Special Correspondent, The Advocate
As crime becomes more technologically sophisticated, the banking and financial industries have had to step up their game to keep themselves protected and safe.
Syfact of Stamford, which provides investigative case management for financial firms, aims to be a leader in safeguarding businesses, preventing fraud and helping companies better know their customers.
Syfact helps clients research their customers' involvement in terrorist financing, money laundering and fraud. It also identifies and scores potential risk and performs enhanced due diligence.
"We can go to 99 degrees of separation, it's pretty intense stuff," said Bob Conrad, executive vice president and general manager of Syfact, describing the lengths the company goes to in an investigation.
"The drug dealer with a duffle bag going to the bank is not as sophisticated as some of the cases we've seen," he added.
Syfact will soon add a "Know Your Customer" element to its offerings of Syfact Investigator. The new feature improves how companies can detect risks and avoid potential disaster, Conrad said.
"The new version of Syfact Investigator will be available in four weeks and the KYC solution leverages the product," he said. "The KYC gets ahead of the curve of who is most likely to be a potential bad guy."
Though some firms may be motivated mostly by the Bank Secrecy Act and the U.S. Patriot Act regulations to seek risk protection, Conrad said companies should be proactive because the rewards can be substantial. A Canadian bank recently recovered $46 million from fraud by using Syfact, he said.
And firms whose risk management processes aren't up to snuff can be fined for failure to comply with banking and securities regulations, he added.
"You can get fined for having antiquated processes or audit trails," Conrad said.
Though Syfact has primarily serviced "the who's who in the financial industry," he hopes to expand its client base into the insurance area.
"We're seeing potential for insurance companies," said Conrad, who hopes to triple the company's revenues this year.
Richard DeLotto, principal analyst with Stamford-based Gartner's Banking Industry Advisory Service, said Syfact has a good product. He said that he believes demand for the company's services by the financial industry will increase, and also sees a demand for such products to service the insurance industry.
"With the financial industry, there's a tremendous privacy concern. Banks have to be aware of everyone, anyone, they are doing business with, their customers, employees or business partners," DeLotto said. "Syfact is clearly a leader in the financial service industry in terms of the technology."
DeLotto also complimented Syfact's savvy in a few important areas. He said that Syfact's software allows companies to keep and use their existing fraud packages. The Stamford firm also gets involved with an organization's workflow, and Syfact is up to date on regulations covering multiple jurisdictions, whether in other states or overseas.
"A tool like Syfact Investigator enables them to ensure that they allow imposition of a best-practices model - don't skip a step because we'll know it. They're like the grown-up or teacher over your shoulder," DeLotto said.
Syfact also assists with software installation and configuration that can last up to three months. Conrad also said that they upgrade their products about twice a year.
Conrad, who commutes to Stamford from Boston, came to Syfact a year ago with experience in technology and sales. He previously served as vice president of global sales with Permessa.com, an early-stage systems management software company in Boston. He also has had various sales positions with technology software companies and was schooled as an engineer.
Syfact employs about 12 in Stamford and about 35 overseas in Holland.
© 2007 Southern Conn. Newspapers, Inc.
