Synctera Launches Compliance Program Ground Control

FinTech platform Synctera has launched Ground Control, a banking and compliance program designed to help creators of financial products ensure they are meeting banking and financial regulatory obligations.

Ground Control gives FinTech builders the choice of having compliance tasks managed by Synctera, including know your customer (KYC), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, fraud and customer disputes, according to a Tuesday (Aug. 2) press release.

“There are so many opportunities for error when setting up onboarding and transaction monitoring for a new financial product,” said Synctera Chief Compliance Officer Sarah Mirsky-Terranova in the release. “The added support from Ground Control empowers developers and entrepreneurs to go to market knowing that those back-end compliance needs are being met while they build out larger teams of their own to bring the services in-house.”

Synctera said in the release that Ground Control is supported by banking and compliance operations providers, including partners such MinervaAI, an enhanced due diligence platform, and Ubiquity, a business process outsourcing provider for complex verticals such as FinTech and crypto, healthcare and eCommerce.

PYMNTS examined the issue of compliance Wednesday (Aug. 3) in a conversation with Eric Greenstein, product manager of compliance and fraud at Modern Treasury.

Read more: Compliance Complexities Hamper Growth at Fledgling FinTechs

A lack of concrete plans for compliance can threaten up-and-coming firms, he said. These companies have a long list of concerns they need to address. For example, they need a dedicated compliance officer, as well as KYC and fraud monitoring tools. And they need to ensure the customers with whom they transact aren’t on sanctions watchlists.

From a process point of view, Greenstein added, companies should have transparent written procedures for identifying and reporting suspicious transactions, and they should communicate their findings with their banking partners.

“You also need to independently review your program regularly,” he said.