LexisNexis® Acquires WorldCompliance, Leading Provider of Global Anti-Money Laundering and Compliance Solutions
Reed Elsevier, the parent company of LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, today announced it has acquired the remaining 55 percent of WorldCompliance¹ to further its commitment to helping organizations prevent financial crimes and potentially millions of dollars in penalties and fines worldwide.
WorldCompliance is a leading provider of customer and vendor screening content used for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) solutions.
WorldCompliances Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) lists and Enhanced Due Diligence reports are the ideal complement to LexisNexis AML solution, resulting in a leading suite of AML/compliance solutions in the market.
In a dedicated effort to address the importance of this issue, LexisNexis screens more than 20bn names against continuously updated global watchlists per year to help money-laundering crimes and other terrorist acts. With the addition of WorldCompliances proprietary data and software, LexisNexis is armed with the top tools and solutions in the industry to best protect its customers.
AML compliance will cost the financial industry $5.8 billion this year globally, which is 35 percent more than it spent on AML five years ago, said Neil Katkov, PhD, Senior Vice President, Celent industry analyst. Personnel costs alone will exceed $4.4 billion.
Now more than ever the industry is in need of solutions to help increase efficiency in AML operations.
Combining WorldCompliances PEP lists and Enhanced Due Diligence reports with LexisNexis AML/compliance solutions will help our customers verify the identities of high-risk criminals around the world, while meeting worldwide compliance and regulatory standards, said Rick Trainor, CEO, Business Services, LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
WorldCompliance has a global offering that complements the LexisNexis AML strategy of investing and expanding in assets to provide our customers a robust global Know Your Customer solution.
LexisNexis works with 100 percent of the top 50 banks in the United States. The addition of WorldCompliance brings LexisNexis customers in more than 150 countries, and a large customer footprint in Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Being part of Reed Elsevier will bring exciting new opportunities to expand and build the best possible solutions to help protect our customers. This will be a big win for them, said Dirk Mohrmann, Co-Founder and WorldCompliance CEO.
Earlier this year, LexisNexis Bridger Insight XG solution, which helps organizations combat money laundering, was selected as the XCelent Award winner for Service in Celents Evaluating the Vendors of Watchlist and Sanctions Solutions report. For more information about LexisNexis anti-money laundering solutions, please click here. The combination of our innovative solutions and data sets with the LexisNexis offerings will result in the leading solution in the fight against money laundering and corruption, said Karl Martell, Co-Founder and WorldCompliance CIO.
¹In 2011 Reed Elsevier acquired Accuity, Inc., which owned 45% of WorldCompliance.
About WorldCompliance
WorldCompliance protects more than 2000 clients in over 150 countries, including six of the worlds largest 10 banks and 10 of the world’s 20 largest corporations.
One of the top 50 fastest growing companies in South Florida and voted among the top 100 privately held companies, it is a leading GRC and AML provider and assists its customers to comply with a multitude of worldwide legislations, ranging from the USA Patriot Act to the Third EU Money Laundering Directive, the Dodd-Frank Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and the UK Bribery Act.
About LexisNexis Risk Solutions
LexisNexis Risk Solutions (www.lexisnexis.com/risk/) is a leader in providing essential information that helps customers across industries and government predict, assess and manage risk.
Combining cutting-edge technology, unique data and advanced analytics, Risk Solutions provides products and services that address evolving client needs in the risk sector while upholding the highest standards of security and privacy. LexisNexis Risk Solutions is part of Reed Elsevier, a leading global provider of professional information solutions across a number of sectors.
Our financial services solutions assist organizations with preventing financial crime, achieving regulatory compliance, mitigating business risk, improving operational efficiencies and enhancing profitability.
About Reed Elsevier
Reed Elsevier Group plc is a world leading provider of professional information solutions. The group employs approximately 30,000 people of whom half are in North America. Reed Elsevier Group PLC is owned equally by two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV; the combined market capitalisation of the two parent companies is approximately £18bn/21bn. Their shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL.
