Allianz Benelux improves adverse media screening efficiency with AI 

Allianz Benelux offers life, health, and property insurance for individuals and small to medium businesses (SMBs) in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The company is part of the global Allianz network – one of the world’s largest insurance companies, with over $1 trillion in assets as of 2023. Allianz has over 159,000 employees worldwide and serves more than 122 million customers in 70 countries. 

No news isn’t always good news

Operating within the intricate web of EU regulations, Allianz Benelux must conform to strict rules when selling life policies to individuals, group insurance policies to companies, and granting mortgage loans. These include complying with the European anti-money laundering directives (AMLDs), which require insurance companies to report any suspicious activity related to money laundering or terrorist financing to the relevant authorities.

Effective adverse media screening is crucial in upholding these obligations. Before meeting with ComplyAdvantage, Allianz Benelux could only conduct minimal, manual media investigations. This made adverse media screening slow, potentially leaving the company vulnerable if a threat wasn’t detected quickly.

The company needed a robust solution that would enable it to quickly scour global media sources for adverse reports and designations involving clients or partners. Its objectives were to: 

• Fulfill enhanced due diligence (EDD) obligations.
• Proactively address compliance lapses.
• Minimize the impact and delay of its underwriting and management process.
• Pre-empt reputational damage that could impact client relationships and its brand.

After conducting a comprehensive process to find the right partner, Allianz Benelux met with ComplyAdvantage’s representatives in 2022. When Allianz Benelux tested ComplyAdvantage’s solution against its current approach, the team was impressed with the results.

We were looking for an efficient tool to perform adverse media checks. It had to be easy to use, with efficient support, and the price was also important.

Yves Declercq – AMLCO Compliance Officer, Allianz Benelux

Easier adverse media screening at Allianz Benelux’s fingertips

By implementing ComplyAdvantage’s natural language processing-powered adverse media screening solution, Allianz Benelux now benefits from an adverse media tool with instant, relevant alerts. The solution also provides the company with an accurate AML/CFT-focused taxonomy aligned to its regulatory requirements and structured profiles, including year of birth, known organizations, and other essential information. This has enabled Allianz Benelux to modernize its processes and optimize its workflows to improve efficiency and free up its compliance team’s time.

Clear, actionable insights on clients and partners, such as sanctions lists and regulatory non-compliance mentions, have streamlined file handler workflows, allowing more time for client onboarding and other essential tasks.

Once the contract with ComplyAdvantage was signed, it was only a matter of days before all users could use the tool. We found it to be easy, flexible, and fast.

Yves Declercq – AMLCO Compliance Officer, Allianz Benelux

Allianz Benelux and ComplyAdvantage: Partnership highlights

Fortifying Allianz Benelux and its customers for the future

Since successfully integrating the adverse media solution, Allianz Benelux’s customer success manager has arranged regular meetings to ensure the solution operates smoothly. They are also working on keeping the firm’s KYC procedures up-to-date as its needs evolve. 

ComplyAdvantage’s adaptability and prompt responsiveness have empowered Allianz Benelux analysts to quickly learn how to use the solution, enabling the company to maintain effective adverse media screening despite inevitable staffing changes.

All technical issues are solved in hours, not days. We have never seen such fast and professional support for an IT tool. In-house, we consider the support we receive from ComplyAdvantage to be the best we have ever received.

Yves Declercq – AMLCO Compliance Officer, Allianz Benelux

In a world where criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the partnership will continue to grow, fortifying Allianz Benelux and its customer base with AI-supported solutions.

If you’re looking for an adverse media solution, it would be a mistake not to explore ComplyAdvantage’s proposed solution.

Yves Declercq – AMLCO Compliance Officer, Allianz Benelux