The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has announced the Central Bank of Angola will be implementing its Sanctions Screening system in order to combat financial crimes.
The screening service makes use of over 30 public sanctions lists, which are centrally managed and constitute a regulatory basis for stopping transactions. The process allows financial institutions to comply with sanctions laws by flagging or blocking prohibited transactions therefore preventing the risk of large fines and reputational damage.
“Banco Nacional de Angola [Central Bank of Angola] is the fourth central bank in the Africa South region to subscribe to SWIFT’s Sanctions Screening service, which makes it clear that the service is suitable for commercial and central banks alike,” said Hugo Smit, head of the Southern African region at SWIFT.
“The screening engine checks for possible matches from sanctions lists information using logical tests to detect anagrams, inversion of letters, missing letters, misspellings, abbreviations and phonetic similarities,” SWIFT said.
The implementation of the sanctions system forms part of the country’s adoption of global best practices in the banking sector in order to ensure the reliability of bank the future of overseas investment in the country.
“Financial crime is on the rise globally, and is now one of the biggest challenges facing the world’s financial industry. Banco Nacional de Angola wants to ensure that Angola’s financial community adheres to the highest principles and complies with all international regulations. Implementing SWIFT’s Sanctions Screening is an essential element of this strategy,” said Ricardo D`Abreu, vice governor at the bank.
