A New Era in Regional Security with DVA’s Innovative AML Solution, DobSafe: Expanding to Azerbaijan and the Middle East

In the fight against financial crime, DVA Bilisim ve Yazilim A.S. stands out with its cutting-edge DobSafe platform, originating in Turkey and making strides across the region. In this exclusive interview, the Product Manager of DobSafe shares insights into the platform’s unique features and the company’s expansion strategy targeting Azerbaijan and Middle Eastern markets. Focused on meeting the current needs of financial institutions in the region, DobSafe has swiftly captured attention with its robust screening capabilities and AML risk assessment features. The interview with Sabah newspaper follows below.

Can you briefly introduce DVA Bilisim and its valuable contributions to the banking and finance ecosystem?

Founded in 2013 under Merit Group (www.meritgrup.com), DVA Bilisim ve Yazilim A.S. (www.dva.tr) was established to develop solutions in the fields of analytics and biometrics. DVA is a consulting and systems integration firm specializing in providing financial crime prevention and KYC/Onboarding (Know Your Customer and Customer Acquisition) solutions to the finance sector.

In financial crime prevention, we provide solutions in two main categories:

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Solutions

Fraud Monitoring Solutions

Our KYC solutions are also grouped into two primary categories:

Identity Verification and Facial Biometrics Solutions

Sanctions Screening Solutions

Our solutions are utilized by leading banks in Turkey, and we also provide consultancy and implementation services in the scope of financial crime prevention in Azerbaijan and Nigeria. In addition to partnering with globally renowned software leaders in financial crime prevention, we also develop proprietary software solutions.

Detecting and Preventing Financial Crimes: AML Solutions and User Convenience

Could you elaborate on the AML services you offer in terms of the convenience they provide to users?

Our solutions in this area can be categorized into two main groups:

a) Partner Solutions b) In-house Developed Software

Since our establishment, we have represented NICE Actimize, one of the world’s best AML solutions, and Featurespace, a leader in fraud prevention. Recognized by Gartner and many other research firms, these solutions require both analytical skills and in-depth industry knowledge. Implementing anti-money laundering and fraud prevention solutions requires the technical and consulting services provided by our consulting and implementation teams, with over ten years of experience working on domestic and international projects to ensure project success.

The foundation of AML lies in monitoring financial transfers in real-time or at the end of the day to detect any unusual financial flows. Both inbound and outbound SWIFT transactions are tracked in real-time without the need for translation software. Additionally, with the ISO20022 format, MX messages are scanned in real-time to identify risks, and daily sanction list screenings are conducted for new and existing customers. NICE Actimize, with over 30 years of experience, provides more than 150 scenarios to address new risks, including those in cryptocurrency transfers. Through these scenarios, we can assess AML risks in cryptocurrency transfers. This solution also sets standards for data management discipline and data quality in AML, guiding institutions in meeting these critical benchmarks for effective financial crime prevention.

Featurespace provides AI-based models in card and payment fraud prevention by continuously monitoring customer spending behavior and generating instant alerts in abnormal situations. By combining AI-based models with a scenario/rules set developed by industry experts, Featurespace minimizes fraud risks.

A Leading Example of Our Success: Our Proprietary AML Software, DobSafe

One of our most celebrated projects is our proprietary AML software, DobSafe. Developed to meet the list screening needs of small and mid-tier firms, DobSafe updates sanctioned lists daily, including those of MASAK, OFAC, UN, EU, and Azerbaijan. With fuzzy matching algorithms, it ensures the most accurate matches and calculates customer risk based on user-defined risk factors, all through an easy-to-use interface. DobSafe’s capabilities in cloud operation, the ability to scan third-party lists, and the inclusion of embedded lists and AML risk assessment set it apart from competitors.

Most recently, we have successfully implemented AML solutions at a major bank in Nigeria with branches in 20 countries across Africa.

Remote Identity Verification and Customer Acquisition

Could you describe the technology you provide for remote identity verification and customer acquisition?

We began collaborating with Aware, a US-based firm, in 2016 to develop solutions for remote customer onboarding, document scanning, and selfie-based identity verification. Our solution, developed before COVID-19, gained traction with the onset of new regulations during the pandemic. In the current market, several local and international companies provide KYC/Onboarding solutions, yet our solution developed with DVA-Aware stands out in terms of security features and technological sophistication.

As certified by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), Aware can determine the liveness of a selfie subject without requiring active movements (e.g., head turns, blinks), thus preventing sophisticated attacks such as deep fakes. iBeta, a certified international testing organization, has validated this highest level of protection. Additionally, Aware’s face recognition technology does not retain any biometric data on the user’s device or server after the transaction, ensuring privacy.

OCR/MRZ and/or NFC technology is used to scan passports, ID cards, and driver’s licenses, reading chip data through NFC for added security when combined with liveness checks, thus enabling a range of secure transactions without branch visits.

Future Goals in findvatr

What are your future goals in the findvatr space?

Document authenticity verification is a key area we are focusing on. Solutions that validate physical security elements, such as holograms on ID cards, will prevent account creation with forged documents. Our technology can detect any alteration to printed information on IDs. Using artificial intelligence algorithms, combined with increasingly sophisticated face recognition algorithms, we can now achieve a security threshold with a 1-in-10-million False Match Rate (FMR).

We aim to expand our DobSafe solution to the Azerbaijan market and other Middle Eastern countries. In October, we were pleased to see that our solutions align with the needs of the region, as demonstrated at our event in Baku attended by over twenty financial institutions. With the addition of our transaction monitoring module, DobSafe will soon be able to assess AML and fraud risks in financial transfers, making it a comprehensive solution for financial crime prevention.