The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has invested in Global Screening Services (GSS), a UK-based regtech company specialising in payments screening.
The partnership, part of GSS’s US$47 million Series A2 capital raising, underscored CBA’s role as GSS’s premier Australian investor, poised to refine global sanctions compliance and payments screening processes.
Established in 2021, GSS delivers sanctions compliance and payments screening solutions aimed at minimising errors and redundancies in financial transactions.
“Following this investment, we are assessing the system for application in international payment flows,” Nigel Williams (pictured above), CBA’s group chief risk officer, said in a media release.
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Part of GSS’ advisory board, CBA has collaborated with global banking leaders over the past 18 months to standardise compliance technology and procedures. This collective effort intended to streamline international payments, reducing friction for bank customers.
John Fogarty , representing CBA on GSS’ board, stressed the importance of leveraging GSS’ capabilities for securing and expediting international payments.
“Banks play a critical role in combating financial crime and protecting their customers, the community and integrity of the financial system,” Fogarty said.
“We’re excited about the potential of GSS with its global reach and look forward to seeing how CBA can potentially utilise this technology to continue to prevent sanctioned parties from accessing and moving money into or out of Australia, whilst also speeding up the millions of international payments for our customers.”
Tom Scampion, CEO of GSS, welcomed CBA’s involvement, underscoring the critical role of efficient payments screening in the current demand for real-time transactions.
“Sanctions screening is both an international security imperative and one of the major sources of friction in the global payment system – at a time when customers and businesses are increasingly demanding real-time payments,” Scampion said. “We are excited to be working with a bank of the stature of CBA.”
CBA, which held its third sustainability conference in March, also recently partnered with Smartgroup to offer Smartgroup customers access to the bank’s range of products and special promotions.
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