Build an Anti-Money Laundering Programme Your Regulator Will Approve
A complete AML and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) platform that turns regulatory obligations into automated, defensible workflows. From Customer Due Diligence to Suspicious Activity Reporting — engineered to satisfy FATF, MAS, FCA, FinCEN, EU AMLD, and every major AML regime worldwide.
Anti-Money Laundering, Explained
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) is the framework of laws, regulations, and procedures designed to prevent, detect, and report the use of the financial system to disguise the proceeds of crime. Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) targets the same financial channels but is concerned with funds destined for terrorist activity, regardless of whether those funds originated legitimately. In every major jurisdiction, AML and CFT obligations are imposed jointly on financial institutions, payment providers, fund managers, insurers, crypto businesses, and other regulated entities.
The cost of getting AML wrong has never been higher. Global regulators issued more than $5 billion in AML penalties in 2024 alone. Beyond fines, deficient AML programmes lead to restricted licences, public censure, and personal liability for compliance officers. Yet most institutions still run AML on a patchwork of legacy screening tools, spreadsheets, and email-based case handling — systems that struggle to keep up with rising customer volumes, evolving typologies, and tightening regulatory expectations.
One Constellation's AML / CFT platform replaces that patchwork with a single, configurable workflow engine that implements every component of a modern AML programme: Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), sanctions and PEP screening, real-time transaction monitoring, suspicious activity reporting, and immutable audit evidence. Used today by more than 700 financial institutions, banks, fund administrators, and legal firms globally.
The Three Stages of Money Laundering
Effective AML controls are designed around how money laundering actually works. The classical model — recognised by FATF and every major regulator — identifies three distinct stages, each requiring different detection signals and control responses.
Placement
Cash from criminal activity enters the legitimate financial system. Common methods include cash deposits structured below reporting thresholds, smurfing across multiple accounts, and use of cash-intensive businesses. Strong KYC and source-of-funds verification at onboarding are the primary defence.
Layering
Funds are moved rapidly through a series of transactions designed to obscure their origin — wire transfers across jurisdictions, shell-company routing, conversion to and from crypto assets. Real-time transaction monitoring with behavioural analytics is critical to detecting layering activity.
Integration
The funds re-enter the economy as apparently legitimate wealth — through real estate purchases, business investments, luxury goods, or fund subscriptions. Strong KYB, UBO transparency, and source-of-wealth scrutiny make integration difficult to execute undetected.
Complete Coverage of the FATF Framework
Our AML / CFT suite implements all four pillars required by FATF and reflected in every major regulatory framework worldwide — Customer Due Diligence, ongoing monitoring, suspicious activity reporting, and audit evidence retention.
Customer Due Diligence
KYC, KYB, UBO identification, risk rating, PEP and sanctions screening — at onboarding and at every periodic review cycle.
Ongoing Monitoring
Real-time transaction monitoring, behavioural anomaly detection, and continuous re-screening of every customer against updated watchlists.
SAR / STR Reporting
Structured case files for Suspicious Activity Reports. Direct regulator filing where supported (FinCEN, MAS STRO, FCA / NCA, AUSTRAC).
Evidence & Audit
Every decision, alert, and case logged immutably. Regulator inspections and internal audits supported with one-click evidence export.
A Five-Stage Workflow Engineered for Defensibility
Our AML workflow implements the control environment regulators expect — risk-based, documented, defensible, and continuously reinforced. Every customer flows through the same configurable pipeline; every decision creates an evidence record.
Three CDD Tiers, Applied Automatically
FATF and every major regulator require AML controls to be proportionate to risk. Our platform turns that principle into a configurable engine, applying Simplified, Standard, or Enhanced Due Diligence based on the risk profile of each customer.
Simplified Due Diligence
Applied to demonstrably low-risk relationships — for example, regulated financial institutions from FATF-equivalent jurisdictions, or government entities.
- Basic identity verification
- Light-touch sanctions screening
- Extended periodic refresh cycles
- Straight-through onboarding
Standard CDD
The default tier for most customers. Full identity verification, address verification, beneficial ownership identification for corporates, and baseline ongoing monitoring.
- Document and biometric KYC
- Full sanctions and PEP screening
- Annual periodic refresh
- Active transaction monitoring
Enhanced Due Diligence
Mandatory for PEPs, customers from FATF high-risk jurisdictions, complex corporate structures, and high-value or politically-sensitive relationships.
- Source of wealth documentation
- Senior management approval required
- Heightened transaction monitoring
- Shorter periodic refresh cycles
The Patterns Our Platform Detects
Modern AML detection is not just rule-based — it is typology-aware. Our platform ships with pre-configured detection logic for the typologies regulators most frequently identify in supervisory reviews and FATF mutual evaluations.
Structuring & Smurfing
Deposits or transfers deliberately kept below reporting thresholds, often spread across multiple accounts or short time windows to evade detection by Currency Transaction Report (CTR) systems.
Cash depositsThreshold patternsMulti-accountLayering & Rapid Movement
Funds received and rapidly moved on, often across multiple jurisdictions or counterparties — the classic intermediate stage of money laundering, designed to obscure origin.
Wire chainsCross-borderCrypto bridgesTrade-Based Money Laundering
Misuse of legitimate trade transactions to move illicit value — over-invoicing, under-invoicing, phantom shipments, multiple-invoicing of the same goods.
Invoice fraudTrade financeShell suppliersPEP & Sanctions Exposure
Politically exposed persons and sanctioned entities are screened continuously — at onboarding, on every transaction, and as watchlists update. Indirect exposure through UBOs and counterparties is also detected.
PEP screeningSanctions hitsIndirect exposureCrypto-Specific Risks
Travel Rule violations, mixer / tumbler interactions, sanctioned wallet addresses, and high-risk VASP counterparties — all surfaced through chain analytics and policy-based rules.
Travel RuleWallet riskVASP exposureBehavioural Anomalies
Customer-specific baselines flag deviations from established patterns — sudden volume spikes, atypical counterparty geography, unusual product usage — catching risks that static rules miss.
VelocityGeographicAccount takeoverAML That Actually Works at Scale
Aligned With Every Major AML Regime
Our AML workflows are pre-configured for the major global frameworks — and built to evolve as standards tighten. Every workflow maps explicitly back to the specific regulatory requirements it satisfies.
Answers for Compliance Officers
Build an AML Programme Your Regulator Will Approve
See how One Constellation turns AML / CFT into an automated, defensible, and audit-ready operation — configured for your jurisdiction and industry.