Chris Colville, Partner & Ian Mackie, Operations Director

AMLCC stood out from the crowd

Ian Mackie: I first came across AMLCC on a Google search. We looked at another provider too, but AMLCC blew it out of the water and we could immediately see how much easier it would make life for us.

We don’t hang around at Hall Morrice. I sent the initial enquiry on a Sunday afternoon, which was quickly responded to by the Managing Director, and by Wednesday we’d had a demo and had the spend signed off by our own MD. By Thursday we were fully onboarded. We might work fast, but AMLCC kept up with us every step of the way.

From the first demo to implementation, AMLCC’s customer service has been outstanding. They were brilliant at getting us set up and making sure we were using the system to its full potential. Nothing has ever felt like too much trouble.

Adopting AMLCC was a foundational step in our ongoing strategy to leverage technology to enhance our services. We are always looking for ways to work smarter, and this partnership is a perfect example of that commitment in action.

Onboarding: from “slow and steady” to “big bang”

Chris Colville: Our original plan was to take AMLCC slowly, transferring existing clients across in batches while using the platform for all new client onboarding. But it became clear very quickly that this approach wasn’t going to work. We realised we needed to go all in so we could use the platform as we wanted and use all its benefits to get our business fully protected.

That’s when we called in AMLCC’s consultancy team. Lisa guided us through completing a detailed and fully customised firm-wide risk assessment and set of policies, controls and procedures. She also helped us with the full client migration, including setting up reusable client profiles that save us an enormous amount of time completing client risk assessments. 

We now use at least a dozen different reusable profiles to cover our client base – from corporate, sole traders and personal to trusts and not-for-profits. Each profile pre-populates the risk assessment according to client type and risk profile, leaving us to simply personalise it. What used to take hours now takes minutes.

Passing inspections with confidence

Chris Colville: The difference AMLCC made really came into focus at our AML inspection in July. Everything the inspector needed was already organised in one place – from our firm-wide risk assessment and policies, controls and procedures through to individual client checks and risk assessments.

The AML policy function, which is automatically time and date stamped, meant we could show that we’d recently made updates and taken into account legislative changes — and that every member of staff had acknowledged the changes. That level of transparency impressed our ICAS inspector.

Ian Mackie: Training is another highlight. AML CPD can often feel like a tick-box exercise but AMLCC’s training videos go into real depth. They’re educational rather than superficial, and the fact we can see when every staff member has completed and passed them – and present that evidence straight to an inspector – gave us extra assurance.

Thanks to AMLCC, the inspection ran smoothly from start to finish, with no surprises and no gaps.