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Regulatory DataCorp: Processing Cognitive Risk Intelligence

Thomas Obermaier, CEO, Regulatory DataCorpThomas Obermaier, CEO
In the sprawling age of the Internet and cybercrimes, the banking sector, running on high-risk of exposure, is at the forefront of reassessing risks; however, legacy, manual systems and inefficient compliance framework keep it from achieving milestones. “Until recently, organizations had to employ a large army of resources in the compliance area. They spent a fixed cost on compliance and never looked at making the process smarter and more efficient,” states Thomas Obermaier, CEO, Regulatory DataCorp (RDC). Approaching 15 years of innovation, Obermaier and his team tackled the situation by developing a state-of-the-art, customizable SaaS solution for delivering decision-ready risk and compliance intelligence.

Painting a vivid picture of the current industry scenario, Obermaier notes that standard processing systems today involve data aggregation, false positive remediation, levels of serious investigation, and reviewing of a suspicious activity report. RDC’s solution focuses on the upfront screening of entities against the largest open source database in the market, flagging any relevant risk based on the organizations rules. Their diligence platform also minimizes the number of false positives, provides accurate alerts, and protects clients from regulatory risks by leveraging machine learning to automate what has historically been a manual process.

RDC’s Global Regulatory Information Database (GRID) provides banks and financial firms with all risk-relevant information available about various entities in the public domain, giving clients the deepest insight into their customers and prospects. GRID, comprising of 500+ global sanctions and watch lists and over 100,000 global sources screened for adverse media, continuously monitors, reviews and updates the information entering the database to track each risk from the earliest indication.

For globally regulated organizations burdened with predicaments in PEP screening, the firm has devised PEP Connect, aligned to global and regional PEP definitions, contributing to a risk relevant database offering protection in all jurisdictions. Additionally, RDC’s Sanctions Connect, an available dataset, provides information and establishes connections between individuals and organizations associated with sanctioned entities across 100+ countries.


We are driving ahead with a unique, scalable, scorable, structurable screening system—combining data processing engines, analytics, and human services


In a dynamic habitat where compliance operations meet rigorous regulatory expectations and become complex, RDC steps in with indigenous capabilities like Portfolio Monitoring, Transaction Edge, and AML Edge built by its banking experts. The backbone of these processes is the underlying technology that provides immediate alerts to customers on any changes to GRID entities, and an appropriate level of Know Your Customer (KYC) due diligence to know more about customers, and intermediary banks and parties. “AML Edge provides comprehensive decision‐ready reports on individuals and organizations reducing both the time and costs associated with the onboarding and KYC related activities for your customers,” states Obermaier.

The strength of RDC emanates from single-handedly tackling key areas of risk from Anti-Corruption, AML/KYC Compliance to Reputational Risk Management. RDC has constantly strived to stay ahead of the technology curve by embracing new pieces of technologies like big data and machine learning. Moving ahead, “The next wave is going to be in terms of cognitive processing and we are poised to lead this new effort,” explains Obermaier.

Obermaier’s thought leadership in risk management is driving RDC to pursue a bullish approach towards growth in the Asian markets—the upcoming epicenter of the growth for cognitive processing. “We are driving ahead with a unique, scalable, scorable, structurable screening system—combining data processing engines, analytics, and human services— becoming protocol for risk management,” says the CEO.