October 6, 2016

Equifax Canada announces new anti-money laundering capabilities to improve compliance and productivity for Canadian businesses

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- Equifax Canada, a leading provider of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance solutions, today announced its new capabilities designed to assist Canadian financial institutions with the recently amended Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) regulations.

Among other changes, the regulations set out new methods aimed at providing regulated entities with greater flexibility in how they carry out identity verification. The accompanying guidelines issued by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) expressly state that a Canadian credit file from, or identification product issued by, your Canadian credit bureau are methods that can be used. 

"We have worked closely with FINTRAC and Department of Finance regulators during the re-issue of the guidelines that will be in force effective June 30, 2017," said Tara Zecevic, Vice President, Customer Insight at Equifax Canada. "By leveraging that knowledge, our expertise and insights, Canadian businesses can be confident that our solutions deliver actionable results that help them identify risk to strengthen AML compliance, and to ensure their methods of client authentication meet guideline requirements."

The consequences for non-compliance include criminal and monetary penalties and reputational risk. FINTRAC has imposed fines totaling more than $3.5 million on 79 persons or entities subject to the PCMLTFA since December 30, 2008.

"Employing Equifax as their trusted AML partner allows our customers to focus on growing their business, not compliance," Zecevic adds.