MetricStream to Monitor Financial Regulatory Compliance in New Zealand

The Internet is responsible for changing the way we do almost everything. While the overall benefits the technology has provided are positive, as with all things social there are those that choose to use a good thing to harm others. Cybercriminals from around the world are more organized than ever in their attempts to find ways to defraud any financial transaction taking place online. The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs is using MetricStream, an enterprise-wide Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC) and Quality Management Solutions for global corporations, to manage the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT Act) Act of 2009 in the country's financial institutions and casinos.

The purpose of the AML/CFT Act is to detect and deter money laundering and the financing of terrorism in New Zealand by contributing public confidence in the financial system. The solutions MetricStream provides will provide the authorities in New Zealand a comprehensive and integrated solution for regulatory management and compliance monitoring.

MetricStream is built on a scalable GRC platform offering Internal Affairs with the ability to address compliance related regulations with the AML/CFT Act, which came into effect on June 30, 2013. The application must coordinate the data from all of the reporting entities by ensuring they meet the requirement of the law. They include casinos, non-deposit lenders, money changers, money remitters, payroll remitters, debt collectors, financial leasers, safe deposit box vaults, non-bank credit card providers, stored value card providers and cash transporters, trust and company service providers and any other reporting entities outside the Reserve Bank or Financial Markets Authority's supervision.

"We have to regulate hundreds, in future potentially thousands, of reporting entities, and thus were looking for a single, integrated solution that could offer us a real-time view of compliance activities across all reporting entities, help us identify gaps, as well as help to implement proactive remediation measures," said Kate Reid, Manager Financial Integrity at Internal Affairs.

With a common web portal, the MetricStream solution allows every one of the reporting organizations the ability to submit their annual reports and other related information to Internal Affairs. Using this platform the agency can see the compliance efforts they are making and determine if there are any violations. Additional built in tools streamline and automate compliance management workflows.

MetricStream solutions are used by leading corporations such as UBS, Barclaycard US, P&G, Pfizer, Philips, and SanDisk (News - Alert) in the financial services, healthcare, life sciences, energy and utilities, food, retail, government, high-tech and manufacturing industries so they can manage the risk management programs, quality processes, regulatory and industry-mandated compliance, and corporate governance initiatives.

"MetricStream solutions are being deployed by federal agencies and regulatory authorities in countries around the world as they seek to strengthen their oversight of risk and compliance activities," said Shankar Bhaskaran, VP & GM International Business Operations at MetricStream.