BAE Systems launches “major update” to NetReveal platform for financial institutions

The latest version of BAE Systems’ NetReveal platform combines the best of advanced analytics and human expertise to enable financial institutions to effectively combat financial crime and fraud in an environment of rapidly evolving regulatory requirements and changing financial crime patterns.

Faced with increasing transactions, evolving regulations, a growing number of payment channels, customer friction, investigation challenges and strengthening privacy regimes, financial crime and fraud investigators are under pressure to make more confident and intelligence-led decisions and do so at an unprecedented pace.

Built on modernised modular technology, NetReveal addresses these challenges by working smarter and faster and supporting an intelligence-led approach:

Smarter: Profiling and detection against transactional data that commonly takes hours to process is now processed within 30 minutes (on average)

Faster: Advanced analytics with machine learning techniques improve operational performance by driving fewer false positives. Integrated Robotic Process Automation (RPA) means that routine tasks are automated, enabling investigators to focus more on high value strategic investigative work. The Real-Time Detection Engine helps institutions to keep pace with sophisticated criminals across growing digital channels

Intelligence-Led: Entity-based investigations deliver efficiency improvements of 20-30% on average by streamlining multiple detections into a single combined alert dashboard. Interactive lists also provide actionable information to adjudicate alerts effectively

Culmination of major investment

Rob Harrison, head of product and solutions for the financial services sector at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, said: “This release is the culmination of major investment and engineering development of our financial crime platform and suite of solutions. We’ve focused on providing compliance and fraud teams with the latest advanced analytics, technology advancements and productivity improvements.”

Harrison added: “The latest version of NetReveal combines the best of human expertise and advanced analytics which we believe puts financial institutions in the strongest position possible to address the major market challenges of today, namely regulatory complexity and change, evolving fraud patterns, productivity and efficiency pressures and new risk management approaches.”

Julie Conroy, research director for the Aite Group’s Retail Banking practice, commented: “The use of RPA to improve financial crime operations significantly increases accuracy, reduces operational costs and enhances productivity. Given the growing data challenge, having the ability to advance investigator efficiency by reducing repetitive manual tasks, human error and, by extension, the number of false positives ultimately frees up time to focus on more strategic tasks.”

NetReveal is a single integrated platform for money laundering compliance and fraud prevention, enabling financial institutions to benefit from lower total cost of ownership across their compliance and fraud teams thanks to a single solution.

A comprehensive range of compliance and counter-fraud solutions can be deployed either individually or collectively.

Personal best for Securitas Security Services UK as officers scoop six national BSIA honours

Securitas Security Services UK has triumphed at this year’s British Security Industry Association (BSIA) Security Personnel Awards, the regional and national awards scheme designed to pay tribute to the outstanding work of security officers over the preceding 12-month period. Securitas was honoured to receive a record six accolades, including two out of the three national trophies bestowed in the Outstanding Act category.

The first Outstanding Act award went to Tim Prodger from Somerset for his vigilance and integrity throughout an ‘intense incident’ which happened during his shift at a major London supermarket. Prodger acted when he overheard a man in the store’s toilets attempting to take his own life. After breaking down the toilet cubicle door, the security officer administered First Aid to the man, who had already lost a great deal of blood.

Prodger remained with the distressed male until paramedics arrived on scene. A store spokesperson said that, without Prodger’s timely intervention, the man would have undoubtedly died.

The award for another Outstanding Act was handed to Chris Fielding from Chesterfield. A Chesterfield Royal Hospital security supervisor of four years standing, Fielding received the award as a result of his initiative and professionalism throughout a potentially dangerous and challenging incident.

While on duty, Fielding and a colleague were called to one of the wards where there had been ongoing reports of a volatile and aggressive man. Shortly after the security officers arrived on the ward, the man managed to escape restraint, running away on several occasions and attempting to take his own life.

A representative from the Tour of Securitas Team receives the BSIA Chairman’s Award from Pauline Norstrom

Fielding repeatedly prevented this from happening, firstly reasoning with the man and then physically stepping in. The man switched between pleading and aggression each time and, at one point, threatened the lives of the security officers.  On his last attempt, the man locked himself in a room and, unable to gain access, Fielding used his torch to strike the glass repeatedly in order to be able to get his hand through it and unlock the door from the inside.

Once inside, Fielding immediately restrained the male who was then escorted by three security officers and two police constables to a holding ward.

In the same category, security officer Adam Murphy was given a special commendation for bravery. Last September, while driving to work in the early hours of the morning, Murphy witnessed a violent crime occurring in the street and involving a deadly weapon. He instinctively drove his van between the two brawlers in order to separate them. After several exchanges of the weapon and its subsequent discarding, Murphy and a member of the public exited their vehicles to assist the wounded man. The attacker escaped, although Murphy gave chase and eventually managed to restrain the offender.

Best Newcomer and Best Team

A national BSIA accolade for Best Newcomer went to Barrow in Furness security officer and emergency medical technician Paul Wilson who joined the security team at BAE Systems back in August 2013, bringing his past experience as an emergency medical technician with him.

The introduction of Securitas personnel into BAE’s existing in-house customer team was a new concept but Wilson’s personal skills soon proved extremely important in not only dealing with employees in sensitive medical situations, but also when it came to ensuring his integration and relationship building with the customer.

Brian Riis Nielsen: Country President at Securitas Security Services UK

In May 2014, Wilson’s professionalism and attention to detail won him a Securitas Community Award for Vigilance after he identified a concern with a patient during a routine medical examination. During the patient’s subsequent recovery, his surgeon informed him he was lucky he had been diagnosed quickly thanks to Wilson’s efforts as a delay may have resulted in a major stroke.

Bristol’s Sainsbury’s Emerald Park Team received a Best Team award for greatly reducing damages in and around the site and accumulating “outstanding” KPI results. The team manages the flow of traffic throughout significant gas tank installation projects, assisting in securing the site and making sure staff and visitors have the correct access cards and authorisation.

The team also supports the Emerald Park charity, namely the Frenchay After Burns Club. Their dedication and enthusiasm saw five of the security team volunteer to participate in a charity walk, completing the Brecon Beacons peaks in one day.  The team of five walked nine miles, climbed a total of 2,907 feet in six hours and raised £1,000 for the worthy charity which supports young burns victims and their families.

Contribution to the Community

Finally, the coveted BSIA Chairman’s Award for Contribution to the Community went to the company’s Tour of Securitas – a charity initiative which raised over £3,000 for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

The virtual cycling Tour began in Edinburgh on 8 September last year and involved over 800 officers and support staff across 21 branches. The staff cycled on static bikes to help increase awareness of safety in the workplace and raise vital funds for the charity. Finishing in Uxbridge five days later, the Tour clocked up a total of 2,677 miles.

The awards were announced at the BSIA’s Annual Luncheon which took place at the London Hilton Hotel, Park Lane.

Speaking about the company’s success, Brian Riis Nielsen (Securitas’ Country President), told Risk UK: “Our officers prove time after time that they’re fully prepared to go above and beyond in their line of duty and we’re once again very proud of their achievements and recognition.”

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence enhances NetReveal anti-money laundering technology

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence has unveiled its enhanced NetReveal suite of anti-money laundering solutions designed to offer clients an end-to-end service that will assist them in addressing ever more rigorous regulatory requirements.

The updated suite builds upon the award-winning solution that was recognised by CEB TowerGroup as being a ‘Best in Class’ provider in relation to anti-money laundering¹. NetReveal offers current and prospective clients a range of new capabilities, in turn enhancing their ability to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing as well as manage compliance obligations.

The focus on compliance has never been greater, particularly so given the emergence of multi-billion dollar fines for organisations that fail to meet regulatory standards. Financial markets continue to be targeted by criminal groups, rogue states, terrorist organisations and drug traffickers seeking to fund their illicit activities.

Preventing money laundering and terrorist financing forms a key strand of crime prevention strategies devised by Governments and global financial regulatory bodies. Therefore, it’s vital that financial institutions remain ahead of regulatory requirements and deploy effective anti-money laundering technology solutions that complement internal systems and policies.

Detection, prevention, investigation, disclosure filing

The enhanced suite of NetReveal solutions provides a complete compliance offering with specific modules offering detection, prevention, investigation and disclosure filing functions.

The suite also incorporates updates that reflect the latest anti-money laundering guidance from global financial regulatory bodies, ensuring that clients will be able to address recent regulatory guidance changes around anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.

For their part, end users will be able to cover their compliance journey from on-boarding and risk rating right through to monitoring transactions and performing dynamic ongoing and enhanced due diligence as advocated by regulatory bodies.

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence has unveiled a significant upgrade of its NetReveal suite of anti-money laundering solutions to help companies prevent money laundering and manage their compliance obligations

Entity-centric detection, list matching, social network analysis and enterprise alert and case management services are all covered thanks to the award-winning NetReveal alert and case management solution. This allows clients to take a multi-tiered approach around detection and investigation and monitor all customer types.

Andy Schmidt, research director at CEB TowerGroup, said: “The anti-money laundering market continues to evolve as controls preventing currency-based laundering still have a significant impact on the market. Additionally, the size and scope of recent high-profile enforcement actions indicates that money laundering activities may shift towards less well-monitored channels such as trade finance, securities and even virtual currencies as gangs and rogue actors seek to keep the funds flowing. This shift requires that financial institutions use anti-money laundering solutions capable of viewing their entire business rather than only select and obvious elements.”

Chris Green, managing director of financial crime at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, explained: “With the emergence of the modern, hyper-connected global economy and the rise of digital criminality, the threat of money laundering has never been greater. Governments and regulators are responding with ever more rigorous compliance obligations, backed up by much tougher sanctions and penalties. Businesses need to be able to respond to this constantly changing regulatory environment and be capable of not only tackling the threats of today, but also of adapting to the new and even more complex risks the future will bring.”

Green added: “It’s vital that businesses operating in the financial sector implement comprehensive systems to ensure they can respond to increased regulation and prevent themselves from being targeted by money launderers. Our enhanced anti-money laundering suite provides our clients with the most effective and agile solution to date, offering a range of new and improved capabilities to ensure that they can meet their compliance demands and protect both their business and their customers from any form of illegal activity.”

Reference
¹CEB TowerGroup: Anti-Money Laundering Report 2013

About BAE Systems and BAE Systems Applied Intelligence

BAE Systems serves the needs of its customers by delivering a wide range of advanced defence, aerospace and security solutions that realise a performance edge. The company works in tandem with local partners to develop, engineer, manufacture and support the innovations that ultimately increase defence sovereignty, sustain economies and safeguard commercial interests.

With 84,600 employees operational across six continents, the business is fully committed to creating solutions that protect and strengthen nations, commerce, communities and people.

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence is a business division of BAE Systems that delivers solutions to assist clients with protecting and enhancing their critical assets in ‘The Intelligence Age’. Its intelligent protection solutions combine large-scale data exploitation, ‘intelligence-grade’ security and complex services and solutions integration.

The business operates in four key domains of expertise: cyber security, financial crime, communications intelligence and digital transformation. Leading enterprises and Government departments use its solutions to protect and enhance their physical infrastructures, mission-critical systems, intellectual property, corporate information, reputation and customer relationships in addition to gaining competitive advantage and financial success.

For further information about BAE Systems Applied Intelligence visit: http://www.baesystems.com/ai

FGH Security wins prestigious Commitment to Skills Award 2014

FGH Security has won the BAE Systems-sponsored Commitment to Skills Award at the Red Rose Business Awards 2014.

The award highlights not only the company’s ongoing commitment to having a highly trained and adaptable workforce but also its desire to allow members of staff to develop themselves to their full potential.

Eight finalists were selected from hundreds of entrants across Lancashire. The Judging Panel for the Red Rose Business Awards 2014 commented: “FGH Security showed passion and enthusiasm to training both internally and externally and commitment to the long-term unemployed and young people.”

Peter Harrison, FGH Security managing director, explained: “The award puts us head and shoulders above other security providers in Lancashire and is a testament to the focus that our company has placed on training over the years and the real benefit that this provides to clients.”

Harrison continued: “Our service is centred around real added value so when companies work with FGH Security they can rest assured that the staff that make up our corporate guarding, venue security and crowd management services are not only some of the best in the security industry, but also provide a level of service that any other external supplier would find hard to beat.”

Left to Right: Nathan Chase (BAE Systems – Award Sponsor) , Peter Harrison (managing director, FGH Security), Dave Charnley (BAE Systems) and Lucy Norris (BAE Systems)

Three key areas of the business

FGH’s award entry focused on three key areas of the business: leadership development, professional development and placing young people into sustainable employment.

Leadership development within the company focuses on developing key management and senior staff members such that they’re more effective at getting the best out of the staff for whom they are directly responsible.

Meanwhile, professional development is centred on job enrichment which provides the opportunity for internal promotion within the company and integrated progression.

Finally, FGH Security also has a focus on giving young people the opportunity to develop their job roles into a stable and productive career. This includes affording youngsters a broad and transferable skills base so that they’re ready for the world of work.

MITIE awarded security contract with BAE Systems

MITIE has been awarded a prestigious three-year security contract with BAE Systems, the global defence, aerospace and security company.

The contract will see MITIE working with the Workplace Services team within BAE Systems’ Real Estate Solutions Division, whose responsibilities include providing security services to approximately 7,000 employees on 22 key sites across the UK.

MITIE will be responsible for physical security, ensuring all needs are met from incident management through to security guarding and systems monitoring.

MITIE was awarded the contract because of its technology-led approach based on MiTec (its advanced technology centre which provides remote security), its ability to operate efficiently through its MiTSM and eLearning platforms and also the company’s specialist knowledge of the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and defence sector.

Bob Forsyth: managing director at MITIE TSM

Bob Forsyth, managing director of MITIE’s Total Security Management (TSM) business, commented: “It’s exciting to be working with like-minded clients such as BAE Systems who are embracing the integrated approach to security. We’re really looking forward to developing our partnership over the next three years.”

Colin Efford, head of delivery for Workplace Services at BAE Systems, added: “We were really impressed with MITIE’s joined-up thinking to technology and the ‘one team’ ethos. MITIE’s systems will give us true visibility of the contract, enabling us to reduce costs and take an output specification approach.”

ISS first to sign up to MoD Corporate Covenant

ISS has become the first FM business to sign the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Corporate Covenant which pledges support to the British Armed Forces.

The agreement ensures that no member of the Armed Forces community will face disadvantage in the provision of services provided by ISS, in turn demonstrating the company’s rock solid support for the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force.

Richard Sykes, CEO for ISS in the UK and Ireland, signed the Covenant along with the Rt Hon Mark Francois MP, Minister of State for Defence, Personnel Welfare and Veterans.

Richard Sykes (left, CEO of ISS in the UK and Ireland) and the Rt Hon Mark Francois MP, Minister of State for Defence, Personnel Welfare and Veterans

At the signing, Sykes commented: “I’m extremely proud that ISS was in the lead in the defence FM sector in committing to engage with the defence community, and I particularly look forward to supporting an increased number of reservists, apprentices and those wounded in action within ISS.”

Sykes went on to state: “Our increasing presence in the defence sector has meant our people have had greater exposure to the selfless men and women who defend our country and, consequently, deserve our respect and support.”

In return, Mark Francois thanked ISS and the other signatories for the initiative they had shown.

“Our Armed Forces and their families give everything to our country,” said Francois, “so I’m delighted that BAE Systems, ISS UK, the BMT Group and General Dynamics are signing a Corporate Covenant.”

Francois added: “I would encourage other organisations and charities from across the country to get behind the Corporate Covenant and do their bit to support the Armed Forces in any way they can.”

BAE Systems’ cyber business “needs hundreds of graduates”

BAE Systems has announced that it’s recruiting 293 graduates and trainees in the UK this year, with over 44% – 130 of them – joining Detica, the organisation’s growing cyber and security business.

The recruitment figures reflect the nation’s growing need for cyber security and the cost of cyber crime to the UK which, according to the National Audit Office, is currently estimated to be between £18 billion and £27 billion.

More and more organisations are looking to shore up their defences against the growing cyber threat, representing a clear market opportunity for companies such as Detica that can provide much-needed cyber skills and expertise.

In addition, training the next generation of skilled cyber security engineers has recently been identified by the Institute of Engineering & Technology as “vital in order to protect the UK’s critical infrastructure”.

Martin Sutherland, Detica’s managing director, commented: “Detica has over 2,600 staff globally, but we’re planning on recruiting 600 people this year of whom 130 will be graduates based in the UK. Our growth reflects a huge demand for technologies which defend against cyber attack, combat fraud and help businesses effectively manage the sometimes overwhelming amounts of data available to them.”

He continued: “We are recruiting IT, engineering, maths and physics graduates and offer an excellent training and development programme, giving our recruits the chance to work on some of the most exciting and cutting-edge IT challenges in the world.”

Shortage of cyber security skills in the UK

Commenting on the shortage of cyber security skills in the UK, Bill Walker – security analyst and technical director at QA – said: “There’s clearly a critical and growing need for companies to plug the cyber skills gap, and graduates are a great starting point. Longer term, organisations need to take big steps to attract and retain more women in the cyber security sector. It’s a sector in which females are currently hugely under-represented.”

Walker went on to state: “This is a wise step by BAE. Our records show that cyber security training business has more than doubled in the past year, but even we see huge scope for further growth in this area if we are to even start to close the skills gap.”

In conclusion, Walker explained: “A career in cyber security looks set to have a very robust future. Regardless of the tough economy, cyber security is going to grow and grow. There is an ideal opportunity here for anyone in IT to retrain and specialise in cyber security, and it should also give any graduate a long and highly desirable career path.”