A risk and compliance onboarding platform says it has reduced the time is takes to review trust documents from “hours of manual review (to be) completed in seconds” using artificial intelligence and document intelligence.
Legl’s Client Lifecycle platform has been expanded to enable private client professionals to manage the compliance and risk requirements of trusts alongside companies, individuals and other entity types. Legl CEO Julia Salasky said the new addition to the platform would enable firms to better deal with “layered ownership, multiple associated individuals, and heightened regulatory scrutiny.”
The update is particularly pertinent in the Australian legal market, she said, where reforms to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations are placing a greater emphasis on law firms to identify and report on risk, much like in the UK, under the Tranche 2 reforms.
Salasky explained:
“Trusts represent one of the most complex areas of client onboarding and AML compliance. This launch reflects Legl’s commitment to helping law firms manage risk with greater clarity, consistency, and efficiency, especially as regulatory expectations continue to rise. Our team has been helping law firms in the Australian market prepare for tranche 2 reforms, and managing trusts will help firms to prepare ahead of the 1st July deadline.”
Where trusts present challenges for law firms from a compliance point of view – including identifying and verifying all associated individuals, understanding beneficial ownership, control and the assets held under the trust, managing enhanced due diligence requirements and ongoing monitoring – Legl says the AI and document intelligence will “automatically analyse lengthy, complex trust deeds, including documents running up to 1000 pages… (and) extract key information such as trustees, beneficiaries, settlors and the nature and value of assets held.”
The result, the company adds, is more structured data which enables firms to identify assets that might be considered high-risk under firm policies earlier in the process. and maintain full visibility of the connections between trusts, individuals and businesses within their client-base.
Salasky concluded:
“This approach to client lifecycle management gives firms intelligence to truly understand compliance and commercial risk, provides a full audit trail to support regulatory obligations and data to help drive intelligence and growth at the firm.”
