Financial Crime World

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Latvia Paves Way for Financial Institutions to Collaborate Against Financial Crime with Salv’s KYC Utility Licence

A New Era of Collaboration Against Financial Crime

Tallinn, Estonia - February 6, 2024 - Salv, a leading European Regulatory Technology (RegTech) scale-up, has become the first technology firm in Europe to secure a regulator-awarded licence to operate as a ‘Closed Service Know Your Customer (KYC) Utility’ service provider. The licence, granted by Latvia’s State Data Inspectorate, allows financial institutions to collaborate and share client intelligence to combat financial crime.

What does this mean?

  • Financial institutions can now alert each other when criminal activity is detected or suspected.
  • This collaboration can help mitigate financial losses and reputational risk for firms, clients, and stakeholders.

A Five-Year Journey

The licence, which was five years in the making since the standards and regulations were established in 2019, enables Salv to demonstrate corporate due diligence and ISO/IEC 27001 certification, the highest levels of security, data protection, and compliance. The licence will allow financial institutions to leverage Salv’s Bridge platform to combat financial crime.

A Growing Concern

In Latvia, customers of the four largest commercial banks were defrauded of €12.7 million in 2023, while €9.2 million was prevented from being lost due to fraudulent activities. Investment fraud cases reported by financial institutions in Latvia rose by 84% in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Quotes

  • “This licence is a significant milestone for the Latvian financial sector,” said Laima Letiņa, Advisor to the Finance Latvia Association.
  • “Salv’s achievement demonstrates that collaboration between financial institutions is possible and beneficial for all.” - Laima Letiņa
  • “We are proud to have exceeded the challenging security and regulatory requirements set by the Latvian Data State Inspectorate. Our success assures both current and future clients that it is now possible for the financial services community to unite against financial crime.” - Bruno Puriņš, Salv Market lead in Latvia.
  • “Latvia’s innovation in developing standards and regulations for collaborative customer intelligence tools to fight financial crime is a significant step forward.” - Edgars Pastars, Senior Associate at Baltics legal advisory firm ZAB COBALT.

About Salv

Salv, founded in 2018, aims to combat financial crime by helping clients prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and financial fraud. The company has raised €12.1 million in funding since its inception and has offices in Estonia, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland.