Mexico’s Tudi understands the importance of security in expanding digital payments, which is why it has signed on for ThetaRay‘s anti-money laundering (AML) solution.
Tudi is using the ThetaRay artificial intelligence (AI)-leveraging AML platform SONAR to monitor all domestic transactions made through its financial mobile app in Mexico, as the country’s government doubles down on illicit, fraudulent transactions in the wake of its digital payments transformation.
The app is catering to Mexico’s growing intake of digital payments through the provision of cashless services including bill payment, money transfer, top-up and entertainment services; among others.
Right now, the World Bank records only 37 per cent of the country’s 126.7 million population has account holders, while a lower 32 per cent have either sent or received a digital payment. For the South American region, these figures are significantly below that of its neighbours who have similar levels of development.
What’s more, as noted by Reuters, the low penetration of fintech services within Mexico could be attributed to the country’s strong preference for cash.
But while Tudi must recognise the difficulty of its position, the app is also recognising the Mexican government’s efforts, in spite of cash being king, to make the entire digital payment ecosystem more secure.
The country’s 2021 reform, ‘Ley para Regular las Instituciones de Tecnología Financiera’ (LRITF), known colloquially as the ‘fintech law’, outlines the effort primarily. It sets out measures of best practise for the industry, including appropriate AML measures.
On a wider note, this approach by the Mexican government does appear to be working, with the number of Mexican fintechs increasing from 441 in 2021 to an estimated 650 last year.
However, it is because of the AML stipulation in the law that Tudi is now engaging with ThetaRay, the Israeli fintech software company, to abide by these measures.
Tudi signs on for SONAR AML
Through the agreement, Tudi is adopting the software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform’s AML capabilities that promote an ability to detect known and unknown crime patterns within transaction monitoring, including narco-trafficking, terrorist financing and human trafficking.
This functionality is allowing the financial app to adhere to requirements set by Mexican regulators for non-bank payment providers to operate AML systems that actively prevent money laundering.
Speaking on the company’s selection of ThetaRay’s SONAR solution, Andrés Adame Guajardo, Tudi’s VP of product, expressed a desire to “stay one step ahead of developing AML scenarios [in Mexico] that challenge and risk our operations.”
The proprietary form of AI that the solution is based on replaces human bias and enables it to recognise anomalies and alert abnormal financial behaviour.
Following ThetaRay’s release of the software version last October, the fintech industry has become increasingly engaged with SONAR’s AML abilities, as evidenced by the company’s similar activities within the European market.
