Datawest Solutions Inc. and The Guthrie Phillips Group Inc. have announced a strategic alliance to provide Datawest’s banking clients with GPG’s FasTrac solution to automate anti-money laundering reporting.

FasTrac automates the analysis and reporting requirements set by Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. FINTRAC was established as an independent agency with a mandate to collect, analyze, assess and disclose information in order to assist in the detection, prevention and deterrence of money laundering.

The anti-money laundering legislation requires mandatory reporting from financial institutions of suspicious and other specifically-defined transactions to FINTRAC. This calls for financial institutions to review their cash and electronic transactions daily to identify any reportable items.

GPG’s FasTrac system automates the process of analyzing large volumes of cash and electronic transactions and identifying those items that meet the FINTRAC reporting requirements. FasTrac also facilitates reporting of suspicious transactions and creates the necessary data extracts for electronic transmission to FINTRAC.

“The FasTrac application works in conjunction with Datawest’s banking system,” said David Phillips, GPG president. “This is a great opportunity to expose our products to Datawest’s banking clients. FasTrac’s reportable data are presented for users’ review in an easy-to-read on-screen format. The application validates data for FINTRAC compliance before submission and generates data extracts for electronic transmission to FINTRAC. All reported items are retained for research, correction and re-submission, if required.”