Challenge: Compliance Automation
The in-house legal department at Surfer reached out to InvestCEE LegalTech Consultancy to help review software solutions for regulatory tasks. The automation aspect was particularly necessary in order to ✔ monitor frequently changing global sanctions lists, ✔ keep track of local and international laws and regulations, ✔ enable operational efficiency, and ✔ integrate workflows for legal and business teams at the same time.
The purpose of identifying the right tool for Surfer was two-fold:
1/ prevent fines and reputational damage potentially arising from compliance issues; and
2/ implement standardized work processes to save lawyers’ administrative time, while improving support service for the company’s business units.
Finally, to make the most of the organization’s existing IT infrastructure, the new sanctions screening solution also needed to comply with specific requirements in terms of basic functionalities, pricing plans, automation and integration capabilities. Using API was essential for Surfer’s IT team to screen a set of people or companies for their presence on a watchlist. As part of the research project, InvestCEE also looked up the full API documentation for a detailed overview of the screening functionality where that was available.
Approach
At the time the legal department reached out to InvestCEE for legal operations support, the in-house team was in the early stage of planning a technology-assisted compliance strategy. Surfer’s legal team turned to compliance technology to better navigate the complex landscape of sanctions screening. Accordingly, InvestCEE’s role in this project was to dive into the compliance tool research and help Surfer shortlist solutions that would fit their requirements.
As per preliminary discussions with the legal team, InvestCEE focused the market research on compliance automation tools that would:
- enable end-to-end sanctions and watchlist screening;
- provide access to regularly and automatically updated public databases of global regulations and sanctions lists;
- support detailed KYC checks with due diligence workstreams;
- enable ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) research;
- ensure API connection with Surfer’s existing IT infrastructure; and
- reduce overall review time for Surfer’s compliance team members, and deliver frictionless onboarding for new clients.
Historically, the legal team relied upon manual efforts and manpower to research legacy databases, presenting challenges such as delayed onboarding for new clients and scalability. The opportunity to automate the sanctions screening process truly emerged as a transformative solution for their everyday work processes.
Also, Surfer was open to leveraging advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning. Accordingly, InvestCEE prioritized checking automated systems that would swiftly analyze extensive international datasets in real-time, while also enhancing accuracy and efficiency of data access.
Results
With the comparative analysis of various solutions available on the compliance technology market, it became obvious that automated sanctions screening was emerging as the cornerstone of efficient compliance efforts. Outsourcing the compliance technology research and product analysis to InvestCEE delivered operational efficiencies for Surfer and set the stage for a smooth implementation process.
Within a couple weeks of the project start, the legal team had access to ✔ a comparative chart listing various solution providers, ✔ their product offering relevant to Surfer and ✔ key details about each sanctions screening platform, in particular API documentation, pricing plans and user feedback.
Implementation of the selected compliance tool was scheduled for 2025 and relied heavily on API integration. Adopting compliance technology that fit their particular corporate culture eventually resulted in a technological milestone for Surfer. Automated regulatory screening improved the legal team’s ability to identify and mitigate risks associated with sanctioned entities and freed up valuable capacity for strategic projects in the organization.
If you have any questions about the compliance tool research project or would like further guidance in your legal operations initiatives, leave us a note below!
