As organisations seek to navigate the dynamic nature of today’s world, HR and Compliance Professionals in Malaysia have started to go the extra mile to conduct extensive Background Checks in their selection and vetting procedures.
While the perfect candidate may not exist, a thorough screening will probably get a business as close as possible to one.
Mitigating risks, frauds, and scams through screening.
For Employment or Tenant Screening, Background Checks help identify any criminal history, credit issues, or possible fraudulent activities. In the Financial Sector, screening against regulatory watchlists, sanctions lists, and numerous other blacklist databases can help detect money laundering and financing of terrorism activities. This also helps sectors comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) regulations.
Realising the business needs for an Instant Background Check, Verity Intelligence Sdn Bhd, a leading Background Screening and Verification Company in Malaysia, now offers a full suite of services, for a complete screening solution.
Founder, Mark Leow, shared that when he was a headhunter, he discovered that many of the candidates pitched to customers had embellishments in their resumes. Some had faked their degrees, some had engaged in serious gross misconduct during their employment, while some were criminals. This inspired Mark to help customers screen their candidates before they hire.
At that time, most businesses would use a private investigator which would cost too much, hence they would only screen C-level hires. “I decided to create our own reports and processes so companies can screen anyone and everyone they want to hire,” said Mark.
Verity Intelligence didn't stop there!
In 2020, Verity introduced HaloCheck as their R&D and Technology arm. Recognising a gap in Instant Background Checks, especially for Customer Onboarding among reporting Financial Institutions, HaloCheck helps customers comply with Bank Negara Malaysia's AMLA requirements for Customer Due Diligence (CDD).
HaloCheck leverages technology to streamline processes, enhance accuracy, and reduce costs, while assisting in the protection against financial crimes, and ensuring regulatory compliance as well as safeguarding reputation.
“Based on my experience, at least 9 out of 10 people have experienced being scammed, or know someone who has been scammed before. To tackle this problem, we decided to develop a platform that is affordable and accessible for everyone to perform Customer Due Diligence.”
HaloCheck’s solutions resonated with many lawyers, accountants, company secretaries and estate agents because they are required to comply with Bank Negara Malaysia’s Anti-Money Laundering policy; it is mandatory to conduct KYC to ensure that they are not on any regulatory blacklist or watchlist, and to avoid any potential risks when onboarding customers.
But what is a CDD screening? How is this type of check different from a traditional Pre-Employment Background Check?
Customer Due Diligence: CDD checks involve several steps, beginning with identifying and verifying the customer, and then screening the individuals’ or entities' names against various blacklists issued by International Organizations, Governments, Regulatory Bodies, Authorized Agencies, as well as other legally available blacklists or watchlists. The objective is to detect, deter, and monitor any association with parties who are involved in, or potentially involved in illicit activities.
“We’re proud to say that with 14 years of experience in providing services to comply with Bank Negara Malaysia’s requirements, we have the largest local database of Malaysian blacklist records. While most international or global Name Screening Providers may have a larger global database, they lack the depth and reach in Malaysia, like HaloCheck.” said Mark.
HaloCheck helps businesses by offering:
Identity Verification (e-KYC)
Name Screening
Ongoing Monitoring
Employment Screening: Covers various types of Integrity Checks that includes Financial Probity, Criminal, Conflict of Interest, Regulatory Blacklists and many more. In addition, Employment Screening includes Education Checks, Employment History Verification, Reference Checks, to further verify the authenticity of a candidate's claims.
Verity Intelligence future plans.
“We believe we can help make the world a safer place, one community at a time by democratising screening. We will continue to invest in advanced technologies like AI for improved efficiency and security. We are even looking to diversify our services to meet emerging needs such as Social Scoring through Instant Reference Checks. We will continue on our journey to make screening more accessible, not only in Malaysia, but also to other new regional markets,” said Mark.
Visit Verity Intelligence and HaloCheck for more info.
