International IT solutions for banks provider, SOFGEN Holdings Limited (SOFGEN), has partnered with Swiss-based NetGuardians South Africa to bring their cross-platform operational risk mitigation software to Kenya’s banks.
The NetGuardians NG|Screener product is a full -scale fraud detection and prevention tool that incorporates effortlessly into all major core banking platforms, with turnkey rollout in Temenos T24, Avaloq and ERI Olympic systems.
It performs real-time behavioral analysis to identify possible sources of fraud instantly, which are communicated via comprehensive alerting and reporting mechanisms. It is highly customizable, and provides in-depth visibility to both compliance and audit functions.
“The importance of operational risk management and fraud detection is increasing in line with pressures on banks and financial institutions to leverage their IT investments and SOFGEN’s global reach will help us promote our solution on a worldwide basis. We are extremely pleased to have concluded our partnership with SOFGEN,” said Joël Winteregg, CEO of NetGuardians.
The partnership comes at a time when both local and regional banks are reporting increased incidences related to fraud. The recent Economic Crimes Survey conducted by PriceWaterHouse Coopers (PwC) with a focus on 74 firms found that 34 percent experienced fraud, with 56 percent of the cases being caused by those from internal the organizations.
Benjamin Mkwizu, PwC’s head of risk assurance services said that automated transaction monitoring is the most effective method of fraud detection.
He added that, from the survey, cybercrime is the leading economic crime among the top four, which including misappropriation, accounting fraud and money laundering.
“We also found that 41 percent of the 74 firms in the survey don’t conduct risk assessment and also don’t know what to do,” said Mkwizu.
