Aresbank modernizes transaction monitoring for specialist corporate banking
Specialist corporate bank strengthens compliance across correspondent banking and trade finance with a scalable, modern transaction monitoring platform.
Introduction
Aresbank is a specialist corporate bank headquartered in Madrid, facilitating international trade between Spain, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). With a business built around correspondent banking, trade finance, documentary credits, and international guarantees, Aresbank needed a transaction monitoring platform designed for the complexities of its specialist operations.
The bank selected SymphonyAI to modernize its financial crime compliance capabilities, automate key controls, and establish a scalable foundation that can evolve alongside changing regulations and business requirements.
Challenge
Aresbank operates a very different model from a typical retail bank. Its focus on international trade means transactions can involve multiple counterparties, jurisdictions, documents, and rapidly changing sanctions regimes.
Operating under the supervision of the Bank of Spain and Spain’s AML/CFT supervisory authority, SEPBLAC, Aresbank is subject to Spain’s Law 10/2010 and its implementing regulation, Royal Decree 304/2014.
As regulatory expectations evolved, several controls across transaction monitoring and trade finance continued to rely on manual processes. Aresbank saw an opportunity to strengthen consistency and oversight while creating a compliance environment capable of adapting more quickly to change.
“Our controls were supported by a combination of automation and manual processes, and over time it became increasingly important to enhance them to meet the evolving expectations of our regulators across trade finance and correspondent banking," said Isabel Trasobares, Head of Compliance, Global Risk Control at Aresbank. "The future of AML is not about doing more controls. It’s about making our controls smarter through automation, data, and technology.”
Solutions
Aresbank selected SymphonyAI to modernize transaction monitoring across its banking and correspondent banking activities.
The approach reflects a fundamental requirement: trade finance monitoring cannot simply apply a traditional retail banking model at a different scale.
Where retail transaction monitoring might identify unusual transaction velocity or amounts, trade finance requires controls capable of accounting for the documents, counterparties, and jurisdictions associated with instruments such as letters of credit and international guarantees.
SymphonyAI is therefore combining detection rules from its retail and correspondent banking models within a single solution and tuning the deployment to Aresbank’s specific business and risk profile.
Aresbank is replacing operationally intensive manual controls with automated transaction monitoring, creating greater consistency across its financial crime compliance operations.
The solution is designed around the distinct requirements of Aresbank’s specialist business, incorporating detection logic for correspondent banking and trade finance rather than relying solely on controls designed for retail banking.
Delivered as SaaS, the platform gives Aresbank an environment designed to evolve as regulations, risks, and business requirements change, reducing the operational burden associated with legacy compliance technology.
Expected outcomes from Aresbank’s compliance modernization
Once fully deployed, Aresbank expects its modern transaction monitoring platform to strengthen financial crime compliance while improving the efficiency and scalability of its operations.
Replacing manual compliance controls with automated transaction monitoring will help reduce review hours, improve consistency, and accelerate trade finance transaction processing.
Aresbank expects to strengthen monitoring across correspondent banking and trade finance activities, reflecting the specific risks associated with its international business.
A more unified approach to transaction monitoring is expected to improve consistency and transparency across financial crime operations.
A modern SaaS platform will give Aresbank greater flexibility to adapt as regulatory requirements evolve, while providing a scalable compliance foundation capable of supporting future business growth and change.
The Future
"Aresbank’s business doesn’t look like a typical retail bank, and that’s exactly the point. Our platform is built to support the full range of banking business models, from correspondent banking to trade finance, not just retail compliance. For Aresbank, that meant combining detection rules from both our retail and correspondent banking models into a single solution, then tuning it to reflect the bank’s role as a bridge for trade between Europe and North Africa.”
Expertise when your team needs it most
Modern financial crime compliance starts with technology built for the realities of your business. Aresbank is building a more scalable approach to transaction monitoring across complex correspondent banking and trade finance operations. Ready to strengthen compliance, reduce operational burden, and build for what’s next?
