief, anger and fear.  Most of [..]

After the release of the Panama Papers in 2015, the terms “shell company” or “shelf company” became associated [..]

In the aftermath of the 2016 Panama Papers data leak, the term "shell company" rapidly emerged in news coverage of [..]

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

Last week, the EU considered blacklisting the United Arab Emirates. The suggestion comes following a new data leak [..]

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

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

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

Sigma continues to provide updated, improved screening for clients interested in understanding potential exposure [..]

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

Delivering ongoing monitoring to clients is a massive evolution of Sigma Ratings' platform, and our biggest launch [..]

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

In just over a week since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the global economy has experienced a dramatic shift.  [..]

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

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

This week, the United States and its allies launched the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) [..]

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

When I interviewed with the U.S. Treasury in 2005, the Department was undergoing a major restructuring, having [..]

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

This month, the Bank of Italy banned N26 from taking on new customers or engaging in any transactions with them, [..]

Sigma Ratings has grown our high-risk addresses database to half a million, which is a massive leap from the [..]

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

Hello Sigma network!

We continue to roll out new product enhancements across our product offerings to support our [..]

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has abruptly transformed the world.  In response, an increasing number of severe [..]

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

Politically exposed persons are political or public figures and high-powered senior executives, including their [..]

This week, an investigation by Buzzfeed revealed that the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich allegedly utilized a [..]

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

Last week, the U.S. Treasury released a highly anticipated report on money laundering and terror financing in the [..]

Sigma Monitoring has been further enhanced to offer new self-service capabilities that allow for end to end [..]

This week, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Sherrod Brown, called on Wells Fargo to resolve its [..]

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

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

This month, a new study from the Yale School of Management, which has been monitoring approximately 1,300 [..]

Golden Passports or Visas, a citizenship by investment or residency by investment program, has drawn increased [..]

At Sigma, the product improvements we invest in aim to deliver a flawless experience to our user base. We [..]

This week, the FT, citing a senior government official, reported that the UAE has significantly increased its [..]

Last week, a Swiss court demanded compensation of $45 million from Credit Suisse in a money laundering case [..]

This week, the Tax Justice Network (“TJN”) released the 2022 Financial Secrecy Index, which ranks jurisdictions [..]

Last week, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its Report on the State of Effectiveness and Compliance [..]

Time and resource commitments dedicated to manually determining line of business and verifying internet presence [..]

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

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

This week, the WSJ reported that the U.S. Treasury is “facing a wide range of views on the details of a corporate [..]

Last week, FinCEN, the U.S. Treasury’s anti-money-laundering (AML) unit, “warned financial institutions against [..]

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

Vladimir Putin's recent deadly aggression against Ukraine has put pressure on the international community to [..]

As our journey to transform compliance and due diligence teams’ workflows continues, we’ve recently added new [..]

This week, the global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) released its annual Corruption [..]

This week, the WSJ reported that Latvia is seeking to rebuild its reputation in face of Russia sanctions given [..]

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

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it will start using a largely unused [..]

Last week, American Banker reported that the U.S. Treasury was looking to spur AI innovation amid pressure to [..]

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

Mapping financial networks to the edge of the world.

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

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

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

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

Hello Sigma [..]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hello Sigma network!

On pushing forward broader adoption

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

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

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

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

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

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

Compliance is Missing from the Equation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q & A with Mark Batts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Fake News, Now Fake People

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

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

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

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

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

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

Transparency Does Not Need to Be Hard 

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

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

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

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

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

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

The world has changed.  

Why Sigma Ratings?

A problem with few solutions

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

A New Hub for Money Laundering

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

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

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

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

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

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

Corruption and money laundering go hand-in-hand.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 of [..]

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

What you should be paying attention to in 2021:

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

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

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

Nothing is more constant than change.

Perception vs Data

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

Norvik Banka Achieves BB+ Business Integrity Rating  

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