Solve your school's toughest compliance challenges.
Know who is paying your school fees and avoid reputational damage.
Suspicious transactions
Money laundering in independent schools can include any of the following scenarios:
- donations towards school projects
- unsolicited donations
- advance payment of fees
- requested return of fees paid in advance.
International parents
Effortlessly verify your parents and other fee payers. First AML enables quick identity verification, with most parents being able to complete the identity verification process in less than a minute.
Trusts and other entities are easy for us, individuals are even easier. If school fees are being arranged through complex entities such as companies or trusts they are either retrieved instantly from our pre-verified global database or newly verified in less than a week.
PEP and sanction checks
Once you submit the names and email addresses of the parents or guardians of your prospective student, that’s it – we’ll screen their name through global sanctions lists and PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons) for red flags.
If fees are being paid through a company or other complex entity, our solution uncovers the beneficial owners of the company and anything else you need to know.
We also check sanctions lists daily - so if anything changes, you'll be the first to know.
Security and privacy
First AML is built on a security-first premise, so you and the families of your pupils can be assured their sensitive information will remain private.
Thanks to our ISO 27001 certification, encrypted HTTPS protocols, regularly reviewed cypher suites, rotated encryption keys and more, we guarantee your school’s data is safe and secure.
Trusted by local and global brands
Integrity and excellence in your AML.
Protect your school's legacy and reputation for years to come. First AML is the compliance partner you need to understand who is behind your school fees and mitigate the risk of negative press.
Exceptionally easy.
First AML provides an exceptionally easy way to complete your KYC requirements. For bursars and administrators it offers intuitive, easy to use request and approval functionality. While for the parents of your students, it provides a superior customer experience, leaving them feeling positive about your school and the process.
Continuous monitoring.
Reduce risk exposure from quickly-changing PEP and sanctions list inclusions with First AML's continuous monitoring.
Automatic client cross checks are conducted daily against the latest and cleanest global lists.
If a new match is found a notification is delivered to your inbox, in an at-a-glance format, for immediate and proactive action.
Red flags for schools.
The First AML platform will significantly help, but also look out for:
- Are the parents foreign nationals, or resident in, a high-risk country?
- Are fee payments or donations unusually large or frequent?
- Do school fee payments or donations involve complex entities or illogical transaction chains?
- Does the parent’s assets seem inconsistent / unusual given their known legitimate income?
- Is the parent behaving unusually?
- Does the parent hold a prominent public job or function?
KYC publications for schools.
8 Common Struggles with Source of Funds and Source of Wealth
Education and dark money: Why independent schools need anti-money laundering programmes
Case study: University of Canterbury
Amber alert issued on the risk of bribery and corruption to UK Independent Schools
School fees and the money laundering risk
Specialist AML for your most common clients.
Here’s why our clients love First AML.
Customer centricity, unbelievable passion, endless positivity, lateral thinking and an ever-vigilant compliance and security focus.
First AML has removed friction and materially decreased verification delays from our customer due diligence process.
Greg Starr MinterEllisonRuddWatts
With First AML the onboarding experience is effortless.
Belinda Sinopoli Certane
First AML offers outsized operational impact and we've never had a customer complaint.
Matt Gunn Icehouse Ventures