Two Deutsche Bank compliance veterans, Jeff Horvath and Jeffery Ruiz, have launched DigiPli, a holistic onboarding-as-a-service solution that addresses a financial institution’s complete anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) needs.
The platform leverages advances in technology to automate AML workflows and processes which enables firms to better adapt to a digital economy and the remote support models accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief compliance officer and co-founder Ruiz was formerly the Americas head of central compliance at Deutsche Bank.
CEO and co-founder Horvath was previously the global chief compliance officer at Fitch Ratings and before that he was the global head of central compliance at Deutsche Bank.
While leading the compliance team at Deutsche Bank, Horvath and Ruiz explain that they saw a need for digitised and streamlined compliance processes that included not just the systems, data and other applications necessary for a successful programme, but also ongoing advice from compliance professionals capable of operating at the junction of regulation, technology, finance and operations.
Horvath says: “Compliance professionals worldwide face similar challenges with outdated technology, complex AML regulations that differ by country, and operational inefficiencies arising from integrating a firm’s internal systems with multiple data providers and AML/KYC vendor products.”
“Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic shifted tasks and responsibilities to a remote workforce, which in turn revealed a greater need for a simplified yet expanded AML solution,” he adds.
Joseph Polizzotto, Board Advisor at DigiPli, explains: “Horvath and Ruiz together have over 50 years combined experience in managing compliance processes and teams, and in interacting with regulators in the US and abroad.”
He notes: “They have taken their collective experience, leveraged industry best practices and the latest in technology to develop the ‘next generation’ AML model, where a single, trusted partner provides a bundled package of all the systems, staffing, tools and data a financial institution needs to design, implement and manage an efficient and robust customer onboarding program from start to finish.”
Polizzotto and Sanjeev Handa recently joined DigiPli’s advisory board.
Polizzotto is an attorney with decades of experience and industry accolades as a general counsel at Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank.
Currently, Polizzotto also serves as a senior vice president for strategy and client services at QuisLex, a legal processing outsourcing company.
Meanwhile, Handa is an independent director of Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund, a closed-end investment management company, and serves on the board of directors of GreenPath Financial Wellness.
Handa was formerly an independent director at Fitch Ratings and spent 30 years at TIAA-CREF where he gained his experience as a financial, real estate and securitization professional.
Alongside Joseph Chan, an existing advisory board member, Polizzotto and Handa will be assisting DigiPli through its 2021 product launches and ongoing strategic initiatives.
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