Scratching an itch… checking Sanctions is painful

View the full story at benwebster.com.au

At Agile Underwriting we have ~15 binders and two licenses and each of these come with an annual audit. If you’ve dealt with the compliance department at a Lloyd’s syndicate or an insurer you know it can be like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get.

The problem with running Sanctions Checks

It’s always been a painful part of the process, but it remains a necessary part of the process. The problems include:

1. Lack of automation
   The lists are poorly managed by each regulatory authority and come in a variety of formats from csv to xml and there’s no API or documentation. Maintaining the lists that are always updating is also a challenge for the smaller players.
2. Relevancy and reporting
   While it’s rare to get a positive match (at least in the lines we’re writing), performing the checks and then reporting on them has been difficult.
3. Expensive solutions that focus on enterprise
   Most MGAs, brokers and TPAs do not need full Know Your Customer (KYC) integrations.

Scratching an itch

We want to move fast when we’re developing Insurtech solutions and sanctions checking has been a blocker. We decided to scratch our own itch.

1. Speed of development
   We wanted a RESTful API that was blindingly fast to integrate and hit with our own applications.
2. Simplified solution
   Not everyone needs the API integration so we built a simple web-only version for compliance managers to use.
3. Easy reporting for audits
   We built a simple way for customers to download reports of every sanctions check performed for a period to provide to their auditor.
4. Cost effective pricing
   The alternative solutions in the market are feature heavy and expensive for a growing Insurtech or MGA.
5. Multiple integration points
   Through our API customers are able to build simple integrations through services like Google Sheets, Zapier and Automate.io