The anti-money laundering specialist SmartSearch has achieved its best ever first half year results in 2021, following a surge in demand for its online ID check and due diligence platform.
The RegTech specialist, based in Ilkley, West Yorkshire recorded 27 per cent in business growth and an increase in users from 45,000 to 53,000. In addition, the firm has increased its team from 135 in January to 164 in June.
After the best year in SmartSearch’s history last year, 2021 has started on a record-breaking pace. The company says this is because its anti-money laundering product has become even more essential for regulated businesses.
Across industries, there have been increasing fraud and money-laundering attempts since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. The global crisis opened a window for attempted fraud as lockdown caused face-to-face interactions to become scarce, and criminals used this opportunity to digitally alter documents.
These attempts to deceive are not just restricted to the UK and SmartSearch began offering its services internationally last year. The AML specialist opened an office in the USA in July last year, and in May 2021 expanded into the Netherlands.
CEO John Dobson, said: “We have been continually innovating in the past year to stay ahead of the competition. The pandemic certainly has attracted the attention of those looking to attempt fraud, and our product has never been more critical to prevent it. Even with lockdown restrictions easing, some businesses are still operating remotely when on-boarding clients, and our system provides a quick and easy method to accurately identify customers.
“Despite the rapid recruitment achieved already, we are still looking to expand our team due to the growth we’ve achieved in the first-six months of the year. We are recruiting for a range of roles, including developers, sales staff and customer service professionals.”
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