Addressing Financial Crime Holistically
Interview with Dr. Sebastian Hetzler, Co-CEO of Informatique-MTF SA
Not least in the context of various financial scandals, such as recently with the company Wirecard, the Federal Ministry of Finance last year launched a comprehensive reform package to combat financial crime. The issue has become increasingly pressing for banks and financial institutions in recent years. Informatique-MTF (IMTF) meets the current challenges with technologically modern and holistic solutions.
Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Dr. Hetzler, what are the key components of your solution?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: We offer a holistic platform that covers the entire lifecycle of a customer related to financial crime. This includes onboarding for account opening, ongoing checks of customers against sanctions lists, political exposure as well as negative press, real-time transaction monitoring, for example against financing of terrorism, identifying fraudulent patterns and money laundering, and assisting in the investigation of suspicious transactions, accounts and customers and reporting to law enforcement agencies.
Wirtschaftsforum: What are current topics and trends in the market and also in your company?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: Artificial intelligence is driving the entire market to make the fight against money laundering more precise and effective. The technology continues to promise significant cost savings in combating financial crime. Another technological topic is cloud computing and the associated cost and speed advantages. Ultimately, it is also cryptocurrencies that open up new ways of financial crime.
Wirtschaftsforum: Who are the customers of IMTF?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: We primarily address the customer segment of internationally or nationally active medium-sized and smaller financial institutions. However, we are also pleased to count several global major banks among our clients.
Wirtschaftsforum: Are you also active internationally?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: We are active in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. However, the focus of our business is primarily Europe, especially the DACH region. Currently, we see strong market growth in the Middle East and Asia.
Wirtschaftsforum: What distinguishes IMTF from other providers in the market?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: Customers appreciate our solutions due to the comparatively lower Total Cost of Ownership. This includes all costs associated with the purchase, implementation, maintenance, operation, and use of our solutions over the period of use. We work with standard solutions that can be configured very diversely according to customer requirements. This saves our customers costly individual developments. Furthermore, this also reduces the costs for migrating to newer product versions, which are necessary due to new regulatory requirements and technological developments.
Wirtschaftsforum: What has made IMTF what it is in the market today?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: IMTF was founded in 1987 in Switzerland. At that time, the company had committed itself to the digitization of banking processes. Thus, IMTF was probably one of the first, if not the first, FinTech companies in Switzerland - only it wasn't called that back then. With increasing regulation in these areas within banks, IMTF increasingly moved into the compliance sector and, in 2001, entered a partnership with TONBELLER AG based in Bensheim for the distribution and implementation of their Siron solutions for combating financial crime. Particularly through the international orientation of IMTF, it contributed to the groundbreaking success of the Siron products over 20 years. In 2015, TONBELLER AG was taken over by the American company FICO, which meant further growth impulses for the now global Siron business. In December 2022, IMTF took over the entire Siron business from the FICO group.
Wirtschaftsforum: What do you think are the reasons for the company's long-term success?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: Our employees are our key resource. We have a stable team and have been able to establish long-term and stable customer relationships. We work in a very sensitive area. Trust and transparency are fundamental.
Wirtschaftsforum: What topics will you focus on this year?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: The merger is just a few weeks old and we will now focus on integrating both businesses. We will continue to invest, including in artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
Wirtschaftsforum: What long-term goal have you set for IMTF?
Dr. Sebastian Hetzler: We want to further expand our market presence and reinforce our leading position in the segments we address. Customer benefit and innovation performance are our drivers.