Standard Chartered plc has implemented anti-money laundering software from Norkom Technologies in the London-based bank's operations, which span 50 countries on four continents.

The Norkom software monitors banking transactions and terrorist watch lists, and flags transactions between individuals, organizations, or countries deemed high-risk.

Banks are required to comply with the USA Patriot Act in the United States and similar laws overseas that require them to monitor for suspicious activity that may be part of terrorist financing, and to check against lists of known terrorists such as those supplied by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The Norkom software monitors the bank's transaction to identify suspicious behavior, and issues alerts as needed to Standard Chartered's investigation teams. The system will replace other fraud detection systems in use at Standard's locations around the world, says Mike McVicker, head of compliance at Standard Chartered Bank Americas.

Norkom's profiling and rules engines lets organizations better understand and predict behavior, allowing them to take appropriate action in real time or at a scheduled time in the future.

The profiling engine is a component-based platform for developing analytical systems that can be embedded in business products and for deploying predictive intelligence to a large number of business users. The results can be viewed in a visualization tool.

The rules engine monitors data and detects specific behavior patterns within mission-critical, high-transaction volume environments. Organizations can automate business rules and decision processes through the use of intelligent agents, which provide workflow, authorization, process management, and reporting capabilities.